The Building Stage, a Chicago theater company noted for its unique retellings and adaptations of various media to the stage announces their newest and largest endeavor to date: The Ring Cycle. The Ring Cycle is a non-operatic theatrical re-imagining of the famous Richard Wagner opera cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung. This epic project opens in previews January 30, 2010 and will synthesize 16 hours of opera into a six-hour theater piece co-directed by The Building Stage Artistic Director Blake Montgomery and Associate Artistic Director Joanie Schultz. The official opening performance of The Ring Cycle is February 13, 2010. It then runs each Saturday and Sunday through March 14, 2010. Tickets are $40 ($32 for students/seniors) and may be purchased at www.buildingstage.com or by calling 312-491-1369.
The Ring Cycle is an exciting project for the Building Stage, not only due to the challenge of adapting a story of this massive size and scope, but also because people may recognize the name of the piece or a character, however, the actual story is not well known. Aspects of this epic tale of mythology and psychology are echoed throughout other great large-scale productions such as Star Wars or The Lord of the Ring. German and Norse mythology and sagas inspired Wagner's original vision, and with that inspiration he created an amazing opera cycle that has a narrow but dedicated audience. The Building Stage is working towards creating a massive re-envisioning for The Ring Cycle that will bring new audiences to Wagner's world and provide his fans with an exciting new look at the work that is beloved by them. The Building Stage's The Ring Cycle will focus on making this ancient story contemporary, immediate, fun, and emotionally powerful. Using Wagner's libretti as a starting point, the story conceived by co-directors Montgomery and Schultz and developed by the ensemble.The Directors of The Ring Cycle:
Blake Montgomery is an actor, director, and creator whose approach to theater reflects his training at L'École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq (as well as its scenographic wing, Le Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement), the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theater, the Margolis-Brown Movement Theater Lab, and with master clown Ronlin Foreman. He has conceived and/or directed the Building Stage productions: Hamlet, Dustbowl Gothic, Moby-Dick, Noir, and Dracula. Montgomery played Halvard Solness in the Building Stage production of The Master Builder. In 2007, he appeared as Dr. Prentice in What the Butler Saw at the Court Theater. Previous to founding the Building Stage, he worked extensively with Redmoon Theater where he performed in Seagull at the Steppenwolf Studio, Nina outdoors in Los Angeles and in Humboldt Park, and Salao: The Worst Kind of Unlucky Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare.
The Building Stage operates on the belief that theater is made not written. And while every project has its own unique process of creation, each is driven by the spirit of investigation: to ask, through the action on stage, how a piece functions, how it is constructed, and what must be done to make it work. Whether applied to the staging of an original idea, the adaptation of literature and other media, the reinterpretation of a pre-existing dramatic text, or the exploration of a specific theatrical form, it is this approach to the work that defines us.
The Building Stage company members include: David Amaral, Daiva Bhandari, Christopher Hibbard, Fannie Hungerford, Lori Myers, Meghan Raham, and Max Wirt. Blake Montgomery is Artistic Director, Joanie Schultz is Associate Artistic Director and Interim Managing Director.
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