Culver
City, CA, August 26, 2013…The Actors’ Gang, the critically acclaimed
Los Angeles based ensemble theatre company, presents Hélène Cixous’s Oy!
Directed by Georges Bigot, Assistant Directed by Christiane Georgi
opening Saturday, September 21 at 8pm. Show runs Thursday and Saturday
evenings at 8pm and Sunday Matinee’s at 2pm at the company’s home
theater at the Ivy Substation in Culver City, California. Tickets are
available by phone 310.838.4264 or online at www.TheActorsGang.com.
Through
Oy!, playwright Helene Cixous interrogates the question of forgiveness,
the work of memories and transmission to new generations, and the state
of modern racism throughout the world. Oy! is the story of two German
Jewish sisters, Selma and Jenny, who in 1995 in their late eighties are
some of the last remaining witnesses to the period of Nazism in Europe.
They return to their home in Paris after a trip to the German city of
their youth. Upon their return to Paris, the sisters try to make
something of the swirl of emotions, opinions and memories that have
surfaced and all the things they were not able to express in Germany.
Through their simple, flavorful work together, they begin to unravel the
complexities of a society’s internalized racism – the broad
anti-Semitism that so darkly colored their past. Based on close family
members of the playwright, the interaction between these fictional
sisters is honest, emotional, humorous and compelling.
Mr.
Bigot says of this production, “Hélène Cixous is for me a kind of
contemporary Shakespeare. Like him, she places her writing desk in the
human heart. Her play, Oy!, is a theatrical ceremony, a memory
resonating with our present.”
Director
George Bigot has a long and rich history with The Actors’ Gang. In
1984, Los Angeles was home to the Olympic Arts Festival, which brought
Le Théâtre du Soleil and Mr. Bigot to Los Angeles, where they performed
the Shakespeare cycle. This was a watershed event for The Gang. Several
Gang members including Artistic Director, Tim Robbins, took acting
workshops with Mr. Bigot, based on the style of Theatre du Soleil and
the spirit of working in ensemble. Mr. Robbins has said of this moment,
“Working with Georges was a seminal moment for The Actors’ Gang. He
introduced a form and a discipline that respected the traditions of
theatre and brought great passion to our commitment as an ensemble to
produce theater that is vital and relevant.”
About the Director, Georges Bigot
Georges
Bigot is an internationally acclaimed actor and director and has been a
lead actor at the Théâtre du Soleil since 1981. Under the direction of
famed director, Ariane Mnouchkine, he appeared in Richard II, Twelfth
Night, and Henry IV by William Shakespeare; The Terrible but Unfinished
History of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and L ' Indiade by Hélène
Cixous; Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides; and Agamemnon and The Libation
Bearers by Aeschylus. He has performed the pivotal roles of King
Richard II, the Duke Orsino, Prince of Wales, Prince Sihanouk and Pandit
Nehru.
In
1986 he received the National Union of Critics award for best actor for
the role of Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Some recent work as an actor
include Ciels written and directed by Wajdi Mouawad created in Avignon
Festival; Penelope O Penelope written and directed by Simon Abkarian ;
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, directed by Philippe Adrien ; Titus
Andronicus, by Shakespeare, directed by Simon Abkarian, Life of Galileo
by Bertold Brecht, directed by Christophe Rauck ; and Le Cid by
Corneille directed by Declan Donnelan.
As
a director, for over the past two decades, Mr. Bigot has staged
productions such as Kalo by Maurice Durozier; La Dispute by Marivaux;
Ambrouille (a collective writing of the le Petit Théâtre de Pain in
French Pays Basque); The Return of Bougouniéré and Ségou Fassa with
Atelier of Bamaco Mali ; and The Seagull by Anton Chekhov at The Actors’
Gang. Recently, he translated and directed Embedded by Tim Robbins,
(presented for the first time in France). After long development,
including a period of four years in Cambodia, Mr. Bigot directed the
first part of The Terrible but Unfinished History of King Norodom
Sihanouk of Cambodia by Hélène Cixous in Cambodia (created in December
2011 in Festival Sens Interdit from Lyon and at Le Théâtre du Soleil in
Paris). The second part of this creation is still in development and
will premiere in 2013 in France, with plans to tour to the United States
and beyond.
Mr.
Bigot has directed theater and theater workshops throughout the world
(Cambodia, Los Angeles, El Salvador, Brazil, Singapore, Chicago, Chile,
Lebanon) and in many French national drama centers, theater companies,
and the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris. He taught
acting at the University of Bordeaux from 1993 to 2001, and directed the
theater festival "Les Chantiers de Blaye" for six years. He continues
to expand his work both as an actor and a director, in France and around
the world.
About the playwright, Hélène Cixous
Hélène
Cixous is a professor, French feminist writer, poet, playwright,
philosopher, literary critic and rhetorician. Born in Algeria in 1937,
Ms. Cixous received French nationality at birth, but in 1941 her
citizenship was revoked by the anti-Jewish laws of the Vichy regime. In
1955 she moved to France and began a long career examining concepts of
nationality, feminism and human interaction. She holds honorary degrees
from Queen's University and the University of Alberta in Canada;
University College Dublin in Ireland; the University of York and
University College London in the UK; and Georgetown University,
Northwestern University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the
USA.
Helene
Cixous is best known as a playwright for her epic work with Le Théâtre
du Soleil. She has published over 70 works; her fiction, dramatic
writing and poetry, however, are not often read in English. Ms. Cixous’s
inimitable writing style has been described as ”not simply
translatable.” Literary critic Eric Prenowitz says of her work,” A
translator of Cixous is never a fixed monument, but a smuggler, a
furtive border-crosser, and a witness.” In 2008 she was appointed as
A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University until June 2014. In
2000, a collection in Cixous's name was created at the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France after Ms. Cixous donated the entirety of her
manuscripts to date. They then were featured in the exhibit "Brouillons
d'écrivains" held there in 2001. “Cixous's work as a playwright -
working mainly with Le Théâtre du Soleil and their director Ariane
Mnouchkine - establishes her as a participant in some of the most
adventurous European theatre making of the last 40 years.” – Psychology
Press, 2004
The Actors’ Gang
For 32 years, The Actors’ Gang has received international acclaim for presenting over 150 new, unconventional and uncompromising plays and dynamic reinterpretations of the classics
in Los Angeles, throughout the United States, and on five continents.
Guided by Founding Artistic Director, Tim Robbins, and Co-Artistic
Director, Cynthia Ettinger, the company was founded in 1981 by a group
of like minded artists looking to create theater relevant to the society we live in and restore the ancient sense of the stage as a shared sacred space.
The
Actors' Gang has presented the work of innovative theater artists
including Georges Bigot and Simon Abkarian of the Theatre du Soleil,
Bill Rauch and the Cornerstone Theatre Company, Culture Clash, Oskar
Eustis, Tracy Young, Charles Mee, Roger Guenver Smith, Eric Bogosian,
David Schweizer, Danny Hoch, Beth Milles, Brian Kulick, Stefan Haves,
Namaste Theater Company, Jason Reed, Michael Schlitt, and Tenacious D.
The
Actors' Gang ensemble has included accomplished actors such as Jack
Black, John Cusack, John C. Reilly, Helen Hunt, Jeremy Piven, Jon
Favreau, Kate Walsh, Fisher Stevens, Ebbe Roe Smith, Brent Hinkley, Kate
Mulligan, Lee Arenberg, Kyle Gass and Tim Robbins.
The
Actors’ Gang began touring its productions throughout the world in
1989, representing the US at the Edinburgh Festival with Carnage, a
Comedy before moving to the Public Theater in New York. Since then the
company has toured in Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America
and throughout the US with productions such as 1984, The Trial of the
Catonsville 9, The Guys, The Exonerated and Embedded. In 2004, The
Actors’ Gang performed its anti Iraq war satire Embedded to four months
of sold-out houses at New York’s Public Theater and in 2001 Bat Boy: The
Musical won the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics awards for best new
musical Off-Broadway.
Tickets/Directions/Parking
Performances of Oy! Begin Saturday, September 20 at 8pm and run Thursdays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sunday matinee’s at 2pm
The
Actors' Gang is located at the Ivy Substation at 9070 Venice Blvd.
(near the intersection of Culver and Venice Blvds.) in Culver City. Two
hours free parking is available throughout downtown Culver City; the
Ince Parking Lot (corner of Culver and Ince) is directly across the
street from the theater. Several restaurants are only a few blocks' walk
from The Actors' Gang and offer a variety of dining options before and
after the theater. Show your ticket stub at Akasha, Kay N’ Dave’s, Rush
Street, La Rocco’s Pizzeria, and City Tavern to receive 10% off your
meal. Show your ticket stub at Ugo Café to receive a free gelato.
The
Ivy Substation is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For
reservations and information, call The Actors' Gang Box Office at
310-838-GANG (310-838-4264) or visit www.theactorsgang.com
No comments:
Post a Comment