Guthrie Theater Announces Two Additional Presentations in the Dowling Studio

The Guthrie Theater has announced that it will present the work of CoisCéim Dance Theatreand a co-production between Pillsbury House Theatre and The Mount Curve Company in the Dowling Studio during the summer and fall of 2012.

Conceived and choreographed by lauded Irish choreographer David Bolger (who won a 2011 Ivey Award for his spirited and ebullient work on the Guthrie’s acclaimed production of H.M.S. Pinafore), CoisCéim Dance Theatre's Swimming with My Mother (July 11-22), a Guthrie Theater WorldStage Series presentation, is performed by Bolger and his 78-year-old mother Madge. This award-winning production is an intimate and heart-warming dance duet in which a mother and son navigate the ebb and flow of their shared history, brimming with affectionate humor and joyful celebration of the things we pass on and the things we inherit. Critics at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe hailed the production as “a gorgeous duet that induces both tears and laughter” and “a lovely depiction of a parent-child bond that was forged in the water.”

Guthrie audiences were transfixed and delighted by Bolger’s Pinafore choreography, which the Star Tribune called “arresting.” The Pioneer Press enthused that Bolger’s work “wowed the opening night audience.” The creative team for Swimming with My Mother, in addition to David Bolger and Madge Bolger, includes Eamon Fox (lighting design), Ivan Barthistle and Vincent Doherty (sound design) and Jym Daly (video artist). 

Pillsbury House Theatre and The Mount Curve Company will co-produce The Brothers Size (September 7-29) by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Tony Award-nominated Marion McClinton. Following the success of last year’s In the Red and Brown Water, this presentation is the second play of McCraney’s acclaimed trilogy and an exuberant drama from one of the country’s most exciting new voices. In the play, brothers, the bayou and African mythology weave together to create a stylized story of love and loss. Gavin Lawrence and James A. Williams will reprise their roles fromIn the Red and Brown Water for The Brothers Size.

These two productions join the Guthrie’s previously announced Dowling Studio presentations of Carlyle Brown & Company’s Are You Now or Have You Ever Been . . . (May 4-20), Shapiro & Smith Dance’s Anytown (June 21-24) and the Sossy Mechanics’ production of Trick Boxing (August 17-September 2). The American premiere of Conor McPherson’s The Birds begins performances in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio on February 25 and continues through April 8.

Single tickets for Swimming with My Mother and The Brothers Size start at $18. Single tickets for all Dowling Studio Productions are available through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The GUTHRIE THEATER (Joe Dowling, Director) was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963 and is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Tony Award-winning Guthrie Theater is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. With annual attendance of nearly 500,000 people, the Guthrie Theater presents a mix of classic plays and contemporary work on its three stages. Under the artistic leadership of Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie continues to set a national standard for excellence in theatrical production and performance. In 2006, the Guthrie opened its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the Guthrie Theater houses three state-of-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms and dramatic public lobbies. www.guthrietheater.org