Theatre for a New Audience and Baryshnikov Arts Center Present Fragments

Following acclaimed performances internationally, Theatre for a New Audience, in association with Baryshnikov Arts Center, will present the New York premiere of C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord's Fragments from the texts by Samuel Beckett for only 29 performances at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 West 37th Street.

Fragments assembles the five Beckett shorts: Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act without Words II, Neither and Come and Go.

Beginning previews Wednesday, November 9, at 8:00pm for an opening Sunday, November 13, at 3:00pm (for a run through December 4), Fragments is directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne and features Jos Houben, Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni, three artists who have worked extensively with Théâtre du Complicité. Lighting is by Philippe Vialatte.

In another of his exquisitely crafted, late-career creations, Mr. Brook and Ms. Estienne interpret the 20th century's greatest playwright. Beckett was acclaimed in part for his incomparable concision, his unique mastery of the breathtakingly profound short work.

"Beckett was a perfectionist," writes Mr. Brook, "but can one be a perfectionist without an intuition of perfection? Today, with the passage of time, we see how false were the labels stuck on Beckett­despairing, negative, pessimistic. Indeed, he peers into the filthy abyss of human existence. His humor saves him and us from falling in. He rejects theories, dogmas, that offer pious consolations, yet his life was a constant, aching search for meaning."

Fragments was first presented in 2006 at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord with the collaboration of Lilo Baur and revived later in co-production with the Young Vic Theatre in London. Fragments is the third collaboration between Theatre for a New Audience and Peter Brook and C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord following 2009's The Grand Inquisitor and 2010's Love is My Sin.

Box Office
Fragments performs Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00pm with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00pm (no matinee Wednesday, November 9) and Sundays at 3:00pm

Tickets for Fragments are $75 and may be purchased via the web at www.web.ovationtix.com/trs/dept/745 or via phone at 866-811-4111.

$10.00 New Deal tickets for ages 25 and under or full-time students may be purchased in advance on a first come, first served basis, with code "NEWDEAL". Valid ID listing proof of age or enrollment as a full-time student required.

Theatre for a New Audience is offering subscription packages that may be ordered from Theatre for a New Audience. To order or for more information visit www.tfana.org.

Peter Brook & Marie-Hélène Estienne
Peter Brook was born in London in 1925. He directed his first play there in 1943. He then went on to direct over 70 productions in London, Paris and New York. His work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes Love's Labour's Lost (1946), Measure for Measure (1950), Titus Andronicus (1955), King Lear (1962), Marat/Sade (1964), US (1966), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970) and Antony and Cleopatra (1978).

In 1971, he founded the International Centre for Theatre Research in Paris and in 1974, opened its permanent base in the Bouffes du Nord Theatre. There, he directed Timon of Athens, The Ik, Ubu aux Bouffes, Conference of the Birds, L'Os, The Cherry Orchard, The Mahabharata, Woza Albert!, The Tempest, The Man Who, Qui est là?, O! les Beaux Jours, Je suis un Phénomène, Le Costume, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Far Away, La Mort de Krishna, Ta Main dans la Mienne, Le Grand Inquisiteur (presented in New York by Theatre for a New Audience), Tierno Bokar, and Sizwe Banzi is dead - many of these performing both in French and English.

In opera, he directed La Bohème, Boris Godounov, The Olympians, Salomé and Le Nozze de Figaro at Covent Garden; Faust and Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, La Tragédie de Carmen and Impressions of Pelleas, at the Bouffes du Nord, Paris and Don Giovanni for the Aix en Provence Festival.

Peter Brook's autobiography, Threads of Time, was published in 1998 and joins other titles including The Empty Space (1968 - translated into over 15 languages), The Shifting Point (1987), Evoking (and Forgetting) Shakespeare (2002), and There are No Secrets (1993).

His films include Lord of the Flies, Marat/Sade, King Lear, Moderato Cantabile, The Mahabharata and Meetings with Remarkable Men.

Marie-Hélène Estienne has taken part in many theatre and cinema projects as author and production assistant. While a journalist at Le Nouvel Observateur and Les Nouvelles Littéraires, she became Michel Guy's assistant, working on the programming of the Paris Festival d'Automne.

In 1974 she worked on the casting of Peter Brook's Timon of Athens. She joined C.I.C.T. in 1977 for Ubu aux Bouffes and has since been production assistant for all the Centre's work.

She was also Mr. Brook's assistant for La Tragédie de Carmen and The Mahabharata and artistic collaborator for The Tempest, Impressions de Pelléas and more recently The Tragedy of Hamlet (2000). This collaboration developed to include dramaturgy for Woza Albert!, The Man Who, and Qui est là?. She co-authored, with Peter Brook, Je suis un Phénomène, presented at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (1998). She produced the French language adaptation of Le Costume (The Suit) by Can Themba, created in 1999 at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord as well as Faraway by Caryl Churchill in 2002.

She collaborates in the directing and together with Jean Claude Carrière the texts for La Tragédie d'Hamlet (2002) and La Mort de Krishna. She recently realized the French adaptation of Ta Main Dans la Mienne by Carol Rocamora, in 2003 the theatrical adaptation of Le Grand Inquisiteur by Dostoyevsky and in 2004, Tierno Bokar from Amadou Hampaté Bâ's works. She lately adapted to French the play Sizwe Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona.

Jos Houben studied at L'École Jacques Lecoq with Philippe Gaulier, Monika Pagneux and Pierre Byland. He is a certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method - Awareness Through Movement.

An original member of Théâtre du Complicité, he co-created and performed in A Minute Too Late and collaborated on many other projects with Annabel Arden, Simon McBurney and Lilo Baur. He was a director and co-writer of cult comedy troupe The Right Size (which has won Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment in 1999 and Best New Comedy in 2002) playing in the West End and Off-Broadway. For Thames TV he created and performed Mr Fixit, a silent slapstick TV comedy for children. He was also creative director and associate producer for Ragdoll TV's Brum - The Magical Little Car. He created and performed Quatre Mains, a theatre piece for four hands with Andrew Dawson.

Kathryn Hunter, New York-born, London-raised, read French and Drama at Bristol University and went on to train at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts with the inspirational Hugh Crutwell.

Ms. Hunter played Alan Ayckbourn farces in UK Rep before joining Chattie Salaman in Common Stock and training in Grotowski based techniques. She joined Théâtre du Complicité devising: Anything for a Quiet Life directed by Simon McBurney, Help I am Alive, a Commedia dell'Arte creation, and Out of a House Walked a Man, Royal National Theatre London.

Other productions with Complicité include: Foe, The Winter's Tale and Durenmatt's The Visit playing Clara Zachanassian (Olivier Award Best Actress)

Favorite productions include King Lear directed by Helena Kaut Howsen, Richard III at Shakespeare's Globe, Caryl Churchill's Faraway directed by Peter Brook at Bouffes du Nord and The Skriker at the Royal National Theatre (Time Out Best Actress and Olivier nomination), Mr Ido in the Bee directed Hideki Noda, Spoonface Steinberg by Lee Hall, directed by Annie Castledine and Marcello Magni, Ambassadors London West End.

Films include Orlando by Sally Potter, All or Nothing by Mike Leigh, Baby of Macon by Peter Greenway and Mrs Figg in Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, Charmian in Rome for HBO.

Most recently she was Cleopatra for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Red Peter in Kafka's Monkey for Young Vic, London and Bouffes du Nord, Paris directed by Walter Meierjohann. She is a big fan of Sally Potter with whom she collaborated on Orlando and Mike Leigh on All or Nothing.
Marcello Magni was born in Bergamo, Italy. He studied at DAMS of Bologna University but ran away to Paris where he started his theatrical formation.

A graduate of Jacques Lecoq, he continues his studies with Pierre Byland, Philippe Gaulier and Monica Pagneux.

He is an actor, director, movement director and theatre teacher (Ecole Jacques Lecoq). As a co-Founder of Complicité in London he has worked with the company for twenty-four years and created his first shows there.

He collaborated on A Minute Too Late, More Bigger Snacks Now, Anything for a Quite Life, Please, Please, Please, Help I am Alive, Out of a House Walked a Man, The Visit, The Winter's Tale, Street of Crocodiles and Foe.

Mr. Magni's collaborations outside of Complicité include a curiosity for the world of masks and commedia dell'arte and he performs in Marivaux, Moliere and Ruzzante. Recently he has created a solo show Arlecchino in collaboration with Jos Houben and Kathryn Hunter.

Theatre has brought Mr. Magni into collaborations with Mark Rylance, Hideki Noda (Japan), George Kimoulis (Greece), Annie Castledine, Neil Bartlett, Helena Kaut Howsen (Poland and UK), Mike Alfred, David Glass, Jack Sheppard, Nancy Meckler and most of all with Ms. Hunter.

He has created and collaborated with Ms. Hunter in productions of Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Bertol Brecht, Lee Hall, and at The National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, RSC and Theatre Clwyd. He has performed in Beckett's Act Without Words for Beckett on Film (Channel 4) directed by Enda Hughs. His next project is an evening of stories from around the world with Kathryn Hunter and writer Gilles Aufrey for Prodo Productions.

Theatre for a New Audience & Baryshnikov Arts Center
Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience's <www.tfana.org > mission is to develop and vitalize the performance and study of Shakespeare and classic drama. The Theatre vigorously engages with Shakespeare and plays from the world repertoire. The Theatre has produced twenty-nine of the Bard's plays with directors who include Sir Peter Hall, Mark Rylance, Bartlett Sher and Julie Taymor, and a diverse repertory by authors such as Harley Granville Barker, Edward Bond and Adrienne Kennedy. It has played on Broadway, toured nationally and internationally. In 2001, Theatre for a New Audience became the first American theatre invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Stratford-upon-Avon. Cymbeline directed by Bartlett Sher, premiered at the RSC and in 2007, Theatre for a New Audience was invited to return with The Merchant of Venice starring F. Murray Abraham and directed by Darko Tresnjak.

Last season Theatre for a New Audience produced four acclaimed productions: Notes from Underground, Fiasco Theater's Cymbeline, Macbeth and The Merchant of Venice. Merchant, which again starred F. Murray Abraham was the Theatre's first production to have a national tour and received wide acclaim across the country. Presented Off Broadway by Theatre for a New Audience, Scott Morfee and Jean Doumanian, Fiasco Theater's Cymbeline is currently in a run off-Broadway through January 1 at the Barrow Street Theatre.

Theatre for a New Audience created and runs the largest education program in the New York City Public Schools to introduce Shakespeare and classic drama and serves approximately 2,000 students annually. A hundred and twenty-five thousand young people city-wide have participated since 1984. Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Theatre hosts a national, summer Shakespeare Institute for teachers.

Last June, Theatre for a New Audience broke ground for its first home, a center for Shakespeare and classic drama in downtown Brooklyn in the BAM Cultural District. The new theatre is slated to open in 2013 with Julie Taymor directing the inaugural production.

The Baryshnikov Arts Center is the realization of a long-held vision by artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov, who sought to build an arts center in Manhattan that would serve as a gathering place for artists from all disciplines. BAC's opening in 2005 heralded the launch of this mission, establishing a thriving creative laboratory and performance space for artists from around the world. BAC's activities encompass a robust residency program augmented by a range of professional services, including commissions of new work, as well as the presentation of performances by artists of excellence at varying stages of their careers. In tandem with its commitment to supporting artists, BAC is dedicated to building audiences for the arts by presenting contemporary, innovative work at affordable ticket prices. In February 2010, BAC opened the Jerome Robbins Theater, which serves as an organic extension of the existing center, featuring multi-disciplinary work, emerging talent, and International Artists, and including artist-centered activity that fosters creative exploration. For more information, please visit www.bacnyc.org.