A.R.T. Welcomes Back Aurelia Thierree in Aurelia's Oratorio 7/22-8/2

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is pleased to welcome the return, by popular demand, of the brilliant artist Aurélia Thierrée in Aurélia's Oratorio, written and directed by Victoria Thierrée Chaplin.

Wednesday, July 22 through Sunday, August 2.
Evenings: Tues-Thurs, Sun @7:30pm; Fri, Sat @ 8:00pm.
Matinees: Sun @ 3:00pm.

Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge.
TICKETS: $25-$75, with a $10 discount for seniors. Available online at americanrepertorytheater.org; by phone at 617-547-8300; at the A.R.T. Box Office at 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge.
RATING: Suitable for children ages 8 and above, adults of all ages.

Behind the red velvet curtain lies a topsy-turvy world of surreal surprises, tricks, and transformations, where dreams come to life and the impossible happens before your very eyes.... Aurélia Thierrée was first seen on the A.R.T. stage as a young girl, performing in the Le Cirque Imaginaire with her parents. Now an actress and acrobat in her own right, Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter has charmed audiences around the world with her dazzling display of stage illusion, ballet, puppetry, and whimsy, inspired by the magic of music hall and circus, and co-created with her mother Victoria Thierrée Chaplin. An ideal family entertainment, Aurelia's Oratorio played to sold-out houses last winter, and the A.R.T. is pleased to be able to bring back this amazing artist to the Loeb Stage, together with her favorite partner Jaime Martinez.

Victoria Thierrée Chaplin appeared three times at the A.R.T. to great acclaim with her productions Le Cirque Imaginaire and Le Cirque Invisible, both created and performed with her husband Jean Baptiste Thierrée. Born in Santa Monica, California, she was the last offspring of her parents prior to their exile to Europe. She studied ballet and music in Switzerland, and in 1969 she met Jean Baptiste Thierrée whom she later married, and together they have worked on the development of a new form of circus, Le Cirque Bonjour, which was invited to the Festival d'Avignon in 1971 and toured France. As the Thierrées moved towards a more personal approach of the circus world Le Cirque Imaginaire was born, with the two artists and their two children, Aurélia and James, which toured the world for ten years, followed by another show, Le Cirque Invisible. In addition to her own acts, Ms. Chaplin created most of the costumes herself, and chose the music for the productions. Recently, she worked with her son James Thierrée on the design and costumes for his productions Junebug Symphony, La Viellée des Abysses, and Au Revoir Parapluie. L'Oratorio d'Aurélia is her latest creation.

Aurélia Thierrée has been performing on stage since early childhood. She began her career in her parent's Le Cirque Imaginaire and Le Cirque Invisible, during which time she learned to combine a developing sense of the surreal with the demands and discipline required. During recent years she has worked with a number of film artists, including Milos Forman, Coline Serreau, and Jacques Baratier. For several years, she toured with The Tiger Lillies in The Tiger Lillies Circus. She has also worked in variety and cabaret in Berlin. Inspired by medieval drawings that depict worlds upside down and inside out, she collaborated with Victoria Thierrée Chaplin to create L'Oratorio d'Aurélia for the stage.

Jaime Martinez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was raised in Columbia, SC. where he began his training with Ann Brodie and Naomi Calvert. He furthered his training on a Nancy Reynolds Scholarship at the North Carolina School of the Arts, as well as a scholarship from the American Dance Machine and American Dance Festival. Mr. Martinez was a Founding member of The Parsons Dance Company in 1987 has taught over 400 master classes, including residencies at SUNY Purchase, The Juilliard School, and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He has staged numerous works by David Parsons the Ballet du Rhin, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Carte Blanche Dance Company of Norway, Ballet National de Nancy, Pennsylvania Ballet, New York City Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet and Roland Petit Ballet National de Marseille, and is a recipient of a 1998 New York Dance and Performance Bessie. He is a founding member of Mark Dendy Dance & Performance and has worked with Diane Martell, Pearl Lang, Ruby Shang, Douglas Wright, Uris/Barr and Dancers, Robin Becker and Pooh Kaye's Excentric Motions.

The AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER (A.R.T.) is one of the country's most celebrated resident theaters and the winner of numerous awards - including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and locally numerous Elliot Norton and I.R.N.E. Awards; it was recently named one of the top three theaters in the country by Time magazine. Over its twenty-eight-year history the A.R.T. has welcomed major American and international theater artists whose singular visions generate and define the theater's work, presenting a varied repertoire that includes new plays, progressive productions of classical texts, and collaborations between artists from many disciplines. The company has performed throughout the country, and worldwide in twenty-one cities in sixteen countries on four continents. The A.R.T.'s new Artistic Director, Diane Paulus, recently announced the 2009-10 Season, The company's 30th in Cambridge.

The A.R.T., located at the Loeb Drama Center at 64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, is accessible to persons with special needs and to those requiring wheelchair seating or first-floor restrooms. Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons can also reach the Theater by calling the toll-free N.E. Telephone Relay Center at 1-800-439-2370. Public transportation and discount parking are available nearby.

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