American Repertory Theater presents "Three Pianos"
For Immediate Release October 15, 2011
Contact: Kati Mitchell 617-495-2668
kati_mitchell @ Harvard.edu
American Repertory Theater
presents
Three Pianos
By Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy, and Dave Malloy
With music from Winterreise, Op. 89, D911 (1828)
Music by Franz Schubert • Words by Wilhelm Müller
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
December 7, 2011 – January 8, 2012
Cambridge, Mass. — American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) continues its 2011-12 season with Three Pianos by Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy and Dave Malloy, with music from Franz Schubert's Winterreise, Op. 89, D911 (1828), directed by Rachel Chavkin. The production opens on Wednesday, December 7 (press opening on Thursday, December 8 at 7pm) at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, and runs through January 8, 2012.
“The best antidote to winter's bitter dregs...Warms spectators at the hearth of musical enthusiasm… Like being cozily tucked away with a clutch of nerdy music-loving friends, Three Pianos transforms Winterreise's spectral solitudes into a parable of artistic community." — The Village Voice
"Full-blooded and full-bodied, Three Pianos lifts its glass to music, to Schubert and to the type of friendship that can make you laugh off heartbreak. It’s also a superb evening. Cheers." — TimeOut New York
The OBIE winning hit music-theatre event that wowed audiences and critics alike in its sold-out runs at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater and New York Theater Workshop – is a theatrical explosion of Franz Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise. Filled with fantastical touches and inventive arrangements, Three Pianos is a colorful and imaginative evening of chaos, exploring Schubert’s music, life, and times. Set on a blustery winter night, three friends – each manning a piano – lead the audience through fragments of Schubert’s famous work while grappling with fundamental questions about the nature of music and drinking too much. The three pianists slip into a wild reenactment of a “Schubertiad,” a musical salon party thrown by Schubert and his friends, connecting the two groups through the centuries. An evening of hilarity and heartbreak unfolds, in which the audience is invited to the party. Compositional mayhem, shifting rivalries, and some unfortunate butchery of the German language ensue.
About the Artists:
Writer, arranger, and performer Rick Burkhardt is an award‐winning composer, songwriter, and playwright. His original chamber music, theatre, and text pieces have been performed by dozens of ensembles in over forty US cities, as well as in Europe, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. He is a founding member of the Nonsense Company, a touring experimental music/theater trio, and the songwriter and accordionist for the Prince Myshkins, a political cabaret/folk duo whose songs have been performed and recorded by a wide variety of musicians across the US. /over
Writer, arranger, and performer Alec Duffy is a director and playwright, and founder of the theatre company Hoi Polloi. Recent original work includes The less we talk: a meditation on groupsinging, Dysphoria (Ontological Theater) and The Top Ten People of the Millennium Sing Their Favorite Schubert Lieder, which premiered in New York and toured to Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. He was a Drama League Directing Fellow, and one of seven directors nationwide to be selected for the 2007‐ 09 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors.
Composer, sound designer, performer Dave Malloy is a winner of a 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant, and recipient of the 2009‐11 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Theatre Designers. His most recent large-scale work, Beowulf - A Thousand Years of Baggage, a Banana Bag & Bodice Song Play,
was commissioned by Berkeley's Shotgun Players and featured dueling trombones and 40's vocal jazz
harmonies. Beowulf enjoyed sold out runs at Oberon in Cambridge, Berkeley and New York, received the 2008 Glickman Award and appeared on the Best of 2008 lists of every major Bay Area paper.
Director Rachel Chavkin is the artistic director of the TEAM. With the TEAM, she has directed/co-authored six works, including Particularly in the Heartland, Give Up! Start Over! (In the darkest of times I look to Richard Nixon for hope), Howl, based on the poem by Allen Ginsberg, and Architecting, produced by the National Theatre of Scotland. She collaborated with Taylor Mac on The Lily's Revenge at HERE, with playwright/composer Molly Rice and composer Ray Rizzo on Canary, and playwright Steve Yockey on Wonder. She serves on the directing faculty at Playwrights Horizons Theater School.
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, the Pulitzer Prize and regional Elliot Norton and I.R.N.E. Awards. In 2002 the A.R.T. was the recipient of the National Theatre Conference’s Outstanding Achievement Award, and in May of 2003 it was named one of the top three regional theaters in the country by Time magazine. Founded by Robert Brustein in 1980, the A.R.T. during its 30-year history has performed throughout the U.S. and worldwide, and has welcomed many major American and international theater artists, presenting a diverse repertoire that includes new American plays, bold reinterpretations of classical texts and provocative new music theater productions. In 2009, the A.R.T. welcomed its new Artistic Director, Diane Paulus. Armed with the A.R.T.’s mission to expand the boundaries of theater, Paulus and her team have engaged thousands of new theatergoers at performances of Sleep No More, The Donkey Show, Gatz, Best of Both Worlds, Johnny Baseball, Cabaret, The Blue Flower, Prometheus Bound, and Death and the Powers as well as festivals like Emerging America. Critics and audiences have embraced the immersive environments that have become hallmarks of A.R.T. productions. The Theater has broadened its focus to include the audience’s total experience, providing them with a sense of ownership in the theatrical event. Initiatives like the A.R.T.’s new club theater OBERON, which Paulus calls a “second stage for the 21st century,” is an example of one initiative that has not only become an incubator for local artists but also has attracted national attention as a groundbreaking model for programming. Through all of its work, the A.R.T. is committed to building a community of artists, technicians, educators, staff and audience, all of who are integral to the A.R.T.’s core mission of expanding the boundaries of theater.
The balance of the A.R.T.'s 2011-12 Season includes AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare, featuring members of The A.R.T. /MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training Class of 2012 (Loeb Drama Center • January 13 – January 28); the world premiere of WILD SWANS by Jung Chang, adapted by Alexandra Wood, directed by Sacha Wares (Loeb Drama Center • February 11 – March 11); and the world premiere of FUTURITY: A Musical by The Lisps, with music and lyrics by César Alvarez with The Lisps; book by Molly Rice and César Alvarez; directed by Sarah Benson (Oberon • March 16 – April 15); and WOODY SEZ, with words and music by Woody Guthrie, devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley (Loeb Drama Center • May 5 – May 26).
In addition, the A.R.T. will present a special Holiday production for children and their families — THE SNOW QUEEN, Hans Christian Andersen's exuberant ode to childhood, in a stage adaptation by Tyler Monroe, directed by Allegra Libonati. (Loeb Drama Center • December 10 – December 31).
The Loeb Drama Center, located 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.
For further information call 617-547-8300 or visit http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org
CALENDAR AND RELATED EVENTS AT A GLANCE
WHAT:
Three Pianos
By Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy, and Dave Malloy
With music from Winterreise, Op. 89, D911 (1828)
Music by Franz Schubert
Words by Wilhelm Müller
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Performed by Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy, and Dave Malloy
WHEN:
We Dec 7 7:30pm
Th Dec 8 7:00pm PRESS OPENING
Fr Dec 9 7:30pm
Sa Dec 10 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Su Dec 11 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Tu Dec 13 7:30pm
We Dec 14 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Th Dec 15 7:30pm
Fr Dec 16 7:30pm
Sa Dec 17 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Su Dec 18 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Tu Dec 20 7:30pm
We Dec 21 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Th Dec 22 7:30pm
Fr Dec 23 7:30pm
Tu Dec 27 7:30pm
We Dec 28 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Th Dec 29 7:30pm
Fr Dec 30 7:30pm
Sa Dec 31 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Su Jan 1 4:00pm
Tu Jan 3 7:30pm
Th Jan 5 7:30pm
Fr Jan 6 7:30pm
Sa Jan 7 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Su Jan 8 2:00pm
WHERE: Loeb Drama Center, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
RATING: Recommended for 13 and up
TICKETS: Begin at $25. Tickets may be charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card. Group rates are available. Beverage is included with price of admission.
Box Office Phone and A.R.T. InfoLine: (617) 547-8300, tickets also available online at www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org
MEDIA INFORMATION:
Email Address: press@amrep.org
Production photos of Three Pianos are available at
http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/media-room/press-kits/three-pianos
