Synetic Theater Opens THE THREE MUSKETEERS Tonight

Synetic continues its 2012/13 season with a brand-new adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas' novel, The Three Musketeers. Opening tonight, May 9 at Synetic Theater in Crystal City.

The story of The Three Musketeers revolves around D'Artagnan, a Gascon youth who dreams of fighting alongside The Musketeers and quickly teams up with musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis. The four men become entangled in a plot surrounding the evil Cardinal Richelieu, the sly Milady de Winter and a romance between the Duke of Buckingham and Queen Anne.

Brothers Peter and Ben Cunis have been working on the play for over 10 months. The challenge was to adapt the extremely complex store line to stage, and to make it work organically with the Synetic storytelling style. Paata Tsikurishvili, director of the production said, "Dumas' language-direct yet poetic, rough yet elegant-is a direct reflection of the breathless action throughout his novel and our adaptation of it. Throughout this story, characters physically collide and streak past each other from one end of France to the other, as they simultaneously and unavoidably crash together verbally-whether in brawls, duels, or in the bedroom."

The cast members had to take sword fighting lessons to prepare for this duel-filled production. "What this collision of words and movement has produced is a stylized fusion of grotesque physicality and heightened language which, we hope, stays as true to the spirit of Dumas' novel as to Synetic's own pursuit of theatrical fusion and synthesis," Tsikurishvili continues.

The show will feature Synetic veterans Dallas Tolentino, Ben Cunis, Hector Reynoso, Dan Istrate, Brynn Tucker, and Peter Pereyra. Irina Tsikurishvili, last seen on stage a year ago in The Taming of the Shrew, will return to spotlight as the treacherous Milady. This dazzling story of love, friendship, and gallantry finds breathtaking expression in an exhilarating original music by the award-winning composer Konstantine Lortkipanidze.

The Three Musketeers, directed by Paata Tsikurishvili and choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili will run tonight, May 9 - June 9, 2013. $10 preview on May 8, 2013 at 8 pm. All performances play the Synetic Theater, Crystal City, VA - 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington, Va., Wednesday - Saturday, 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, 2:00 p.m. Press Night/VIP Performance: Thursday, May 9, 2012, 8:00 p.m.

Tickets: $35 - $55, regular; student / under 25 tickets $15-20. Senior citizens & military, $5 off. Jaleo Dinner + Theatre packages and group discounts available. Appropriate for ages 12+. Box Office: 800.494.8497 or www.synetictheater.org.

Metro: Crystal City (Blue / Yellow Lines). Parking: Free after 4pm on weekdays, Free all day on weekends.

Cast: Dallas Tolentino (D'Artanian), Ben Cunis (Athos), Matt Ward (Aramis), Hector Reynoso (Porthos), Brittany O'Grady (Constance), Robert Bowen Smith (King Louis XIII), Brynn Tucker (Queen Anne), Dan Istrate (Cardinal Richelieu), Peter Pereyra (Rochefort), Irina Tsikurishvili (Milady), Michell Grant (Buckingham), Vato Tsikurishvili (Felton), Zana Gankhuyag (Ensemble), Rebecca Hauman (Ensemble), Kathy Gordon (Ensemble), Kathryn Elizabeth Kelly (Ensemble).

Founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili, Synetic Theater is the region's premier contemporary theater fusing dynamic art forms-such as drama, text, movement, acrobatics, dance, film, and original music. Synetic has received a total of 92 Helen Hayes Award nominations and 24 Awards for directing, choreography, acting, costume design, and best play.