Macbeth Variations @ Irondale, incredible, unique show!

irondale

The Irondale Center presents
The Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble & Anitya
in the world premiere of
MACBETH VARIATIONS II
@ Irondale
October 1 – 3, 2009

“An event that brings together musicians, puppeteers, dancers, and actors in an audacious version of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Shakespeare would have been proud of this modern take of his classic”
-Daniel Brown, Radio France

What: Macbeth Variations II: a Shakespeare Soundpainting (Performed in French & English)
Who: Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble (NYC) & Anitya (Paris, France)
When: October 1, 2, 3 at 8pm
Where: Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NYC. Directions: www.irondale.org
Cost: $20-$40 (Sliding Scale) Tickets can be purchased online: www.strikeanywhere.info

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, OCTOBER 1-3, 2009 - The Irondale Center, who are establishing themselves as one of Brooklyn’s leading performing arts laboratory and performance spaces, opens their 09/10 season with the critically acclaimed Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble and their international collaborators Anitya in the world premiere of Macbeth Variations II, a dynamic performance event combining physical theater, improvised music, dance and a live-composing sign language called Soundpainting.

Macbeth Variations II is a set of improvised inter-disciplinary compositions exploring Shakespeare's play Macbeth. Just as jazz musicians improvise on jazz standards finding infinite variety within classic tunes, improvisers use Shakespeare's text as the melody from which they depart. The result is a highly-charged interdisciplinary performance event that is different every night. The piece is the perfect compliment to the mission of Irondale who strive to provide an enviroment where performance boundaries can be pushed and work with a social conciousness can be produced. This is the Irondale Center’s second season in their new space, and they are thrilled to host companies such as Strike Anywhere & Anitya who represent a new wave of experimental work today.

“Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble merges music, theater, improvisation, and structured composition into a total multi-media experience – a ‘happening’ in which art leaps off the wall and into the seat next to us.” - Asbury Park Press

About Macbeth Variations II

Macbeth Variations II is the second stage of an international collaboration between NYC-based Strike Anywhere and Paris-based ANITYA. The performance features on-stage conductors who sculpt the improvisation through the complex language of Soundpainting. Soundpainting is the live composing sign language created by New York composer Walter Thompson for musicians, dancers, and actors. In May 2009, the Irondale Center hosted the pioneer of Soundpainting, Walter Thompson, in an incredible world premiere composition featuring acclaimed musician Anthony Braxton. Irondale is fast becoming the leading presenter of this type of performance work and both Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble and ANITYA are the foremost practitioners of Soundpainting in their respective countries.

About Irondale
The Irondale Center is the permanent home of the Irondale Ensemble, a 26 year old Theater Company comprised of professional theater artists who have a commitment to creating theater and education programs that explore emerging themes in our society. The Center is also a multi-discipline laboratory for the work of other artists and companies. Ensemble members manage, and curate the Center, nurturing and presenting work that contributes to the cultural, social and educational life of the community. For more information please visit: www.irondale.org

About Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble and ANITYA
STRIKE ANYWHERE was established in 1997 by founder and Artistic Director, Leese Walker. Strike Anywhere is a permanent ensemble of world class jazz musicians, modern dancers, and actors. Its work is guided by the words of Bertolt Brecht, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Performers collaborate through an improvisational process to create politically-charged, original works that address socially-relevant issues. Strike Anywhere has toured extensively. Its critically acclaimed show, 10 BRECHT POEMS, toured nationally to over 40 venues and aired in full on local NYC television. Strike Anywhere has been featured on Radio France, NPR, WBAI and German Public Radio. The company has appeared at: B.A.M., American Airlines Theater, The Zipper Factory, P.S. 122, St. Clements, Theatre for the New City, Galapagos, and HERE Arts Center. For more information, please visit: www.strikeanywhere.info

ANITYA was created in January 2006 by French composer Christophe Cagnolari. The group is comprised of 20 artists—classical and jazz instrumentalists, actors, dancers, and lighting designers. The orchestra rehearses weekly to acquire a fluid mastery of Soundpainting. Christophe Cagnolari—soundpainter, composer, saxophone—graduated in musicology at Paris IV Sorbonne and in ethnomusicology at Paris X. He also earned a masters degree in gamelan in Bali and won first prize in harmony/counterpoint, awarded by the city of Paris. In addition to Cagnolari, three artists from the ANITYA company will participate in the Phase II collaboration on Macbeth Variations: Maxime Nourissat (actor/toured internationally with Marcel Marceau working with him until his death), Maud Ivanoff (actor), and Thierry Jozé (actor). For more information, please visit: www.anitya.fr