La Jolla Playhouse Presents AURELIA'S ORATORIO 2/3/2010-2/28/2010

La Jolla Playhouse announces a special engagement of Aurélia's Oratorio, a fascinating, family-friendly work starring Aurélia Thierrée, conceived and directed by Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, running February 3 - 28, 2010 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

Behind the red velvet curtain lies Aurélia's Oratorio's topsy-turvy world of surreal surprises, tricks, and transformations, where dreams come to life and the impossible happens before your very eyes. Aurélia Thierrée was first seen on stage as a young girl, performing with her parents Jean-Baptiste Thierrée and Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, creators of the famous Cirque Imaginaire and Cirque Invisible, which enjoyed a successful run at La Jolla Playhouse during the 1995 season. Now an actress in her own right, Ms. Thierrée has charmed audiences around the world with this dazzling display of stage illusion, inspired by the magic of music hall and circus, co-created with her mother Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, and performed Jaime Martinez.

Aurélia Thierrée has been performing on stage since early childhood. She began her career in her parent's Le Cirque Imaginaire and Le Cirque Invisible, during which time she learned to combine a developing sense of the surreal with the demands and discipline required. During recent years she has worked with a number of film artists, including Milos Forman, Coline Serreau, and Jacques Baratier. For several years, she toured with The Tiger Lillies in The Tiger Lillies Circus. She has also worked in variety and cabaret in Berlin. Inspired by medieval drawings that depict worlds upside down and inside out, she collaborated with Victoria Thierrée Chaplin to create Aurélia's Oratorio for the stage.

Born in Santa Monica, California, Victoria Thierrée Chaplin was the last offspring of her parents prior to their exile to Europe. She studied ballet and music in Switzerland, and in 1969 she met Jean Baptiste Thierrée whom she later married, and together they have worked on the development of a new form of circus, Le Cirque Bonjour, which was invited to the Festival d'Avignon in 1971 and toured France. As the Thierrées moved towards a more personal approach of the circus world Le Cirque Imaginaire was born, with the two artists and their two children, Aurélia and James, which toured the world for ten years, followed by another show, Le Cirque Invisible. In addition to her own acts, Ms. Chaplin created most of the costumes herself, and chose the music for the productions. Recently, she worked with her son James Thierrée on the design and costumes for his productions Junebug Symphony, La Viellée des Abysses, and Au Revoir Parapluie. Aurélia's Oratorio is her first creation, both as director and creator for a show.

Jaime Martinez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was raised in Columbia, SC. where he began his training with Ann Brodie and Naomi Calvert. He furthered his training on a Nancy Reynolds Scholarship at the North Carolina School of the Arts, as well as a scholarship from the American Dance Machine and American Dance Festival. Mr. Martinez was a Founding member of The Parsons Dance Company in 1987 has taught over 400 master classes, including residencies at SUNY Purchase, The Juilliard School, and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He has staged numerous works by David Parsons the Ballet du Rhin, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Carte Blanche Dance Company of Norway, Ballet National de Nancy, Pennsylvania Ballet, New York City Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet and Roland Petit Ballet National de Marseille, and is a recipient of a 1998 New York Dance and Performance Bessie. He is a founding member of Mark Dendy Dance & Performance and has worked with Diane Martell, Pearl Lang, Ruby Shang, Douglas Wright, Uris/Barr and Dancers, Robin Becker and Pooh Kaye's Excentric Motions.

The schedule for Aurélia's Oratorio is as follows: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm; Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm; Saturday and Sunday at 2:00pM. Prices: $45 for adults; $25 for children 12 and under; $35 for La Jolla Playhouse subscribers. Tickets are available by calling the Box Office at (858) 550-1010 or online at www.lajollaplayhouse.org.