Here Arts Center Presents AUNT LEAF 1/7-1/24/2010

HERE Arts Center continues its exciting 2009-2010 season with Aunt Leaf, the first residentartist production in StartHERE: Innovative Theater for Young People, a series dedicated tohighly imaginative multi-disciplinary performances aimed at children and families. Aunt Leaf, a new original performance for ages 9+, plays Thursday, January 7 through Sunday, January 24 in the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre at HERE Arts Center.

Official Opening is set for Sunday, January 10 at 7:00 PM.A century-old haunting. A young girl who won't speak. An old woman with skin like tree bark.

A dead man whistling on the lawn. A nightly ritual. Written by Barbara Wiechmann and directedby Jeffrey Mousseau, Aunt Leaf is a story about stories, a tale from the dark woods of theHudson River Valley and the darker woods of the imagination.

Accompanied by striking visual elements including projections of period photographs and naturalimagery, three performers portraying various characters transport audiences into the world ofAunt Leaf. Inspired by two poems by Mary Oliver, Aunt Leaf draws on the rich tradition offolklore, art and literature that have emerged from the Hudson River Valley region and its awe-inspiring and sometimes chilling landscape.This production features performers Alan Benditt, Pal Bernstein and Rachael Richman. Projections are by Robert Flynt. Set is by Sarah Edkins. Costumes are by AmeliaDombrowski. Lights are by Ayumi "Poe" Segusa. Composer/Sound Designer is J. Hagenbuckle.

Playwright Barbara Wiechmann is a New York based writer and performer. Her plays have beenproduced at P.S. 122, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, BACA Downtown, HERE, the Ohio Theatre, The Samuel Beckett Theatre, the Edinburgh, Seattle, Toronto, and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals, and at colleges and universities around the country.In addition to her artist residency at HERE, she is a current member of New Dramatists and a NewGeorges Affiliated Artist. Her play Feeding the Moonfish is included in Telling Tales, an anthologyof short plays published by Viking Penguin. Her work is also represented in New Monologues for Women by Women, an anthology published by Heineman Press. A New York State Council onthe Arts grant recipient and a Jane Chambers award finalist, she is also the creator of thetelevision show for kids NATURALY20SADIE that aired on the Disney Channel for three seasons.She is a graduate of Hamilton College.Director Jeffrey Mousseau is a HERE resident artist and curator of StartHERE: InnovativeTheater for Young People.

Prior to launching StartHERE, Jeff programmed school and familyperformances at TriBeCa Performing Arts Center. Recent directorial projects include The Clean House at American Southwest Theater, Las Cruces, I Am My Own Wife for Stageworks Theatre,Hudson, and the world premiere of 110 Flights at Proctors Theater, Schenectady. He is afrequent guest director and teacher at University at Albany where he recently conceived anddirected Famous by Their Birth: Shakespeare Power Plays, a piece he intends to further developfor middle and high school audiences. Jeff was the founding artistic director of the Boston-basedCoyote Theatre, and recipient of the Elliot Norton Award and numerous Independent Reviewers ofNew England Awards. Highlights among his many credits with the company include Bash, American Notes, Uncle Tom's Cabin and Miss Julie. He has served as a grant reviewer onnumerous panels for the Massachusetts and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Councils. He earneda BA in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame and an MFA in Theatre fromBrooklyn College.

HERE Arts Center's StartHERE: Innovative Theater for Young People, curated in collaboration with Jeffrey Mousseau, makes standout programming for young people an annual highlight within HERE's season. In recognition of young people as imaginative and activeparticipants in the performance experience, Start HERE affords these audiences the opportunityto experience the language of contemporary, multi-disciplinary performing arts. At the same time,parents - many of whom may have attended HERE in the past - will enjoy the series' inventive original productions as much as their kids. StartHERE series launched last season with thepuppet theater work DIVA.Since 1993, the OBIE-winning HERE Arts Center has been a premier arts organization in NYCand a leader in the field of new, hybrid performance work. Under leadership of Founding Artistic Director Kristin Marting and Producing Director Kim Whitener, HERE has served over 12,000 emerging to mid-career artists developing work that does not fit a conventional programmingagenda.

Work presented at HERE has garnered 14 OBIE awards, including the 2009 Ross Wetzsteon Award, an OBIE grant for artistic achievement, five Drama Desk nominations, twoBerrilla Kerr Awards, four NY Innovative Theatre Awards, an Edwin Booth Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. HERE proudly supports artists at all stages in their careers through fullproductions, artist residency programs, festivals and subsidized performance and rehearsalspace. Work at HERE is curated based on the strength and uniqueness of the artist's vision.HERE's Artist Residency Program (HARP) provides development, commissions and fullproduction for up to 20 artists over one-to-three years.

This production is presented with support from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported bythe New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower ManhattanCultural Council, Children's Theatre Foundation of America and the New Dramatists' CreativityFund.Aunt Leaf plays January 7 - 24 as follows: Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:00 PM, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 PM. Additional 7:00 PM performance on Sunday, January 10.Tickets are $15 adults and $10 children. This production is recommended for family audiences ages 9 and up. For tickets, visit www.here.org, call (212) 352-3101 or visit the HERE Box Office. HERE Arts Center is located at 145 Sixth Avenue, one block below Spring Street (entrance onDominick Street).For more information on special school-time matinee performances, please contact HERE Arts Center though www.here.org or by calling (212) 647-0257.For general info, check out www.here.org