Life Jacket's GOREY: THE SECRET LIVES OF EDWARD GOREY Set for HERE This Spring

Life Jacket's GOREY: THE SECRET LIVES OF EDWARD GOREY centers on the enigmatic and endearing artist at different stages of his life, spanning 50 years from young adulthood to shortly before his death.

Eccentric, satirical, and fabulous, Gorey (1925-2000) enraptured readers with his darkly subversive and delightful pen-and-ink drawings and cryptic children's stories about adult subjects: death, love, joy, strangeness, and loss. During his lifetime, Gorey authored over 100 works including The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Doubtful Guest, and The Unstrung Harp - all of which are creatively embedded throughout this play.

GOREY: THE SECRET LIVES OF EDWARD GOREY is an introspective study that fuses fact and fiction using lush projections and inventive storytelling. Gorey investigates the artist's dark imagination, his personal demons, and the heartbreaking loneliness of creative genius. The result is a compelling collection of fragmented memories that are lyrical, revealing, and often funny.

"We're very excited to bring our imagining of the life of Edward Gorey to the stage," says director and playwright Travis Russ. "The more we delved into Gorey's work and his interviews, the more intrigued we became about the real man hidden behind the literary myth. We've created an intimate production that provides an up-close-and-personal look at one of America's most original artists."

Gorey is written and directed by Travis Russ and stars Andrew Dawson, Phil Gillen, and Aidan Sank. The production features projection and lighting design by John Narun; puppetry design by Elizabeth Ostler; sound design by Emma Wilk; choreography by Katie Proulx; costume design by Peri Grabin, and original art by Russell Warren-Fisher. Carl Vorwerk is technical director.

GOREY is a part of SubletSeries@HERE, HERE's curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.

Performance Schedule:
Sat, Apr 30, 7:00pm *preview
Sun, May 1, 7:00pm *preview
Tue, May 3, 7:00pm *opening
Wed, May 4, 7:00pm
Fri, May 6, 7:00pm
Sat, May 7, 7:00pm
Sun, May 8, 7:00pm
Thu, May 12, 7:00pm
Fri, May 13, 7:00pm
Sat, May 14, 7:00pm
Sun, May 15, 7:00pm
Thu, May 19, 7:00pm
Fri, May 20, 2:00pm *matinee
Fri, May 20, 7:00pm
Sat, May 21, 7:00pm
Sun, May 22, 2:00pm *matinee

HERE is located at 145 Ave of the Americas (6th Ave). Entrance is on Dominick St one block south of Spring. C/E trains to Spring Street stop.

Tickets: $18. For more information and tickets, go to www.LifeJacketTheatre.org, visit here.org, or call 212-352-3101

Travis Russ (writer / director / artistic director) - Travis Russ, Ph.D., is a writer and director and the founding Artistic Director of Life Jacket, a theatre company focused on creating works based on real events. His plays include Gorey, Jack & Jelly (starring Nelsan Ellis), and Norman's Beard. Travis also leads The Storytelling Project, sponsored by Fordham University, where he helps people from diverse communities tell their real stories on stage in front of a live audience. He is a member of The Civilians' Field Research Team and an Associate Professor at Fordham University

Life Jacket's mission is to create smart, original, and unpredictable theatre. We produce investigative works based on real-life stories, often engaging with the people whose stories we tell. We experiment with new theatrical languages and forms in pursuit of visually inventive and lyrically rich works.