Hartford Stage Opens SummerStage 2011 with Fräulein Maria 6/15-26

Hartford Stage will launch its 2011 SummerStage season with Doug Elkins' & Friends' Fräulein Maria, the innovative and award-winning dance piece performed to the soundtrack from Rodgers & Hammerstein's movie classic, The Sound of Music. Fräulein Maria features a cast of talented dancers and was conceived and choreographed by Doug Elkins; the production is directed by Barbara Karger and Michael Preston, both of whom are also professors at Hartford's Trinity College. Presented in cooperation with The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. The production runs at Hartford Stage June 15 - 26, 2011.

Fräulein Mariacelebrates Rodgers and Hammerstein's timeless songs from The Sound of Music as re-imagined by the playful spirit of acclaimed choreographer Doug Elkins. Fräulein Maria began as a love letter to Elkins' children and is now a bona fide family tradition as well as a delightful, tour-de-force comedy. Set to the 1965 movie soundtrack, Elkins' affectionate humor shines through his idiomatic tips of the hat to such dance legends as Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham. He seamlessly merges modern and popular dance forms including hip-hop and "vogueing," reinventing this beloved classic into an edgy and fun cabaret romp. The New York Times calls Fräulein Maria "A mini-masterpiece, melding every kind of dance technique you can think of. Makes breakdancing and ballet look like obvious bedfellows." The New Yorker raves, "Each dance is a jewel of choreographic invention and comic subtlety."

Doug Elkins is a two-time New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Award-winning choreographer who began his career as a B-Boy, touring the world with break dance groups New York Dance Express and Magnificent Force, among others. In 1988, he officially founded the Doug Elkins Dance Company with Lisa Nicks, Jane Weiner, and Ben Munisteri, which performed nationally and internationally for fifteen years before disbanding in 2003. Doug is a recipient of significant choreographic commissions and awards from the NEA, National Performance Network, Jerome Foundation, Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation, Dance Magazine Foundation, Metropolitan Life/American Dance Festival, Hartford Foundation, Arts International, The Greenwall Foundation, and The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. In 1994, he was honored with a Brandeis University Creative Arts Medal, sharing the stage with author Philip Roth and photographer Nan Goldin. In 2006, he was honored in New York City by the Martha Hill Award for Career Achievement; last month in Boston, he received an Elliot Norton Award for Best Choreography. Doug has taught and choreographed extensively in the US and Europe and has created original work for Israel's Batsheva Dance Company, Flying Karamazov Brothers, MaggioDanza, Pennsylvania Ballet, Union Dance and CanDoCo of London, as well as a number of university dance companies and the renowned Mini & Maxi of Holland. His theater work includes collaborations with JoAnne Akalaitis and Philip Glass, RoBert Woodruff, Pavel Dubrusky, Annie Hamburger, Molly Smith, Craig Lucas, David Henry Hwang, Michael Preston and Barbara Karger, and Arin Arbus. A graduate of SUNY/Purchase, he received his MFA in Dance from Hollins University/ADF in 2007. Until January 2011, he taught at The Beacon School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where his tenure was the subject of Where the Dance Is, a short film by Marta Renzi. Most recently he concluded a creative residency in Santa Barbara sponsored by DANCEworks for the creation of Mo(or)town/Redux, and now, with funding from The Joyce Theater Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation's Cultural Innovation Fund, he and theater director Anne Kauffman are in residence at Joyce Soho for the creation of another new work.

Barbara Kargerwas born and raised in Vienna, Austria and received her MFA in Physical Theater at the renowned Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany. She was a founding member of the theater company, Antagon, which toured throughout Europe. As a performer she has worked with various companies including a world tour with the Swiss Mask Theater Troupe "Mummenschanz." Since the early 90's she has been directing productions both in the United States and abroad, including Peter and the Wolf with Doug Elkins and Michael Preston. She is an Associate Professor of Theater and Dance at Trinity College.

Michael Prestonwas a member of the Shaliko Company in New York City, founded by Leonardo Shapiro. He also worked with such artists as John Sayles, David Cale, Wynn Handman and Theodora Skipitares. From 1991 until 2000 he toured the world as one of the Flying Karamazov Brothers, which included three different runs on Broadway. With them he collaborated on and performed 9 different shows, ranging from the post-modern tragedy Le Petomane, to an update of Room Service (winner of an L.A. critic's award in 1998). They were nominated for an Olivier award in London for Best Comedy in 1994. He directed their last show, Life: A Guide for the Perplexed. He co-directed Peter and the Wolf, with Barbara Karger, which was choreographed by Doug Elkins, in Amsterdam in 2001. He is currently an Associate Professor of Theater and Dance at Trinity College.

Along with Doug Elkins and Michael Preston, the Hartford cast of Fraulein Maria includes Hilary Brown, Daniel Charon, Therman Christopher, Krista Jansen, Deborah Lohse, Kellie Ann Lynch, Cori Marquis, Meghan Merrill, Donnell Oakley, Joshua Palmer, and John Sorensen-Jolink, each making his or her Hartford Stage debut.

Lighting Designer for the production is James Latzel; Costume Designers are Barbara Karger and Robin Staff.

Tickets for Fraulein Maria are $25 to $50. A limited number of $10 "Ten Spot" tickets are also available for all performances, making Hartford Stage among the most affordable entertainment options in Connecticut. Discounts are available for groups of ten or more by calling 860-520-7244. Tickets for children and students are $10 off the full price when purchased in advance. Students of Capital Community College may purchase one $10 ticket to Fraulein Maria upon presentation of their student ID at the Hartford Stage box office. All discount programs are subject to availability and cannot combined with other offers. Hartford Stage has wheelchair accessible seating, assistive listening devices and other amenities. For more information, please call the Hartford Stage box office. Hartford Stage is located at 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford with parking located in the MAT Garage, directly adjacent to the theatre. The theatre is accessible from I-84 and I-91.

Key Dates and Information
Tickets for Fraulein Maria are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 860-527-5151 or by visiting hartfordstage.org.
Press opening for Fraulein Maria is Wednesday, June 15 at 7:30 p.m.
The production runs through June 26. Evening performances are Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Matinee performances are Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. For a more specific schedule of performances, call the Hartford Stage box office at 860-527-5151 or visit hartfordstage.org.

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