Sans Comedia to Stage Julian Mesri's New Musical

Sans Comedia, a bilingual theater company led by director/playwright Julian Mesri, announces the premiere of Bethlehem, a new musical retelling of the nativity story from the point of view of those who didn't make it into the Gospels - the innkeepers and guests at the inn, who have no idea what's going on in the manger next door.

What we find is a people in crisis: Judea is occupied by the Romans, a region that was once stable is once again rising in revolt, and the people are ripe and ready for change. The innkeepers, two women who run the inn as a couple, and their best client: a Samaritan prostitute, their friend: the wife of an Essene cleric who lives in the desert, and a tax collector, who's only there to see the prostitute he's in love with. Their stories all come together on Saturnalia, when the Roman census-taker stops by Bethlehem. The characters in this story are not the heroes that find themselves celebrated on holidays, but the ordinary folks eating, fighting, and worshipping as best they can.

The piece was borne out of the Brooklyn Generator playwright's group and developed thanks to a BAX Summer Space Grant and a summer workshop presentation at Dixon Place. Bethlehem is the fourth production and first musical of Sans Comedia, a young bilingual theater company, helmed by noted writer/director Julián Mesri. Like previous Sans Comedia productions, Bethlehem features an ethnically and linguistically diverse cast of artists hailing from Latin America and the United States. Starring Kathleen Fletcher, Samuel Garnica, Esteban Godoy, Paloma Muñoz, Lorie Steele, and Kimberlee Walker.

All performances take place at St Pauls Theater (334 S. 5th St, Brooklyn NY ).

Performances: December 4th, 6th, 11th, and 13th

Time: Doors open at 7:30pm

Tickets: $15, $20

Sans Comedia produces immediately accessible aesthetic encounters that thrust the audience into a calamitous and entertaining cultural conversation. Under the direction and vision of Julián Mesri, the company creates original pieces, adaptations of classical texts, and devised processes, forming a repertoire that is versatile and adaptable.

For more information, contact: sanscomedia@gmail.com