Blessed Unrest Presents LA MUSICA DEUXIÈME By Marguerite Duras

Blessed Unrest will present La Musica Deuxième, written by revolutionary, communist, and feminist Marguerite Duras.

Artistic Director Jessica Burr directs a cast of two, including Taylor Valentine and Matilda Wood. Eleven performances will be staged from May 2-18, 2024, at Drawing Room, 247 West 30th Street, Unit 9R, New York, NY 10001.

Written by revolutionary, communist, and feminist Marguerite Duras, La Musica Deuxième tells the story of lovers who unexpectedly reunite after separation. Their charged dialogue reveals the passions, betrayals and savagery of their previous relationship. Twenty years after La Musica, Duras wrote “Act 2”. Duras says: "For almost all that time I have wanted this second Act. For twenty years I have been hearing choked voices, ravaged by the weariness of the sleepless night. May He and She persevere for ever in this youth of first love." 

"Duras was a revolutionary and La Musica Deuxième is a reckoning," said Director Jessica Burr. "It speaks to the dilemmas of being flesh-bound...of what it means to be owned by desire, repulsion, longing. It speaks of abandon, both the noun and the verb. It speaks of love, and of the clinging, grasping seizures of jealousy. It is exquisitely crafted, and it is human." 

Performances are Thursdays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m.; Plus, Monday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. There is no performance on Friday, May 3. The runtime is approximately 75 minutes, no intermission. General admission tickets are $25. For tickets, visit https://www.blessedunrest.org/. Direct ticketing link: https://our.show/lamusica.

Costume Designer: Sera Bourgeau, Lighting Designer: Jay Ryan, Sound Designer: Laura Galindo, Stage Manager: Rachel Blackwelder. Blessed Unrest Business Manager: Jenn Allen, and Producing Director: Danica Jensen.

Blessed Unrest is a subversive physical theater ensemble that transforms new and classic plays into channels for unexpected alchemy, energetic discomfort, and complex articulation. Through a dedicated and diverse ensemble, international collaborations, and a rigorous training and devising process, we are fueled by the innate human desire to collaborate, the thrill of the impossible challenge, and the instinctual need to rebel. We teach our methods of physical theatre and devising to university students across the country and internationally through workshops and residencies. We have performed at New York Theatre Workshop, Public Theater, P.S. 122, Mabou Mines, New Ohio Theatre, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Interart Theatre, NYU's Loewe Theatre, Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco's Exit Theatre, Emelin Theatre in Westchester, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, and on international tours in Western Europe and the Balkans. We have staged thirty-eight full productions in New York (twenty-three world premieres), including original devised plays, adaptations of classics, and stagings of established scripts. See our past productions here.

Meet the Director and Cast

Jessica Burr (director) is the founding Artistic Director of Blessed Unrest, an internationally acclaimed physical theatre company, and recipient of the 2019 Kennedy Center ACTF Commendation for Distinguished Leadership, First Prize 2016 Secondo Festival (Switzerland), 2011 LPTW Lucille Lortel Award and multiple NY Innovative Theatre Awards. Burr is an Artist in Residence at Sacred Heart University in recognition of her work on The Untitled Othello Project. With Blessed Unrest Burr has directed and choreographed over 30 productions, including 15 world premieres. Productions include Doruntine (First Prize, 2016 Secondo Festival, Switzerland), Body: Anatomies of Being (New Ohio/IRT Theatre Archive Residency), The Snow Queen (2018 IT Award winner for Outstanding Production, developed in a New Victory LabWorks residency), Battle of Angels (commissioned to headline the 2021 Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival), Lying (multiple IT Award nominee), and Eurydice's Dream (2013 IT Award winner for Outstanding Movement/Choreography).

Taylor “TV” Valentine (HE) - has over 20+ years of professional theatre experience and is no stranger to the stage. From children's theatre tours to Off-Broadway, from regional theatre to fringe festivals, he seeks to tell stories of love and transformation. Though we last saw him perform in 2018 in Platanov (Blessed Unrest) and Enemy (Smith Street Stage), TV has been busy in the world of arts education. He currently finds his joy working with students and educators to help them unlock pathways to possibility and find their love for learning, using theatrical application and performance technique as the ultimate Social-Emotional Learning tool. TV is a Blessed Unrest company member and Training Coordinator. He has an MFA in acting from Case Western, and is a certified Social Emotional Ethical (SEE) Learning Facilitator with Emory University. He would not be who he is today without the love and support of his partner Edwina and daughter Franny. Grateful for where he has been, hopeful for where he is going, TV is always balancing, never balanced.

Matilda Woods (SHE) is an accomplished actor, director, playwright who specializes in devised and physical theatre. Her original solo show, Chasing the Tides or Exposure premiered in 2022 with Blessed Unrest. Her next writing/performance project, Safe House, is currently in development. Originally from the west coast, she enjoys long misty walks through the redwood forest. 

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