Here Presents MIRANDA 1/12-21

HERE is set to present Miranda, a HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP) production by Kamala Sankaram (Creator / Composer / Librettist with Rob Reese). Directed by Rob Reese, Miranda will play 8 performances only from January 12 – 21 at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue) as a featured presentation within HERE's 2011-12 Season.

About the show: "Who killed Miranda Wright? Watch this reality TV taping of "The Whole Truth," in which the Jury (the audience) must choose one of three suspects – her mother, her father, her lover – to convict as Miranda's murderer. Miranda is a chamber opera featuring a lush score combining Baroque opera, Tango, Hindustani classical music and Hip-Hop. Six instrumentalists recreate the last day of Miranda's life as they sing, act and play all parts. Guided by robotic host D.A.V.E. (the Differential Autonomous Verification Engine) and the Bailiff who rouses the Jury to respond vociferously at key moments, the Jury must sift through a sea of lies to uncover the truth and decide who must be punished. Miranda combines fantastical steampunk costumes and gadgetry with arresting video projections and captivating music."

This world premiere of Miranda marks a full production after three years of development in the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), following excerpts presented in two workshop showings in HERE's Culturemart Festival, in 2010 and 2011.

As a composer and performer, Kamala Sankaram has collaborated with a diverse group of artists including the Philip Glass Ensemble (Einstein on the Beach), the Wooster Group (La Didone), and Anthony Braxton (Trillum E.). She has recorded with Anthony Braxton (Trillium E), Phil Kline (Around the World in a Daze: Starkland Records), End (The Sick Generation: Hymen Records), Death Comet Crew (Dominatrix), the Albany Symphony Orchestra and Anti-Social Music. Her compositions have been featured as part of the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the Santa Fe New Music Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Music with a View Festival at the Flea Theater, and her work on the show Sounding (directed by Kristin Marting), was hailed as "gorgeous pop-rock interludes" by Time Out New York. In addition to her musical pursuits, Kamala has created voice characters for Comedy Central, the Cartoon Network and Disney. Miranda is her first full-length chamber opera work.

Rob Reese is a New York based playwright and director whose work has been seen locally, regionally and abroad. He's responsible for a theatrical adaptation of Frankenstein, and the parody Survivor: Vietnam! both of which were published in popular anthologies and available at indietheaternow.com. His other plays include Keanu Reeves Saves The Universe, Tad Granite, Private Eyeball and Invasion of the Yellow Menace. Reese has directed plays, musicals and a multitude of scriptless productions including Psycheroticproviholicyesandsomthinvoodoo, The Flatiron Laboratory and Three Plays In Search of a Script. Reese is currently developing the musical revue Yahweh's Follies with composers Matt Schloss and Eric Brenner, starring Kamala Sankaram.

Miranda features Kamala Sankaram (accordion) as Miranda Wright,? Drew Fleming (electric guitar) as Cor Prater, Pat Muchmore (cello)?as Izzy Wright, Rima Fand (violin) as Anjana Challapattee Wright, Ed Rosenberg? (tenor sax/clarinet) as Amelia Lang, Jeff Hudgins? (baritone sax/bass clarinet) as Francoise Argent, Jerry Miller as The Bailiff and Eric Brenner as?D.A.V.E.

Creator, Composer: Kamala Sankaram. Director: Rob Reese. Librettist: Kamala Sankaram with Rob Reese. Choreography: Lauren Yalango with Christopher Grant. Set Design & Lighting Design: Nick Francone. Video Design: Matt Tennie. Costume Design: Jacci Jaye. Sound Design: Matt Schloss.

Since 1993, the OBIE-winning HERE, Kristin Marting, Artistic Director and Kim Whitener, Producing Director, has been one of New York's premier arts organizations and a leader in the field of producing and presenting new, hybrid performance viewed as a seamless integration of artistic disciplines-theater, dance, music and opera, puppetry, media, visual and installation, spoken word and performance art. Standout productions include Basil Twist's Symphonie Fantastique and Arias with a Twist, Hazelle Goodman's On Edge, Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle's all wear bowlers, Young Jean Lee's Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, Corey Dargel's Removable Parts, Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge and Yoav Gal's new opera Mosheh, among others. HERE's work is challenging and alternative and offers audiences the opportunity to feel that they are part of something new and fresh.

HERE's core program is the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), through which HERE commissions, develops and produces new hybrid theater performances, which are cross-disciplinary works that challenge existing boundaries among media and forms of expression, creating a seamless integration aimed at reflecting the complex age of imagery and information in which we live. As part of the HERE community of artists and audiences, the mid-career Resident Artists show works-in-progress and develop workshop productions (shown in Culturemart) over a three-year developmental period, finally mounting full–scale productions. Through HARP, HERE grows innovative artistic work, while offering artists resources and hands-on training in areas such as production planning, marketing, budgeting, grantwriting and touring. Each season, HERE produces four-to-six Resident Artist productions as mainstage works.

Miranda plays January 12 – 21 as follows: Thursday – Saturday at 9:00 PM. Also performances Monday, January 16 & Tuesday, January 17 at 9:00 PM. Performance runs approximately 60 minutes.

January 17: Post-show Discussion with the composer Kamala Sankaram and other guests: "When Pink Floyd meets Puccini: Opera and the Indie Classical Movement."

Tickets are $20.00 and can be purchased at www.here.org or by calling (212) 352-3101 or at the HERE Box Office (5PM until curtain on show days). HERE is located at 145 Sixth Avenue, one block below Spring Street. For more info, visit www.here.org.

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