PUSH Physical Theatre Will Perform GENERIC MALE in 10th Rochester Fringe

Rochester's internationally renowned PUSH Physical Theatre will perform live and in-person for the first time in more than a year and a half at the tenth annual KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival (September 14-25) at the CenterStage Theatre at JCC's Hart Theatre (1200 Edgewood Ave.) for three performances: Saturday, Sept. 18 at 7 PM; Thursday, Sept. 23 at 7 PM; and Saturday, Sept. 25 at 7 PM. Tickets for PUSH Physical Theatre: Generic Male are $20 (students w/ ID: $16) and are available now at rochesterfringe.com. Remaining tickets will also be available at the door one hour prior to curtain.

The official description of the show states: "Explosive, athletic, visceral physical theatre ruined by a tragic lack of understanding, Generic Male is a world premiere by award-winning PUSH Physical Theatre...a satire about clinging to the status-quo. Are we watching a couple of petty idiots or is this the most insightful piece of theatre of the 21st century? No. 'Just what we need - another show about men,' raves no one."

The new work features PUSH Founding Artistic Co-Director Darren Stevenson and PUSHer Ashley Jones in a send-up of masculinity that also raises some serious questions.

"While Generic Male pokes fun at male privilege, it also addresses toxic masculinity - cultural norms that are associated with harm to society and men themselves due to their promotion of violence," explains Stevenson. "As always with PUSH, we're raising questions with which we ourselves are grappling in order to provoke thought and conversation in our audience."

Stevenson and Jones began working on the piece pre-COVID and are now in intense rehearsals for its debut. They will invite community input at a free, work-in-progress event on Thursday, August 26 at 5:30 PM at Hochstein Performance Hall.

Each of their Fringe performances will be followed by some kind of free, audience interaction as well. Both Saturday shows will include a special 20th anniversary meet-and-greet reception with the company at the JCC.

PUSH's Thursday performance will include an audience talk-back immediately following the 8:30 PM performance of Josie & Grace, a new work from the creators of the hit off-Broadway show, Josephine, that explores the real-life friendship between Josephine Baker and Grace Kelly. The two productions will host a collaborative, post-show discussion of gender and race.

"Getting feedback from audiences is a very important part of our creative process," explains Jones, who - like Stevenson - hails from the U.K., where physical theatre is much more prevalent. "Our entire process is collaborative rather than the more common practice of a choreographer 'setting' their work on a company."

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