Pure Theater Presents GINGER: A Hansel & Gretel Tale 8/5-20

PURE Theatre is proud to announce the world premiere of Rodney Lee Rogers & Spencer Deering's adaptation Ginger: a Hansel & Gretel Tale. Directed by PURE's Co-Founder Rodney Lee Rogers, and will feature Sullivan Graci Hamilton, Addiston Dent, Brian DeCosta, and introducing Carri Schwab. Ginger opens Thursday, August 5 and runs through the 20th.
Ginger's hungry . . . but for what?

She and her brother, Hampton, struggle to find filling fare while battling demons from within and without, including a cannibalistic vamp with an appetite for youth. Follow the intrepid duo on a journey from trailers to treasure in PURE's imaginative adaptation of Grimm's tale.

Hansel and Gretel is a medieval fable made popular in the 19th century by The Brothers Grimm. Since then the story has been adapted into movies (by Tim Burton in 1986), plays, operas (Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck in 1983), etc.

This production is made possible by a Coastal Community Arts Expansion Grant.

"The challenge for Charleston's arts organizations is to convince more people of their social and economic value," says George Stevens of the Coastal Community Foundation.
This show will mark the first time for Rodgers and Deering to write a play together. "I've never written co-written anything (I've always demanded full artistic control, even on birthday cards); so while I love Rodney and his artistic bent, I feared that we'd end up wasting precious time arguing about the script and giving each other atomic wedgies, " says Deering. "In fact, the opposite happened: our writing together quickly brought into relief our disparate skill set and grew to be the most efficient work I've ever done (I hope he can say the same!). Rodney is uber-imaginative and can cut to the core of story so quickly that we would make major gains each time we met. Now I fear I'll not be able to write all by my lonesome ever again!"

"One of the great benefits of being the playwright in residence with PURE Theatre is that I have a wonderful short hand with the Artistic Director. This type of communication only happens after years of working with another artist. This added to the intensity of not only raising five children together, but a theatre company, the most unruly child of all, makes speed in communication invaluable. ‘I want a play about Hansel and Gretel,' was the request from Sharon [Graci, Artistic Director of PURE Theatre]. At its core she explained, ‘should be the deep and complicated relationship between two siblings and the love they share through hardship,'" says Rogers about creating Ginger.

"It was at this time that we brought in Spencer Deering to co-write the piece. Spencer and I have been friends for sometime and I have greatly admired his work. That being said we'd never written together. In fact I'd never written a play with ANYONE before. Spencer had the same reservations but we quickly took to the task and found it quite liberating. We started with the source material and a book called The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim. Bettelheim's book was key into delving into the psychology of the story. It's an odd little tale. As with most of the Grimm fairy tales it's much darker than the story we know in the modern world as it's been filtered down through a commercial -like child's game of telephone. I think it's very timely to the youth of today. All of the action has been updated to the present creating an almost trailer trash version of the story. I love finding contemporary parallels with these classic stories. We've also brought the ages of the Hansel and Gretel up to their late teens making their journey into adulthood as much a question of their own fears as their parents. What we've attempted to accomplish is a far darker piece than what most people remember. In many ways, however, I feel this darkness is closer to the core of what I believe the Brothers' Grimm were setting their sites."

PURE Theatre has garnered a reputation for artistic excellence, risk taking, and thinking outside of the box. The company's intrepid approach to the art and craft of theatre has garnered them numerous critics and audience awards, as well as a loyal following of patrons.

PURE will continue popular special events such as their Bring Your Own Baby performance on Sunday, August 15th. BYOBaby is a unique opportunity for parents of young children to enjoy professional theatre without incurring the cost of child care. Child care is provided free of charge by PURE Theatre, and staffed by childcare professionals from The Circular Congregational Church in their downstairs facility.

Student Rush tickets are available for $15 with a valid student ID, for tickets remaining at curtain.

TICKETS: Thursdays $20, Friday & Saturday $25 Sunday $20

At the Door: Thursday $25, Friday & Saturday $30, Sunday $25

Available at puretheatre.org or by phone at 866.811.4111. Tickets can also be purchased the night of the show at the PURE Theatre Box Office half an hour before the show begins at Upper Lance Hall at 150 Meeting Street, Downtown Charleston. Seating is limited, and advance ticket purchases are strongly encouraged.

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