Heather Christian's ANIMAL WISDOM Extends at The Bushwick Starr

The Bushwick Starr is collaborating with West Yorkshire Playhouse in presenting the world premiere of Animal Wisdom, a new music-theater piece by Obie Award-winning composer and performer Heather Christian (The TEAM's Mission Drift & The World is Round, BAM), in collaboration with acclaimed artist/performer Andrew Schneider (YOUARENOWHERE- 2015 OBIE award, 2016 Drama Desk nom.), director Mark Rosenblatt (Associate Artist, West Yorkshire Playhouse), and her genre-defying group, the Arbornauts.

The show has just been extended through November 18. Tickets available at www.thebushwickstarr.org. The Bushwick Starr theater is located at 207 Starr Street, Brooklyn, NY [between Irving and Wyckoff].

Heather talks to dead people, gets freaked out and writes music. Animal Wisdom is a lo-fi, idiosyncratic, folk-blues Requiem written from theoretical or actual (you decide) conversations with the dead performed alongside poorly remembered Methodist hymns from the 1800s, hyperbolized family mythologies, and community rituals of the ridiculous in the form of a gothic catholic mass- because how else can you address your soul? AnimalWisdom is a musical offering created by sinners and science nerds for believers and non-believers alike.

The Company: Heather Christian (Mission Drift, The World Is Round), Eric Farber (FUTURITY, Good Person of Szechwan), Fred Epstein (The Skin of Our Teeth, FUTURITY), Sasha Brown (Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds), Maya Sharpe (the TEAM's Anything That Gives Off Light, HAIR), Mark Rosenblatt (The Fruit Trilogy, Assoc. Artist of West Yorkshire Playhouse), Andrew Schneider (YOUARENOWHERE, DANCE/FIELD), Stowe Nelson (Small Mouth Sounds, The Wolves), Heather McDevitt Barton (Salty Brine's Spectacular Living Record Collection).

ANIMAL WISDOM

book & lyrics - Heather Christian

director - Mark Rosenblatt

additional staging - Emilyn Kowaleski

guitar & vocals - Sasha Brown

keys & vocals - Heather Christian

bass & vocals - Fred Epstein

percussion & vocals - Eric Farber

violin, banjo & vocals - Maya Sharpe

lighting design & art direction - Andrew Schneider

scenic design - Eric Farber & Andrew Schneider

sound design - Stowe Nelson

costume design - Heather McDevitt Barton

orchestration - Sasha Brown, Heather Christian, Fred Epstein, Eric Farber & Maya Sharpe