Gorilla Rep will present the World Première of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt with a new translation & adaptation by Laura Lynn MacDonald, on Thursdays & Saturdays, from August 6 - 29 at Summit Rock in Central Park. The production will be directed by Gorilla Rep Artistic Director, Christopher Carter Sanderson with original music by Andre-Philippe Mistier. There will be no intermission, but audiences will be able to leave & rejoin the performance in progress.
Featured in this AEA Showcase, starring Roger Grunwald * as Peer Gynt, are Neville Braithwaite, Ken Hailey, Caitlin Johnston, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Gustavo Obregon, Heather Lee Rogers, Nalini Sharma, Josh Silverman* & Frances You Sanderson. * DENOTES MEMBER AEA.
When Henrik Ibsen wrote Peer Gynt in 1867, he never intended the work to be performed on stage & instead, envisioned it as a poetic fantasy to be read. Peer Gynt quickly became recognized as a masterwork of Scandinavian literature & in 1876, he adapted his work for the stage. The work's popularity derived from Ibsen's use of Norwegian fairy tales, particularly, Asbjornsen's Norwegian Fairy Tales, but Ibsen was also poking fun at some of the popular new ideas, including the emerging trends about getting back to nature & simplicity, ideas also popular in the United States since Henry David Thoreau espoused them. As a play, Peer Gynt consists almost entirely as a vehicle for Peer's adventures as a character who runs from commitment & who is completely selfish, having little concern for the sacrifices that others are forced to make in accommodating him. Ibsen's use of satire & a self-centered protagonist suggests social implications for 19th century society, a topic that always interested him.
Laura Lynn MacDonald is an award-winning Milwaukee area writer, filmmaker & actress, who has written two features film, Welcome to Freedom, (a gay Romeo & Juliet story set against the Iraq War) & The Marriage of Adam & Eva, a comedy set in Wisconsin & acted in & Associate Produced Josh Rosenberg's film, Tracks, which won the "2009 Jury Prize for "Best Feature Film" at The Wisconsin Film Festival. Laura Lynn's stage play, The Pecking Order, is a dark-comedy about five different birds trying to fit in the same nest, which has received staged readings in NYC (dir. by Janis Powell) & Milwaukee (dir. by Christopher Carter Sanderson) at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater & was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. This past season, her ten-minute-play, Suburban Statues, was produced by Pink Banana Theatre at The Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee & she also adapted & directed an African folk-tale. The Monster of Masai, for a cast of sixty children. She was then asked to write a play for ATC's first annual 10x10 Festival of Short Plays, exploring what it means to be an American & the result was The Blood Lines of Isaac Diggs (directed by Jack Tamburri), about a man who transcends his racial prejudices to help a man he's just met; a man who shares his name. Laura Lynn has also written High on the Mountain, a two-person musical review celebrating the life & music of bluegrass pioneer, Ola Belle Reed, which will be performed by Elena Skye at the first Americana Play Festival at Banjo Jim's in the East Village in October. As a dramaturg, she has worked on I Am My Own Wife, Trouble in Mind, The Cherry Orchard & Pride & Prejudice. She is one of the founding members of Gorilla Rep.
Christopher Carter Sanderson (BFA New York University, MFA Yale School of Drama) founded New York's Gorilla Repertory Theater Company in 1992. The company's mission is to provide the highest quality productions of classical dramatic material with the flavor of contemporary immediacy for people where they are, free of charge. The unique aesthetic that he created for the company's work is the subject of his book, Gorilla Theatre (Routledge 2003). The company has produced 70+ productions in its 18 years, most directed by Mr. Sanderson. As a developmental dramaturg, Mr. Sanderson's work has brought him into collaboration with playwrights such as John Guare, Sarah Treem, Robert Steven Ackerman, Matt Freeman, Leah Ryan & many others. Mr. Sanderson is the Resident Theatrical Director for Houston's Opera in the Heights 2009 - 2010 Season. His academic posts include adjunct stints at Princeton & Yale & numerous guest lectures all over the world including Kuwait & Dubai. He will be on the faculty of TITAN International Theater School in Oslo, Norway for Spring Semester of 2009-2010.
DATES & TIMES: Thurs & Sat AT 8pm ~ Aug 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27 & 29
