ELECTRA to be Centerpiece at Phoenix Theatre Ensemble 's 'First Stories' Festival

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, a resident theatre ensemble now in its 9th season, announces that its concluding production of the 3-year House of Atreus trilogy ELECTRA will be the centerpiece production of the company's "First Stories" festival of Greek-inspired theatre, music, and dance performances.

Electra in the acclaimed translation by Anne Carson is the final installment of the company's 3-year trilogy which started in 2011 with Iphigenia at Aulis and was followed by Glyn Maxwell's Agamemnon Home in 2012. Electra concludes the story of Clytemnestra who was tricked into agreeing to the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia to the Greek military campaign, and then 10 years later murders her returning victorious husband and now her daughter Electra avenges her father's death through matricide.

For the conclusion of the trilogy the company is hosting a festival of Greek-inspired performances to complement the production of Electra.

The "First Stories Festival" will include a new version of The Trojan Women adapted by Leigh Strimbeck and presented by Russell Sage College for women in Troy, New York. In this modern feminist retelling of the classic, the women of Troy are held in a prison of war camp located in Troy, New York, while the U.S. is embroiled in a 10-year civil war. Performances are Saturday, March 9th 4:30 PM & Sunday, March 10 @ 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM

The Petting Zoo, the popular NYC based musical improv group, will present an evening of musical improvisations initiated from Greek tragedy themed audience suggestions (infanticide, matricide, oracles, blind psychics, etc.). Performance on Saturday March 9th @ 10:30 PM.

New York composer Ellen Mandel and Dickinson College Dance Department will comprise Parados, a double-bill evening of original music composed for Greek theatre productions and a dance-piece based on Oedipus at Colonus. Mandel and singers will be presenting songs written by Mandel for The Cure at Troy, Agamemnon Home, and The Bacchae, among others. The dance portion of the evening under the guidance of Sarah Skaggs, Director of Dance at Dickinson College, with a dance titled "Game of Graces" (choreographed by Dawn Springer for 3 women dancers and 4 trombonists) and a complementary piece titled "Sanctuary." Parados will be performed Tuesday, March 12 @ 6:00 PM, 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM.

New York based theatre company the New Pilgrims will be performing Tauris by New York playwright Sarah Moon is a modern retelling of Iphigenia at Tauris set in Appalachia coal country (with the inclusion of songs with an Appalachian influence) and comments on our times and the political and practical aspects of environmental change.

Electra is being directed by Amy Wagner, Phoenix Co-Artistic Director, who directed the first two installments of the trilogy. The 6-member cast will feature Kelly Holsopple as Electra. Ms Holsopple played Iphigenia in 2011 and Cassandra in 2012. Electra will run Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 and Sundays at 3:00 PM from March 8 through March 24th.

All performances will be at THE WILD PROJECT in the heart of New York's East Village at 195 East 3rd Street, the renovated 99-seat "green" theatre with eco-friendly features including recycled glass tiles, bamboo plywood, low flush toilets, rooftop solar panels and energy-efficient glass windows.

Advance discount passes and single tickets for Phoenix Theatre Ensemble may be purchased by calling 212-352-3101 or visiting www.PhoenixTheatreEnsemble.org. Advance tickets are $25 or pay-what-you-can tickets are available at the door.

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