REDCAT Presents THE PAST IS A GROTESQUE ANIMAL, 2/23-26

The internationally acclaimed work from Argentine writer-director Mariano Pensotti, The Past is a Grotesque Animal (El pasado es un animal grotesco), will culminate its multi-city North American tour with performances in Los Angeles at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater Thursday, February 23 though Sunday, February 26, 2012. Performed in Spanish with English subtitles.

A large-scale revolving set magically transforms into dozens of different locales as a quartet of characters tracks a decade of love, loss and adventure. A fast-paced, multilayered "mega-fiction," The Past is a Grotesque Animal follows the evolution of its complex characters as Argentina's economy collapses and their lives and hopes take unexpected twists and turns. Pensotti has avoided sentimental stereotypes to reveal a generation's self-regard with emotional profundity and searing humor while fulfilling his desire to bring politically relevant content to the stage, something he felt was avoided by his contemporaries in Argentina.

The circular set is in near-constant motion, allowing for key moments of the drama to be foregrounded until they recede from view, reminding the characters—and us—how quickly a given moment can turn into a distant fiction only to emerge again. As the audience witnesses more than 60 scenes in under two hours, the continuously rotating stage space generates a cinematic effect like that of an extend dolly shot, reinforcing the sensation of time's never-ending passage.

Seating is general admission and tickets are available for purchase in-person at REDCAT Box Office, by phone at 213-237-2800, or online at redcat.org.