STICK UP! (BRAQUAGE) Begins At HERE

HERE and the Dream Music Puppetry Program are set to present Stick Up! (Braquage), a madcap performance from France's critically acclaimed Companie Bakélite. Object-theatre and nail-biting suspense meet in this comic crime caper, set to play 6 performances only from Friday, December 16 – Sunday, December 18 in the Dorothy B. Williams Theater at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue).

Comedy, thrills and calamity collide as two high-class cat burglars bungle their way from one misadventure to the next. Using objects to tell a tale of a heist gone awry, from scaling skyscrapers and high-octane car chases to run-ins with the mob and ticking time bombs. Stick Up! (Braquage) represents the blueprint for the perfect crime as Companie Bakélite motorizes, tinkers, tunes, tortures, uses and misuses everyday household appliances to deliver the excitement of a hold-up…live!

Basil Twist, Artistic Director of the Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE shares, "Ingenious, outrageous and definitely one of the cooler shows I've seen in long time. Dream Music proudly supports top caliber International Artists and we're thrilled to welcome Companie Bakélite from France with Stick Up! (Braquage) this December. Expect some stunningly crafTed Mayhem!"

Companie Bakélite was founded in 2005 by Olivier Rannou, who has had a penchant for building, disassembling and reconstructing motorized objects for as long as he can remember. After undertaking training with Théâtre Lillico in Rennes and participating in an object-theatre workshop with the highly respected performer Christian Carrignon, Olivier began his first show, L'affaire poucet. This show was created with the support of Théâtre Lillico and performed at Marmaille Festival. At this same festival, the company premiered its second show, Stick Up! (Braquage). Companie Bakélite delights in creating small-scale theatre with big ideas to charm adult and family audiences alike.

Stick Up! (Braquage) is written by Arnaud Ladagnous and created by Olivier Rannou and Alan Floc'h. Performed by Olivier Rannou. Music by Jean-Luc Briand. Lighting by Alan Floc'h.

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 Mosheh, among many 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 Dream Music Puppetry Program is one of few programs in the country to grow and commission contemporary adult puppet works. Dream Music provides performance opportunities to puppet artists and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration to develop new puppetry techniques. This program was inaugurated with the premiere of Basil Twist's OBIE-award winning Symphonie Fantastique in 1998 and the opening of the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, an intimate space created specifically for intimate puppetry. Under the artistic direction of Twist, with producing direction from HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino, the Dream Music aesthetic is geared toward puppet works that feature live music as a collaborative element. Dream Music seeks to secure the future of puppetry by providing increased development and performance opportunities to puppet artists, and by collaborating with artists from other disciplines to develop new puppetry techniques. Over the past ten years, Dream Music has presented in the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre many exciting artists ranging from eclectic international troupes to The Jim Henson International Festival of Puppetry and has commissioned over 20 full-scale puppetry works from New York based puppeteers including the acclaimed Arias with a Twist in 2008 (which recently returned in September 2011 for a limited engagement at Abrons Arts Center).

Stick Up! (Braquage) plays Friday, December 16 at 7:00 & 10:30pm / Saturday, December 17 at 2:00 & 7:00pm / Sunday, December 18 at 2:00 & 7:00pm. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at www.here.org, (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.

To post a comment, you must register and login.