BWW Previews: DANCING THROUGH IT, Beginning Tonight at Cherry Lane Theater

Dancing Through It will be presented at Cherry Lane Theater, 38 Commerce Street in New York City from tonight, August 12th, through August 23rd. Written and directed by Tricia Brouk, it is inspired by the memoir Tales From The Trundle written by Francesca Van Horne. Van Horne also stars in this one-woman production. Dancing Through It is a work in progress that explores a women's journey out of an abusive relationship and into a healthy one with humor and grace. The show is the journey of a girl, a woman and a superwoman.

Francesca Van Horne is an actor, producer, and writer. Van Horne has been in several national commercials and short films, and has performed in theater as Olive in Two Sisters directed by Juan Pablo Felix, Venice Youngblood in Trailerville directed by Eileen Galindo, and Mrs. Forbes in Dulcy at Wings Theater. Francesca can be seen in the upcoming feature films El Gallo, and St Nicholas. Plans are in the making for TFT to run in Paris next season. Dominique Coubes theatrical veteran in Paris with Le Theatre Gymnase, will take production roles in the upcoming run.

Tricia Brouk is the writer and director for Dancing Through It. Brouk is currently directing and choreographing Carson The Musical. In addition to Dancing Through It, Tricia also wrote, directed and choreographed Committed, which had a sold out run at The West End Theater in New York City and is part of the 2015 spring season at City Repertory Theater in Palm Coast, Florida as well as 50 Shades of F****D Up, A Musical Parody, produced at The Red House Theater in Syracuse, Sophie's on Broadway and Stage 72 in NYC. She has directed and choreographed, The Taffetas, I Love You, You're Perfect Now Change!, Bingo, The Winning Musical, Popesical, Broadway Varietease, the Off Broadway Tokio Confidential. Tricia choreographed The Affair for Showtime, Black Box for ABC, John Turturro's feature film Romance and Cigarettes, where she received a Golden Thumb award from Roger Ebert. Her choreography can also be seen in Dennis Leary's Rescue Me, Lasse Hallstrom's The Hoax. She is currently directing the new series Sublets.

We spoke with Tricia Brouk and asked her how she became interested in Dancing Through It. "What attracted me to the project was working with Francesca. She had an idea about a one-woman show that came from doing open readings of her journal entries. She approached me to direct the piece, but there was no script. The idea of writing something new that could also potentially bring awareness to domestic violence through art and with humor, was very interesting to me. Not only is she incredibly open and positive, but she's an artist who's up for the challenge. She plays ten characters and never leaves the stage for 70 minutes. That's not easy. I've had the opportunity to watch her grow as an artist and her voice is emerging within the piece. That's powerful and beautiful to witness."

Brouk also told us why Dancing Through It is such a unique piece of theater. "I think what makes Dancing Through It distinctive theater is the multi-media aspect of the show. I'm creating multiple locations, within one space, by using projections. My technical director, Kane Chiang, was helping me figure out how to light a dream sequence in the show, and that turned into a conversation about projections. That conversation expanded again into using these projections to help tell the story by creating locations on stage. That then expanded again when I began to understand that the moods, subtext and the essence of the piece could also be enhanced by multi-media. The story of Dancing Through It is really about a woman getting out of an abusive relationship and finding a healthy one with herself. That takes incredible strength and courage. It made me think of a super hero. Then I began to realize, that we are all super heros in our own lives. Whether it's helping someone across the street or out of a burning building, we are doing super heroic things every day. How we get through life as super-heroes is what makes us unique, whether it's kicking and screaming through life, or sleeping through life, or dancing through life with grace. I feel as though, in this story, she got on with grace. She danced through it."

Dancing Through It runs for 70 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are currently on sale for $20 and may be purchased by calling OvationTix at 866-811-4111 or by visiting: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/947290. For more information about the play visit: www.DancingThroughItPlay.com.

Image Credit: Courtesy of "Dancing Through It"