Two US Premiers To Take Place At Spoleto Festival.

Two US premieres of theatrical works will take place at the Spoleto Festival USA this month, including the critically acclaimed Monkey: Journey to the West. 
 
Based on a 16th-century Chinese fable about a cantankerous Monkey King, this music theater piece was created by an international team of three innovative artists: composer Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett – the British artists behind the award-winning animated band Gorillaz – and acclaimed Chinese director, Chen Shi-Zheng.  Throughout the show animation intersects with live performance featuring nearly 40 Chinese opera performers, gravity-defying acrobats and martial artists.
 
Also making its US premiere at Spoleto Festival USA is Dutch theater ensemble Hotel Modern's The Great War, a real-time animated film creation based on the letters of World War I soldiers.
 
Spoleto Festival USA, one of the world's leading arts festivals and features nearly 140 performances of 45 productions performed in historic venues located throughout beautiful Charleston, South Carolina from May 23 to June 8.
 
Other theater productions at 2008 Spoleto Festival USA include Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney's The Burial at Thebes, a contemporary retelling of ­­­­­the Greek tragedy Antigone presented by Nottingham Playhouse Theater Company and performed outdoors; and internationally renowned hip-hop theater artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph's performance of the break/s, an exploration of the global impact of hip-hop through poetry, music and dance.
 
Following is a list of theater highlights of the 2008 festival. For further information and photos please, visit the festival's website at www.spoletousa.org.
 
Please let me know if you would like to join us at any point during the Spoleto Festival USA or if we can provide you with anything further.