Mummenschanz Brings New Creation, YOU & ME, To The Soraya

For over four decades, Mummenschanz has been inspiring audiences around the world with their wordless but extremely poetic art. On February 11 at 3:00pm they bring their brand-new creation, you & me, to The Soraya. This program was in collaboration with Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, created by founding member Floriana Frassetto. This visually stunning spectacle celebrates the timeless love and mutual joy between the audience and performers.

Founder Frassetto explains the core of Mummenschanz's latest show, "'you & me' is the intimacy we go into. I give you my idea and you play with my idea and you make it your idea." This Swiss-based troupe transcends cultural barriers and sparks the imagination with its unique, nonverbal theatrical style. Bringing to life the large-scale masks they're famous for, and adding a dose of uncanny acrobatics.

The New York Times calls the troupe, "Witty madness...dazzling and delightful." The San Francisco Chronicle says, "Mummenschanz succeeds brilliantly because of its originality, exceptional ingenuity, sense of surprise and deft satirical touches."

Tickets for Mummenschanz, priced from $23-$63, are now available at ValleyPerformingArtsCenter.org or by calling (818) 677-3000. Upcoming family performances include Dublin Irish Dance Stepping Out (February 25), Yamato - The Drummers of Japan (March 11), and Manuel Cinema's The Magic City (March 18). The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) is located on the campus of California State University, Northridge (CSUN), 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330-8448, at the corner of Nordhoff and Lindley.

About Mummenschanz
Since more than four decades MUMMENSCHANZ's non-verbal theatrical language has continued to develop independently of the contemporary mask-theatre quintessence. The 'stories' told by MUMMENSCHANZ are merely visual. No musical tracking, no stage set. Only objects, mask-objects; just bodies, object-bodies evolving against a black background thus composing a playful paralanguage that can be understood by all.

In the year 1972 in Paris, MUMMENSCHANZ came into being thanks to the strong motivation of three young people who had lived an enriching period in the sixties and undergone a three-year experimental practice in different disciplines.

The trio offered an alternative not only to Pierrot lunaire (the classical white-faced storyteller) but both to the refined white-faced narrative pantomime (where all is left to the imagination of the audience) and to the expressiveness of the classical dance. So doing while using a modern device, a new mask playing was implemented, regardless of the imbalance between the different trainings of the artists.

Followed ten years of experimental work and inventive research, and that downright passion for the comedy that got the young artists on stage first at home then abroad, later on Broadway, performing a play from 1977 till 1979. They had by then reached the threshold that renowed theatre groups cross.

The numerous requests for MUMMENSCHANZ shows and the particular requirements of the powerful American Theatre Trade Union prompted the world tour that lasted five years (1999-2004), and needed a two-fold cast. The original troupe played in Europe, while specially trained performers toured Northern and Southern America.

Notwithstanding the death of Andres Bossard (25.03.1992), co-founder and beloved friend, MUMMENSCHANZ continued to tour the world. The years that followed Andres' early departure saw the emergence of more complete programmes, the development of mask and playing techniques, and the broadening of the repertoire. More than a hundred new numbers came into life that have not stopped to be acclaimed as the most popular in the world.

About the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya)
The Soraya opened its 2017-2018 season on September 16 with a performance of AMADEUS Live (Milos Foreman's 1984 Academy Award-winning Best Picture with live orchestra) with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and members of the LA Opera Chorus. The evening honored the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Foundation in recognition of the family's recent $17 million gift that will rename VPAC as the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Performing Arts Center, known as The Soraya. The gift is one of the largest in the history of the California State University and the system's largest single gift to support the arts; gift to support the programming and operations of the award-winning Valley Performing Arts Center - which has become one of the cultural jewels of the region in the six years since it opened.

The 2017-18 Soraya season signals a new era for the premier event venue. Under the leadership of Executive Director Thor Steingraber, the renamed Younes and Soraya Nazarian Performing Arts Center expands its programming and outstanding multidisciplinary performances. The mission of The Soraya is to present a wide variety of performances that not only includes new and original work from the Los Angeles region but also work from around the world that appeal to all of LA's rich and diverse communities.

Located on the campus of California State University, Northridge, The Soraya's season offers a vibrant performance program of nearly 50 classical and popular music, dance, theater, family and international events that will serve to establish The Soraya as the intellectual and cultural heart of the San Fernando Valley, and further establish itself as one of the top arts companies in Southern California. The award-winning, 1,700-seat theatre was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers and was recently cited by the Los Angeles Times as "a growing hub for live music, dance, drama and other cultural events."

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