Hammer Theatre Center Presents KID KOALA: NUFONIA MUST FALL

Hammer Theatre Center presents Kid Koala's Nufonia Must Fall, a revolutionary live staging of the graphic novel featuring a team of puppeteers manipulating a cast of 10-inch puppets interacting on more than a dozen miniature sets and projected live on an enormous screen. Nufonia Must Fall tells of the epic love between a female roboticist and a music-loving T4 robot facing obsolescence as a newer, more efficient T5 robot keeps taking away his jobs. This multi-disciplinary performance directed by K.K. Barrett, Oscar nominee and longtime production designer for director Spike Jonze, is accompanied by music performed live by an ensemble of strings, piano, and electronic instruments. Nufonia Must Fall will be presented 7:30pm, Wednesday, February 13 & 7:30 Thursday, February 14 at the Hammer Theatre Center, 101 Paseo De San Antonio, San José. For more information and tickets, the public may visit www.hammertheatre.com or call (408) 924-8501.

Based on Kid Koala's 2003 graphic novel of the same name, the stage adaptation of Nufonia Must Fall premiered at the Luminato Festival in Toronto, Canada in 2014. Since its debut, the live adaptation has toured around the world and delighted audiences in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Chile, China, Canada, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The product of a joint collaboration between DJ Kid Koala, production designer K.K. Barrett, Afiara Quartet member Adrian Fung, and puppeteer Felix Boisvert, the show is performed, filmed, projected, and scored live using five cameras, 20 sets, 70 puppets, and a string quartet. This winning combination of film, music, and theater comes together to create one unforgettable experience.

Kid Koala is a world-renowned scratch DJ, music producer, and award-winning graphic novelist from Montreal, Canada. He has released four solo albums, collaborated with artists such as Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, and The Slew, and toured with the likes of Radiohead, the Beastie Boys, and Arcade Fire. Kid Koala has contributed to scores for several films, including Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and The Great Gatsby, and composed music for The National Film Board of Canada, the Cartoon Network, Sesame Street, and Adult Swim. Known for his extraordinary live shows, Kid Koala's past works have ranged from turntable carnivals like Short Attention Span Theater (featuring turntable bingo) and Vinyl Vaudeville (including puppets and dancers) to quiet-time events like Music To Draw To, his Space Cadet Headphone Experience.

Director K.K. Barrett is an acclaimed production designer known for his work on feature films. After beginning his creative path as a painter, sculptor, and musician, Barrett moved to Los Angeles where he designed sets for music videos, ultimately winning MTV awards for "Tonight Tonight" with the Smashing Pumpkins and "New Pollution" with Beck. Barrett has been the production designer on all of Spike Jonze's films, including Being John Malkovich, Where the Wild Things Are, and was recently nominated for an Oscar for his design of Her. Other notable collaborations include Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette with Sofia Coppola, Human Nature with Michel Gondry, and I Heart Huckabees with David O. Russell. Barrett's work with Karen O. on 2011's Stop the Virgens, a theater piece that combined dance, live music, projection, sets, and sound design, paved the way for his collaboration with Kid Koala on Nufonia Must Fall.

The Afiara Quartet is a 21st century string quartet defined by its pursuit of beauty, meaning, and growth as musicians and ambassadors for its genre. Comprised of violinists Valeri Li and Timothy Kantor, violist Eric Wong, and cellist Adrian Fung, the award-winning ensemble has been described as "a revelation" (La Presse) with performances balancing "intensity and commitment" and "frequent moments of tenderness" (Montreal Gazette). Afiara has held residencies at The Julliard School and San Francisco State University, and Fellowship Ensemble at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada.

The Hammer Theatre Center is a distinctive, state-of-the-art performance venue in the heart of downtown San José. Owned by the City of San José and newly operated by San José State University (SJSU), the Hammer Theatre's mission is to serve the community through artistically and educationally excellent programming that is expressive of the unique characteristics and diverse cultures that comprise Silicon Valley. The broader vision of the Hammer includes arts, innovation, and technology programming on the Paseo de San Antonio, creating a vibrant pathway between SJSU and the Tech Museum and bridging the urban spaces from Saint James Park down to the South of First Avenue cultural district. The Hammer also aims to connect SJSU's more than 37,000 faculty, students, and staff with the downtown cultural and economic corridors.