Shakespeare's Globe's KING LEAR, 'CIRCUS NOW' & More Set for NYU Skirball's 2014-15 Season

NYU SKIRBALL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS has announced its 2014/2015 season. Continuing its mission to showcase and support diverse and eclectic talent from around the world, all while cultivating audiences for live performance through deeper engagement opportunities, NYU Skirball's eleventh season will feature mainstage productions ranging from classic Shakespeare to cutting-edge circus to a rock & roll light show, hailing from London, Germany, Quebec and everywhere in between.

"This season underscores our commitment to bringing New York audiences bold and illuminating performances from all over the world. We are proud to showcase work from renowned and emerging companies such as Shakespeare's Globe, Cirque Al- fonse, and Gob Squad. With our Visions + Voices global performance series and a commitment to contemporary circus arts, we offer audiences an opportunity to travel the globe - culturally - without leaving the city," said NYU Skirball Executive Director Michael Harrington. "It all adds up to a season that's bursting at the seams with creativity and vitality in the heart of Green- wich Village."

Beginning this fall, NYU Skirball will become the New York home of Shakespeare's Globe, the acclaimed company behind this season's Broadway double-bill ofTwelfth Night and Richard III. The partnership will kick off with the Globe's acclaimed production of KING LEAR, starring Joseph Marcell in the title role. The production will make stops in the UK and Europe before arriving at NYU Skirball, and uses eight actors and a booth stage design inspired by images of touring stages from Shakespeare's time. KING LEAR features direction, by Bill Buckhurst, scenic and costume design by Jonathan Fensom, and original music by Alex Silverman, and will run from September 29 through October 12, 2014.

From the Bard to the circus, NYU Skirball presents the New York premiere of TIMBER!, a new show from acclaimed circus troupe Cirque Alfonse. Inspired by their country roots in Quebec, Cirque Alfonse combines elements of the forest and folk- lore, folk music and flannel, with extraordinary acrobats and epic feats of agility and strength. From October 13-19, 2014.

From October 23-25, 2014, the JOSHUA LIGHT SHOW FESTIVAL returns to NYU Skirball for the first time since 2012. Called "The Most Psychedelic Light Show of All Time" by Rolling Stone, this legendary group - a New York staple since 1967 - combines live music, art, light, dance and projection to raise the concert experience to a whole new sensory dimension. This year's line-up includes The Bad Plus Performs Ornette Coleman's Science Fiction, Glasser, Woods, Television, Wye Oak, and J. Spaceman / Kid Millions.

NYU Skirball will also present a one-night only performance by legendary pianist and composer LUDOVICO EINAUDI on November 15, 2014. Known as a "pianist with Rock God tendencies" (Daily Telegraph), Einaudi's unique musical alchemy draws on elements of classical, rock, electronica, and world music. He has written over twenty film scores, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Soundtrack for Fuori Dal Mondo, and his most recent album, In A Time Lapse, broke UK chart history for a classical artist, and is the #1 iTunes Classical Album across Europe and the U.S.

Around the world, the circus arts are exploding with creativity, range, and vigor. For three nights, New York will experience an unprecedented taste of this new art, when NYU Skirball presents the first annual CIRCUS NOW: INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS EXPOSURE 2015 with the support of NYC Summerstage and the circus development organization, Circus Now. On January 8 through 10, 2015, NYU Skirball will further its commitment as a vanguard for the circus art form and host nearly a dozen critically-acclaimed international and American companies, premiering excerpts of their genre-redefining work.

This spring, NYU Skirball continues its Visions + Voices Global Performance Series, now in its third year, with a focus on Germany. Beginning in February of 2015, Visions + Voices: Germany will feature productions from three of Germany's premiere contemporary theatre companies, beginning with Gob Squad's WESTERN SOCIETY opening on February 18, 2015 and running through February 22, 2015 only. WESTERN SOCIETY presents a portrait of civilization in the 21st centu- ry. Inspired by a real video of an unknown family's mundane party, Gob Squad invites the audience to join them as bring the video to life, exploring who they are and who we are, and maybe most importantly, why we are.

SCHUBLADEN, a new production from She She Pop, will run from March 26 through March 28, 2015. Drawing from let- ters, journals, literature, music and photographs, and performed by three East-born and three West-born artists, SCHUBLAD- EN reimagines the reunification of Germany like never before and explores the complex relationship between East and West Germans.

REMOTE NEW YORK, an interactive production created by Rimini Protokoll, will run for three weeks in the spring of 2015, with dates to be announced this fall. REMOTE NEW YORK is a traveling theater experience that weaves through the city, reimagining the familiar from an alien point of view. Audience members are led on a journey by GPS instructions pumped through headphones, taking them on a truly interactive and technology-enhanced experience that opens one's eyes to their sur- roundings and the hidden routines and meanings we overlook each day.

More programming for Visions + Voices: Germany will be announced at a later date.

THE BIG RED CHAIR FAMILY SERIES
Throughout the year, NYU Skirball will be presenting its Big Red Chair Family Series, presenting unique family friendly fare for audiences of all ages. This year's Big Red Chair Family Series includes Theatergroep Kwatta's MANX MOUSE on November 16, 2014; THE SCIENCE OF SANTA on December 20, 2014; WILD KRATTS LIVE from January 17, 2015 through January 19, 2015; and from The Mermaid Theatre of Novia Scotia, a presentation of THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR on April 4, 2015.

NYU Skirball will also be hosting several events during the 2014/2015 season, including the NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE series, which is broadcast via satellite from London to audiences worldwide, with a presentation of MEDEA, starring Helen McCrory in the title role and directed by Carrie Cracknell on September 8, 2014; the ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS PRESENTS: THE CHANCELLORS READING on October 16, 2014; the 14TH ANNUAL PEKING OPERA FESTIVAL on October 28, 2014; the critically-acclaimed BALLETCOLLECTIVE on October 29 and October 30, 2014; comedian DAN- IEL KOREN on November 5, 2014; and the NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL, running November 6 - 8, 2014.

This Thanksgiving, NYU Skirball will host the New York return of the critically acclaimed theatre group, MUMMENSHANZ with their show, THE MUSICIANS OF SILENCE. Through the inventive use of shadow, light, and creative manipulation of objects, MUMMENSHANZcreates a visually stunning spectacle of that transcends cultural barriers and sparks the imagination. The 2014 run at NYU Skirball will feature classic audience favorites, as well as brilliant new creations seen for the first time. From November 20, 2014 through November 30, 2014.

NYU Skirball will also host New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, America's preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory ensemble, for their 40th anniversary season. To kick off their fourth decade, NYGASP will present three performances only of RUDDIGORE on November 1 and 2, 2014, followed by six performances of H.M.S. PINAFORE on December 26 through December 31, 2014 and four performances of THE GONDOLIERS from May 15 through May 17, 2015.

Additional programming will be announced at a later date.

Tickets for the 2014-2015 season go on sale on August 1, 2014 and may be purchased online at www.nyuskirball.org or in person at the NYU Skirball Center Box Office: Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00-6:00 P.M. The NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square, New York, New York 10012.