Faux-Real Theatre to Present THE BACCHAE at LaMaMa

New York's avant-garde Faux-Real Theatre, which specializes in staging the classics of Greek theatre with an immersive abandon that closely approximates how these plays were first experienced thousands of years ago, is pulling out the stops with Euripides "The Bacchae." Returning to La MaMa, 74A East 4th Street, where it staged "Oedipus Rex XX/XY" in 2013, Faux-Real juices "The Bacchae" with music, dancing, masks, and titillating gender and costume malfunctions galore.

La MaMa, in association with The Faux-Real Theatre, presents "The Bacchae" by Euripides, beginning Thursday March 3 at 7:30pm, and running through Sunday March 20 at 2pm. Directed by Faux-Real Artistic Director Mark Greenfield, "The Bacchae" features masks by Lynda White, musical direction by Tony Naumovski, and costumes by Irina Getz.

In "The Bacchae," Dionysus -- celebrated, gender-bending and mercurial party god -- cavorts with his ecstatic followers, the girl-group known as The Bacchae, only to be challenged by the villainous secularist Pentheus. Taking the 5th century BC Euripides strictly at his word, "The Bacchae" is tantalizingly ambiguous. Overflowing with worship of all kinds (drunken goat dances anyone?) we may ask, is this liberation theology in the best sense, or a warning against religious zealotry? Or we may not.

Faux-Real's visceral approach is founded on the idea that these archaic texts still can deliver their ancient, universal truths with transformative strength when ensemble and audience jointly commit to taking part in a rich, community-strengthening catharsis together. What happened in ancient Greece never stayed in ancient Greece!

The show's gender-fluid, multi-ethnic, and multi-generational cast of 16 includes (partial list): Jeremy X. Halpern, Tony Naumovski, Emma Orme, Fiona Robberson, Aaron Scott, Dorian Shorts, Joy Smith, and Josephine Wheelwright.

Founded in 1994, Faux-Real has distinguished itself by staging immersive, boundary-breaking shows in a variety of unlikely, yet highly accessible theatres and locations, such Nuyorican Poets Café, the tall-ship Peking, Belvedere Castle, Times Square storefronts, Battery Park, Prospect Park, The Williamsburg Bridge, and, of course, the world-renowned La MaMa, founded in 1961 by theater pioneer Ellen Stewart.

Faux-Real's earliest work utilized devised texts presented in rave-like walk-thru environments. In 2010 the company began applying their raucous aesthetic to classic Greek texts. Notable recent productions include "FUNBOX Times Square," "Oedipus Rex XX/XY," "Jason and the Argonauts," "Lysistrata," "Htebcam (Macbeth backwards)," and "William Shakespeare's Haunted House."

Faux-Real Theatre's staging of "The Bacchae" performs at La MaMa, 74A East 4th Street, in a limited three-week engagement from March 3 to 20. Performances in the First Floor Theatre (a total of 12) are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $18, $13 for students and seniors. (Running time is 75 minutes.) For tickets and information call 212/475-7710, or visit www.lamama.org. For more information visit www.fauxreal.org.