Touchstone Theatre to Open Season with Maladype Theatre's KING UBU, 9/25-28

Touchstone Theatre kicks off their 2014-15 season with Hungarian theatre company Maladype Theatre in Alfred Jary's King Ubu, a schoolboy farce turned social satire. The play performs September 25-28, 2014.

Written in the late 1800s, Jary's play centers around a petty, would-be despot and his grotesque attempts at wielding power. Maladype Theatre's take on Jary's script embraces its inherent buffoonery, unfettered fantasy, and creative energy; staged around a half-pyramid pile of tabloid newspapers, Maladype describes the production as "an unusual mixture of pure theater, nonsense, and myth - an apocalyptic buffoonery." Director Zoltán Balázs structures the storytelling in this playful mode, "as if schoolchildren were entertaining their schoolmates after classes." Maladype first presented their take on King Ubu in a Budapest apartment in December of 2009, with audience members who were encouraged to actively participate in the performance.

Touchstone Artistic Director Jp Jordan first met members of Maladype Theatre in 2011 in Sibui, Romania at an international theatre festival; struck by their creativity and physical presence, he invited them to perform as part of Touchstone's season. "Watching Maldype perform resonates in the very core of your being. They are a company with a wide range of emotions that can take you from the darkest parts of the human experience to the pinnacles of joy," Jordan enthuses. "Sharing a theatrical experience with the theatre leaves the spectator with an experience that is at once personal and universal, devised ensemble theatre at its very best." After their September performance at Touchstone, Maladype Theatre embarks on their first US Tour, performing in Chicago at the Trap Door Theater.

Touchstone's season of mainstage productions is supported locally by season sponsors First Generation, an integrated marketing communications company, and RCN. WDIY provides media sponsorship.

Maladype Theatre's King Ubu performs September 25-28, 2014 at Touchstone Theatre. Shows are Thursday through Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm; tickets are $25 / $15 for students and seniors, with group rates available on request. On Thursdays, Touchstone offers a pay-what-you-will option at the door, allowing patrons to name their own ticket price. Advance tickets may be purchased at 610-867-1689 or online at www.touchstone.org.