THE HOUR OF THE STAR Plays Connelly Theatre, Now thru 2/21

Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star Columbia Stages will present THE HOUR OF THE STAR, a comedic and philosophical piece about the existential search for meaning in a tragic world. Part solo-performance and part-storybook-theatre, this production puts Clarice Lispector's famous novella into a contemporary theatrical context.

Adapted by Dara Malina and Jolene Noelle, directed by Dara Malina, a third year MFA director at Columbia University's School of the Arts, produced by Meghan Long (Producer, Junesong) and starring Ean Sheehy (Red-Eye to Havre de Grace), THE HOUR OF THE STAR will be presented at THE CONNELLY THEATRE from today, February 18-21, 2015.

"The story drives me to despair because it's too simple. What I plan to tell seems easy and accessible to everyone. But its elaboration is very difficult." - The Hour of the Star

Rodrigo S.M. has locked himself in his cubbyhole apartment, giving up sex and soccer in order to write the story of Macabéa, a poor typist living in Rio de Janeiro. She survives on nothing but hot dogs and dreams of one day becoming Marilyn Monroe. Traveling through Rodrigo's wretched soul as he uncovers Macabéa's thin and tragic story, we learn that, like an animal, Macabéa has no concept of her own existence. And as the tortured overly conscious writer tells this overtly simple story, we find that in the midst of darkness even the smallest moments of beauty make life worth living.

Clarice Lispector was a Brazilian writer, lauded as the most important Jewish author since Franz Kafka. Her work is innovative, beautiful, deeply stirring, and often unsettling. Her final novella, The Hour of the Star, was completed just weeks before her death in 1977.

Director Dara Malina explains that following the recent resurgence of Clarice Lispector's translated works, this production celebrates an author whose words attempt to answer life's most difficult questions: does God exist? Why are we here? Why is there so much suffering in the world? As an audience, we will enter this exploration together - its darkness, confusion, despair and passion, ultimately finding hope by the end. THE HOUR OF THE STAR
By Clarice Lispector
Translated by Benjamin Moser
Adapted by Dara Malina and Jolene Noelle, Directed by Dara Malina
FEBRUARY 18-21

Venue: THE CONNELLY THEATER
220 East 4th St., NY, NY 10009

Showtimes:
Wednesday February 18 @ 8pm
Thursday February 19 @ 8pm
Friday February 20 @ 8pm
Saturday February 21 @ 2pm and 8pm

Tickets: $15/ $5 Seniors/ FREE with Student ID (enter code: "STUDENT").
For tickets visit www.columbiastages.org
Show Info: www.columbiastages.org