Vesturport Theatre Group and Robin De Levita Join Forces

Vesturport Theatre Group, lead by Gisli Örn Gardarsson and Robin De Levita have announced they will be joining forces for international theatrical productions specifically aimed at Broadway, The West End and other first class theatrical territories.
 
In less than a decade, the Iceland-based Vesturport Theatre Group  has established itself as one of Europe's most inventive theater and film companies. This April, the company will receive the prestigious Europe Theatre Prize. Robin De Levita is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer who has also produced extensively in London and throughout Europe.
 
The team's first American collaboration is the US premiere of  Metamorphosis a daringly physical re-imagining of the Franz Kafka classic by Vesturport Theatre Group and London's Lyric Hammersmith with music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, that recently played a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at BAM (Brooklyn Academy Of Music).
 
The company is looking to bring existing Vesturport productions such as Romeo and Juliet and Love the Musical and the upcoming The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyeski and Mad Alice to the United States and other markets, as well as developing new projects together. 

Management of the company will be shared between Gisli Orn Gardarsson Artistic director, Skuli Malmquist producer and Robin De Levita, producer. The company will operate offices in Europe and in New York City.
 
Vesturport Theatre Group was founded in 2001 and has quickly established itself as one of Europe's most inventive theater and film companies with plenty of international appeal. Vesturport's productions include Romeo and Juliet, Woyzeck, Dubbel Dusch, Love the Musical and Faust. Vesturport has produced three feature films: Children, Parents and Brim (based on Vesturport's play of the same title). The company was recently named the recipient of the Europe Theatre Prize in the category "New Realities" to be bestowed in St. Petersburg in April 2011. Past honorees of the prize include Peter Brook, Pina Bausch, Robert Lepage and Harold Pinter. Vesturport had its US premiere with Woyzeck  at BAM's Next Wave Festival in 2008.

Before starting his own company, Robin De Levita Productions, in 2005, Robin De Levita was a member of the Board for Stage Entertainment, the largest independent live entertainment company in Europe, where he was responsible for supervising all theatrical productions worldwide. De Levita has produced more than 80 large-scale theatrical productions in seven countries and numerous prime time television programs.  Broadway credits include: Cyrano - The Musical. For seven years Robin was based in New York as president of  Endemol Theater Productions, New York and partner in Dodger Theatricals, were he produced Victor Victoria with Julie Andrews, Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes, High Society, Wrong Mountain, Blast, 1776, A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum, The King and I, Titanic, Footloose, The Music Man, 42nd Street, Urinetown, Into the Woods, Good Vibrations and Dracula.  Other US productions: Carmen the musical, at the La Jolla Playhouse directed by Franco Dragone, and US tours of Titanic and 42nd Street.  De Levita has received numerous awards and honors, including Tony nominations for Cyrano - The Musical, 42nd Street, The Music Man, Urinetown and Into the Woods. He received an Outer Critic Award for Victor Victoria, Tony Awards for Titanic (Best Musical), 42nd Street (Best Revival), Into the Woods (Best Revival) and a Laurence Olivier Award for The Who's Tommy.
 
Skuli Malmquist co-founded Zik Zak Filmworks in 1995 while still at university and the company has been actively producing films since 1999.

In total, films produced by Malmquist have sold to more than 100 territories and won more than 100 awards. Two of his films have been included in the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival: Dark Horse (aka Voksne Mennesker) in 2005, and 2 Birds in 2008. In 2006, The Last Farm received an Oscar nomination as best short film. His latest film released in the USA was The Good Heart, starring Brian Cox and Paul Dano.

For more information, visit: http://vesturport.com/ or http://www.robindelevitaproductions.com/