Richard Foreman's SYMPHONY OF RATS to be Presented at The Wooster Group

The Wooster Group will present New York performances of their new production of Symphony of Rats, a play by leading American avant-garde playwright Richard Foreman. Directed by Elizabeth LeCompte and Kate Valk, Symphony of Rats is performed by Niall Cunningham, Jim Fletcher, Ari Fliakos, Andrew Maillet, Michaela Murphy, and Guillermo Resto.

Sound design/original music are by Eric Sluyter, with songs featuring music by Suzzy Roche. Video design is by Yudam Hyung Seok Jeon with Maillet; the lighting design is by Jennifer Tipton and Evan Anderson; and the costumes are by Antonia Belt. Performances will take place March 27 – May 4, 2024, at the Group’s home, The Performing Garage.

In Symphony of Rats, a President of the United States has strange encounters of the phantasmagorical kind. Surrounded by his presidential aides, he plunges into a series of incidents where he meets otherworldly beings, among them a giant rat with a special message.

The first production of Symphony of Rats was staged in 1988 at The Performing Garage, with Richard Foreman directing. The Wooster Group has made an entirely new piece by transposing Foreman’s text into verse and setting it to a multi-layered sound and video score. In their re-imagining of Symphony of Rats, now set in a hybrid spaceship-museum, The Wooster Group assesses the evolution of technology in relation to what it means to be human. 

The full ensemble for Symphony of Rats includes: Tavish Miller (technical director), Matthew Dipple (dramaturg), Clay Hapaz (archivist), Monika Wunderer (general manager), and Cynthia Hedstrom (producer). 

ABOUT Richard Foreman

Richard Foreman is a leading American avant-garde playwright who founded the Ontological-Hysteric Theater in 1968. He has written and directed over 50 plays which toured nationally and internationally. In 1988, he wrote Symphony of Rats and directed Wooster Group performers Peyton Smith, Kate Valk, Ron Vawter, and Jeff Webster in a production at The Performing Garage. In 2022, LeCompte and Valk asked Foreman if the Group could make a new version of the play. He responded, “You can do whatever you want! I hope it’s completely unrecognizable.” 

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