SONGS OF LEAR BY SON G OF TH (TEATR E GOAT THEATR PIESN K E OZŁA)
2014–1 5 NO BO UNDARI ES SERI ES
FEBRUARY 26–28, 2015
YALE REPERTORY THEATRE James Bundy, Artistic Director
Victoria Nolan, Managing Director
PRESENTS
SONGS OF LEAR Director Composers Preparation of Songs Lighting Designer Sound Designer Producer/Deputy Director Tour Manager/Media US Tour Representative
GRZEGORZ BRAL JEAN-CLAUDE ACQUAVIVA MACIEJ RYCHŁY KACPER KUSZEWSKI KAMIL PIWKO WALDEMAR TRZASKA MARIANNA WASIK ALICJA MAN´KOWSKA MARA ISAACS, OCTOPUS THEATRICALS
PERFORMERS
ANU ALMAGRO, JULIANNA BLOODGOOD, EMMA BONNICI, ILENIA CIPOLLARI, MONIKA DRYL, PAOLO GARGHENTINO, GABRIEL GAWIN, RAFAŁ HABEL, KACPER KUSZEWSKI, ŁUKASZ WÓJCIK Musician
MACIEJ RYCHŁY
Songs of Lear is sponsored in part by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Root Boy Slim Fund, and Jack Pierson.
Songs of Lear is performed without an intermission. Please join us for a Q&A session immediately following the performance.
ABOUT SONGS OF LEAR Songs of Lear (Pies´ni Leara) is a non-linear dramatic event that shows the world of subtle energies and rhythms that govern Shakespeare’s tragedy. The ensemble members have chosen pivotal scenes from King Lear to weave a story out of gestures, words, and music. Here, the music becomes character, relationships, and events, and each song is a starting point for another “dramatic poem.” The creative process has been divided into several phases: preparation of the concert; dramatizing the songs into an oratorio; creating movement and visual structures; integrating text, music, and movement; and, finally, molding the performance into a complete shape. The performance is a constantly evolving creative research project in which the audience may intimately witness an ongoing artistic process. Songs of Lear had its world premiere as part of the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, where it received three awards: the Scotsman Fringe First, the Herald Archangel, and the Musical Theatre Matters Special Award.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
SONG OF THE GOAT THEATRE (TEATR PIES´N´ KOZŁA), founded in 1996, is a multi-award-winning ensemble recognized as one of Europe’s most innovative training-based theatre companies. A distinctive element of the company’s practice and training is the need and search for connection and openness as the root of authentic experience. The work always seeks to integrate movement, voice, song, and text, creating a performance that has an inherent musicality and connects with the audience on a sensory level. The current repertory includes Songs of Lear and Return to the Voice. In addition to their training and performance programs, the company also oversees the Brave Festival—Against Cultural Exile in Wrocław, Poland, an annual festival celebrating global ethnographic cultural and performance practices that are marginalized or facing extinction. www.piesnkozla.pl
ANU ALMAGRO (PERFORMER) was born in Helsinki. She worked as an actress in Finland after graduating from Tampere University with an MA in Acting. In 2007, Almagro enrolled in Song of the Goat’s Masters in Acting program in association with Manchester Metropolitan University in England. She became a member of the company after finishing the course in November 2007 and has performed with the company in Macbeth, Songs of Lear and Portraits of “The Cherry Orchard.” She is founder of the Odra Ensemble Project. JULIANNA BLOODGOOD (PERFORMER) graduated from the College Conservatory of Music (CCM) and holds a BFA from the University of Cincinnati and an MA in acting from Manchester Metropolitan University. She is a resident artist at Theater Mitu; a founding member of the Great Globe Foundation, an organization devoted to increasing cultural exchange and empowering voices through the arts; and the proud cofounder of the Dadaab Theater Project, a youth-based theatre project in Dadaab, Kenya, the world’s largest refugee camp. EMMA BONNICI (PERFORMER) graduated from Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Emma is associated with Theatre Zar, based at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland. She also directs children’s theatre performances in Polish schools, among other projects, and has been with Song of the Goat Theatre since 2007, performing in Songs of Lear, Portraits of “The Cherry Orchard,” and Return to the Voice. GRZEGORZ BRAL (DIRECTOR) With Anna Zubrzycki, Bral founded Song of the Goat Theatre in Wrocław, Poland, in 1996, which devised a unique performance style based on its “coordination technique” and draws actors and students from all over the world. He is the founder and artistic director of the Brave Festival—Against Cultural Exile, presenting art of vanishing cultures and traditions, and the founder and president of the charity organization Rokpa Polska. He was also the artistic director of the Studio Theatre in Warsaw, Poland, from 2010–2012. Awards for his artistic work include an Honorary Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage; a Scotsman Fringe First, 2004 and 2012; a Herald Angel and Archangel, 2004 and 2012; and a Musical Theatre Matters Special Award, 2012. In 2009, his ensemble was nominated to the XII European Prize in the category of New Theatrical Realities. Bral is also the founder and head of the Bral School of Acting, which provides training in Song of the Goat Theatre’s coordination technique. ILENIA CIPOLLARI (PERFORMER) has been a member of Song of the Goat Theatre since 2014, performing in Songs of Lear and Return to the Voice. Prior to joining the company, she spent a year performing in Italy and Great Britain. She is a graduate of the Polimoda International Institute of Fashion Design & Marketing (Florence, Italy) and the State Conservatory of Pistoia (Italy). MONIKA DRYL (PERFORMER) graduated from Theatre Academy in Warsaw in 2002 and currently performs at the National Theatre in Warsaw. She won the third prize in the Stage Songs Review Festival, Wrocław, Poland, and the “Memories of Osiecka” singing competition in Warsaw, Poland, both in 2003. She founded and sings with the Themonika Quintet and Siara, and has been a member of Song of the Goat Theatre since 2011. PAOLO GARGHENTINO (PERFORMER) graduated from Scuola Del Teatro Piccolo di Milano and received an MA in acting from Manchester Metropolitan University in association with Song of the Goat Theatre. Since joining the company in 2012, he has performed in Songs of Lear, Portraits of “The Cherry Orchard,” and Return to the Voice. GABRIEL GAWIN (PERFORMER) A founding member of Song of the Goat Theatre, Gawin has maintained a theatre practice in the UK and across Europe for the last 20 years. He has extensive experience as a performer and teacher, working with both professional and community-based performers. His work includes collaborations with Peter Brook and the Centre International de Création Théâtrale; City Theatre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Zecora Ura in the UK, Spain, and Brazil; Off de BICZ in Sopot, Poland; and New Breed Theatre in Manchester, England. Gawin currently serves as the director of the Masters Program at Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance in London. RAFAŁ HABEL (PERFORMER) has been a member of Song of the Goat Theatre since its inception in 1996, performing in Pies´n´ Kozła—a dithyramb, Chronicles—a Lamentation, Lacrimosa, Macbeth, Songs of Lear, Portraits of “The Cherry Orchard,” and Return to the Voice, which have toured internationally throughout Europe, America, and Australia. He has co-led workshops in the UK for Manchester Metropolitan University, Brighton, Oxford Playhouse Education Outreach Programme, and the Centre of Performance Research, Wales. He is also a former member of the chamber folk-music project Lautari in Wrocław, Poland.
ABOUT SONGS OF LEAR Songs of Lear (Pies´ni Leara) is a non-linear dramatic event that shows the world of subtle energies and rhythms that govern Shakespeare’s tragedy. The ensemble members have chosen pivotal scenes from King Lear to weave a story out of gestures, words, and music. Here, the music becomes character, relationships, and events, and each song is a starting point for another “dramatic poem.” The creative process has been divided into several phases: preparation of the concert; dramatizing the songs into an oratorio; creating movement and visual structures; integrating text, music, and movement; and, finally, molding the performance into a complete shape. The performance is a constantly evolving creative research project in which the audience may intimately witness an ongoing artistic process. Songs of Lear had its world premiere as part of the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, where it received three awards: the Scotsman Fringe First, the Herald Archangel, and the Musical Theatre Matters Special Award.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
SONG OF THE GOAT THEATRE (TEATR PIES´N´ KOZŁA), founded in 1996, is a multi-award-winning ensemble recognized as one of Europe’s most innovative training-based theatre companies. A distinctive element of the company’s practice and training is the need and search for connection and openness as the root of authentic experience. The work always seeks to integrate movement, voice, song, and text, creating a performance that has an inherent musicality and connects with the audience on a sensory level. The current repertory includes Songs of Lear and Return to the Voice. In addition to their training and performance programs, the company also oversees the Brave Festival—Against Cultural Exile in Wrocław, Poland, an annual festival celebrating global ethnographic cultural and performance practices that are marginalized or facing extinction. www.piesnkozla.pl
ANU ALMAGRO (PERFORMER) was born in Helsinki. She worked as an actress in Finland after graduating from Tampere University with an MA in Acting. In 2007, Almagro enrolled in Song of the Goat’s Masters in Acting program in association with Manchester Metropolitan University in England. She became a member of the company after finishing the course in November 2007 and has performed with the company in Macbeth, Songs of Lear and Portraits of “The Cherry Orchard.” She is founder of the Odra Ensemble Project. JULIANNA BLOODGOOD (PERFORMER) graduated from the College Conservatory of Music (CCM) and holds a BFA from the University of Cincinnati and an MA in acting from Manchester Metropolitan University. She is a resident artist at Theater Mitu; a founding member of the Great Globe Foundation, an organization devoted to increasing cultural exchange and empowering voices through the arts; and the proud cofounder of the Dadaab Theater Project, a youth-based theatre project in Dadaab, Kenya, the world’s largest refugee camp. EMMA BONNICI (PERFORMER) graduated from Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Emma is associated with Theatre Zar, based at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland. She also directs children’s theatre performances in Polish schools, among other projects, and has been with Song of the Goat Theatre since 2007, performing in Songs of Lear, Portraits of “The Cherry Orchard,” and Return to the Voice. GRZEGORZ BRAL (DIRECTOR) With Anna Zubrzycki, Bral founded Song of the Goat Theatre in Wrocław, Poland, in 1996, which devised a unique performance style based on its “coordination technique” and draws actors and students from all over the world. He is the founder and artistic director of the Brave Festival—Against Cultural Exile, presenting art of vanishing cultures and traditions, and the founder and president of the charity organization Rokpa Polska. He was also the artistic director of the Studio Theatre in Warsaw, Poland, from 2010–2012. Awards for his artistic work include an Honorary Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage; a Scotsman Fringe First, 2004 and 2012; a Herald Angel and Archangel, 2004 and 2012; and a Musical Theatre Matters Special Award, 2012. In 2009, his ensemble was nominated to the XII European Prize in the category of New Theatrical Realities. Bral is also the founder and head of the Bral School of Acting, which provides training in Song of the Goat Theatre’s coordination technique.
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Front: Julianna Bloodgood and Gabriel Gawin. Photo by Zbigniew Warzynski.