Brecht's BAAL Begins at Columbia Stages October 22nd

Columbia Stages presents Bertolt Brecht's BAAL, translated by Peter Tegel and directed by James Dacre, running October 22nd - 25th, 2008, at The Riverside Theatre, located in the historic Riverside Church at 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Streets.

Brecht's revolutionary first play is a disturbing vision of immorality expressed through one man's insatiable hunger for experience. A young poet journeys through an urban underworld, blindly striking out against conventional values and leaving in his wake the corpses of lovers and friends. With haunting imagery and grotesque characters, BAAL offers a telling insight into our own age.

This re-imagination of Brecht's masterful debut features live original music by British composer Jonathan Styles and New York rock band CZA as well as video designs created by Shawn Duan, Keith Stretch, and Tom Hicks.

The notorious downtown performance troupe The Pixie Harlots will perform alongside an ensemble cast of 15 including Kelly Dupuis, Manuel Fihman, Mariam Habib, Tom Lawson, Jr., Ed Malone, Natalie Paul, Sue Wallack, Merritt Janson,Chuck McMahon, Kila Packett, Laura Pruden, Lorraine Rodriguez, Tim Roselle, Ben Sinclair, and Mickey Solis as Baal.

Tickets for BAAL can be purchased online at www.ColumbiaStages.com, by calling 212.870.6784, or by visiting the box office at the Riverside Theatre. Box office hours are Thursday - Saturday, 4:00PM - 8:00PM and Sunday noon - 4:00PM, as well as one hour prior to performances. All seating is general admission.

The show plays one week only with evening performances Wednesday - Saturday, October 22nd - 25th at 8:00PM and one matinee performance Saturday, October 25th at 2:00PM.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Wednesday, October 22nd at 8:00PM

Thursday, October 23rd at 8:00PM

Friday, October 24th at 8:00PM

Saturday, October 25th at 2:00PM

Saturday, October 25th at 8:00PM

The creative team also includes: set designer Zane Pihlstrom; costume designer Melissa Trn; lighting designer Scott Bolman; sound designer Brad Ward; wig, hair, and make-up designer Erin Kennedy Lunsford; fight director Al Foote III; dramaturg Kirsten Bowen; associate director Mickey Solis; and assistant director Daniel Mitura.

Biographies

James Dacre (Director) studied at Cambridge University and is a Fulbright Scholar in Theatre Directing at Columbia University. He has trained with theatres in France, Czech Republic, Denmark, and Poland and assistant directed for Anne Bogart, Silviu Purcarete, RoBert Woodruff, and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Recent directing credits include: Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld (Cambridge Arts Theatre); Torben Betts's The Unconquered (59E59 Theater and UK Tour/with Muriel Romanes), The Error of Their Ways (HERE Arts Centre), and Five Visions of the Faithful (Edinburgh Festival); Dic Edwards's Astrakhan Winter (Edinburgh Festival); Let Us Go Then, You and I (Collective: Unconscious); Bekah Brunstetter's Daddy Took My Debt Away (AtlanticTheatre/At Play Productions); and numerous productions at Columbia University such as Maxim Gorky's Barbarians, Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, and Caught in the Shadow of the Moon. Additionally, James has directed original work by Lucy Thurber, Nanna Mwaluko, James Nicholson, and Suzan-Lori Parks as well as new writing at New Dramatists, The New Professional Theatre, The Algonquin Theatre, Stellar Quines, Ars Nova, and The Arcola. James is a member of Old Vic New Voices and At Play Productions.

COLUMBIA STAGES (Producer) is the producing arm of the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies of Columbia University's School of the Arts. Columbia Stages annually presents a season of graduate actor and director productions as well as a festival of new plays by emerging playwrights. The theatre division offers M.F.A.degrees in acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, stage management, and theatre management and producing. The goal of the division is to provide each student with the foundation for a career in professional theatre as well as the tools to embrace an ever-changing theatrical landscape and shape the future of theatre.

This production is made possible by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

www.ColumbiaStages.com