DAEDALUS' DAUGHTER Comes to Bootleg 9/21 - 9/30

Bootleg Theater presents the world premiere of Daedalus' Daughter, by Carol Katz, in association with Rosanna Gamson/World Wide, an original movement theatre piece for five performers. Opening on Thursday, September 21st and running through Saturday, September 30, 2017, Daedalus' Daughter uses the Greek myth of Daedalus and his son Icarus as its primary metaphor for mental illness: the story of struggle, escape, flight and falling, as told from the point of view of an imagined female figure - Daedalus' daughter.

Both intimate and epic, the poetic performance piece weaves original and found text with rich visual imagery and full-bodied, choreographed movement, to create a poignant meditation on a secret family history. The abstract new work was inspired by playwright and director Katz's own lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder and the journey it took her on. For more information, please visit https://www.carolkatzprojects.org.
"I have created this story, Daedalus' Daughter, as a way to talk about madness and suicide that can run through family lines; its survivors, its legacy, its gifts, its ghosts," explains Katz. "It is a meditation on my own family history, and how it has affected some or all of us in deeply personal ways. I did not find out that my grandfather had taken his own life until relatively late, yet I have been touched, if not defined, by his death all my life. This piece is for those who follow in these footsteps without ever knowing why, and for those we leave behind."

With a one-hour run time, Daedalus' Daughter will open on Thursday, September 21st and run for six performances over two weeks - on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm - through September 30, 2017. Pre-sale tickets are $20 ($15 for students/seniors) and will be $25 at the door ($20 for students/seniors). Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057. For tickets, please call 213-389-3856 or visit http://www.bootlegtheater.org/event/1554271-daedalus-daughter-los-angeles.

Daedalus' Daughter brings together a collaborative team of Los Angeles theatre and dance artists under the direction of Carol Katz, assisted by critically acclaimed choreographer, Rosanna Gamson. Created though an extended and deeply collaborative process, the piece was very much devised in partnership with the ensemble of actors and dancers: Sean Spann, Kirk Wilson, Clementine Gamson Levy, Lavinia Findikoglu and Kearian Giertz. Mallory Fabian is on board as Associate Creative Producer and Tom E Kelley is engineering the props and set construction. Lighting Designer, Darius Gangei, Sound Designer Simon Greenberg, and Scenic Designer Tanya Orellana, all from CalArts, round out the creative team.

Daedalus' Daughter, an original dance theatre piece by Carol Katz, is a retelling of the Icarus myth from the point of view of his sister, interwoven with a secret family history. This half-bird, half-girl is an embodied metaphor, a symbolic way to talk about the madness and suicide that can run through generations of families. So while this is an intimate story about one woman's real family, it speaks to countless others who have dealt with the pain and sorrow of mental illness in their own. It is a story about the costs of keeping things hidden in shame and silence - yet ultimately it is about the hope and redemption that are possible when these secrets are acknowledged and claimed. There is a powerful and healing magic when someone speaks their own truth, and realizes that they are not alone. Told through movement and text, both poetic and prosaic, this piece is a surreal, dream like journey through myth and memory.