The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College Presents SKRIP Orkestra 10/22-24

The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College presents SKRIP Orkestra (SCREECH Orchestra) as part of the Art of Justice Series on Friday, October 22 at 7:30pm; Saturday, October 23 at 7:30pm and 9:30pm; and Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 7:30pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 899 Tenth Avenue, NYC. Tickets are $20 (free for CUNY students with valid ID) and may be purchased by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or visiting www.ticketcentral.com.

Slovenia's GLEJ Theatre presents the U.S. premiere of SKRIP Orkestra, where pop rock meets kitsch-noir meets performance art. Six women from all over the former Yugoslavia share stories of their childhoods via folk songs, fairy tales, and uncompromising punk music played on unconventional instruments including sewing machines and meat cleavers to put an unlikely playful spin on dark tales of war, domestic violence, childhood sexual abuse and more.

SKRIP Orkestra erases the line between theatre and concert performance. The first original project by the actress and dancer Jelena Rusjan, SKRIP Orkestra is an exploration of a form of theatre where the obscure forces of violence, personal responsibility, and lost childhoods face the variegated aesthetics of kitsch-noir. The performance draws its inspiration from a variety of sources, from the darkness of McDonagh's Pillowman and Andersen's tales, to the playful Tim Burton, folk songs, and uncompromising punk. The project resulted in a musical cast who confronts its theatrical roots. Through stories of tormented and abused children, the performers present mainly themselves on stage. The key feature of the SKRIP Orkestra is a critical relation between lighter pop patterns and serious content used to establish the issue of an artist's responsibility towards her social and cultural environment, as well as to search out the most effective forms of expression. SKRIP Orkestra premiered in Ljubljana as part of the International Festival Ex Ponto in September of 2009, was presented at the International Festival of Kosovo and in Croatia in 2009, and continues to tour Eastern Europe in 2010 and 2011. For more information, visit http://skriporkestra.bandcamp.com.

SKRIP Orkestra is hosted in New York by Professor Seth Baumrin, Communication and Theatre Arts Department, John Jay College, and Vernice Miller's A Laboratory for Actor Training Experimental Theater Company. The performance will be presented in three languages, Bosnian, Slovenian and Croatian, with English subtitles. SKRIP Orkestra will also be presented in cabaret performance on October 29 and 30 at 8:30pm at South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford Street (between Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street), Brooklyn, NY 11217. For more information, visit www.alatetc.org.

Since opening its doors in 1988, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater has been an invaluable cultural resource for John Jay College and the larger New York City community. Under the new direction of Executive Director Shannon R. Mayers, the Theater is dedicated to the creation and presentation of performing arts programming of all disciplines. Its signature series, The Art of Justice, is the only performance series in New York that presents a diverse exploration of the role performing arts have played in the pursuit of social, transitional and criminal justice. The Theater has collaborated with such noted companies as Epic Theatre Ensemble, Gotham Chamber Opera, and has also hosted prestigious events for Lincoln Center Festival, Great Performances, Juilliard, Alvin Ailey and numerous television specials for HBO and Comedy Central.

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.