In this collaboratively devised ensemble work, the award-winning, DC-based company, Happenstance Theater portrays oblivious entitlement on the brink of extinction. BAROCOCO, loosely inspired by the book Last Letters: Prisons and Prisoners of the French Revolution (1987) by Olivier Blanc, takes a physical comedy dive into the late Baroque and flaunts 18th century finery, wigs, panniers, gestural styling, elaborate ornamentation and the excesses of Rococo.
In this Theatrical work of Art, The Queen, Fool, Musician and Three Fates create an animated Cabinet of Curiosities that will remind the viewer to consider Imagination as a vehicle for transcending life's Inevitabilities.
Milo the Magnificent is a highly engaging puppet show about an aspiring magician. This wordless comedy, the winner of a Jim Henson Foundation Grant, is inspired by turn of the century vaudeville entertainers, is as highly physical as it is charming. Using stunningly innovative puppetry, Milo presents a variety of magic tricks which don't always go as planned.
Happenstance Theater presents CABARET MACABRE. A perfect autumnal tradition, this witty Theatrical Collage is inspired by the illustrations of Edward Gorey, Victorian nightmares, musical histrionics, Gothic romance, the perilous deep, calamitous excursions, and the dangers of croquet.
Happenstance Theater presents CABARET MACABRE. A perfect autumnal tradition, this witty Theatrical Collage is inspired by the illustrations of Edward Gorey, Victorian nightmares, musical histrionics, Gothic romance, the perilous deep, calamitous excursions, and the dangers of croquet.
BON VOYAGE! A Happenstance Escapade features 6 dreamers who meet on the way to Paris at the end of the 19th Century, the obstacles and surprises they encounter, their comic misadventures at the Moulin Rouge, the Métro, the Catacombs, and the Grand Universal Exposition. This show reminds us of the beautiful values of Liberty, Equality, and Camaraderie. A delight for all ages!
59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) will host the NYC premiere of BAROCOCO, devised by Happenstance Theater and directed by Mark Jaster and Sabrina Selma Mandell.
59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) is proud to announce the line-up of shows for the 2020 Winter Season. All performances take place at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Ticket prices and performance schedules vary. For tickets, call the 59E59 Box Office at 646-892-7999 or by visiting www.59e59.org.
As part of its 2019 Fall Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to present Milo the Magnificent by the Maryland-based company Alex & Olmsted on Sept. 28, 2019 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
As part of its newly-created Evening Puppet Show Series for adult and teen audiences, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to present Homebodies by the Maryland-based company Alex & Olmsted on Sept. 27, 2019 at 8 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
There's one thing I find comforting about theatre that I take care to remember: we will always find new ways to tell old stories. In particular, it seems like our theatrical landscape repurposes the stories of the Greeks at a breakneck pace. Hadestown, Anais Mitchell's retelling of Eurydice and Orpheus, just won the Tony for Best Musical. In the District, Klytemnestra at Theater Alliance gorgeously reframed a maligned Queen through the lenses of Black ancestry. And now Happenstance Theater, utilizing devised, ensemble-based storytelling, is closing out their run of the dynamite Pantheon, a handful of myths and stories I thought I knew. What is Pantheon? The program notes that the title refers to both the Roman temple that transported us to stories, and to the array of Greek myths at our disposal. There's a few here you know, and maybe a few you might not. It wouldn't matter if you knew any of them or not, however, so clear is Happenstance's physical storytelling. It's hilarious and breathtaking and wholly unique.
The Happenstance quintet delves into Ancient Greek Mythology with guest artist Craig Jaster generating a live musical score. In a pared-down 1940's aesthetic a chorus of workers assembles lightning bolts and mines the Underworld. Like Sisyphus they must endlessly repeat their tasks.
By 1931, technology had advanced enough to allow Charlie Chaplin to make his latest film, 'City Lights,' as a talkie. But why would he? By then, he had mastered his singularly poetic choreography that universally communicated comedy without need for language. Further, he could use advancements in sound to take control of the musical accompaniment. If individual theaters had erratic success in accompanying his films music, now they were not only uniform, but using a full score he composed himself - another Chaplin talent that flowered.
BAROCOCO is all-of-a-piece, a day in the life, or perhaps a year elapses. It's hard to tell. It's a study in contrasts, a lace-trimmed veil across the face of Godot. It's resplendent and silly, ridiculous and desolate, hilarious and horrible. In BAROCOCO, Happenstance Theatre is making Important Social Commentary. A historic piece which is currently relevant, beautiful and funny is a rarity in the world. Treat yourself to this fabulously stunning morsel of meaningful ephemera.
"A film noir inspired theatrical montage"- the subtitle of Happenstance Theater's CABARET NOIR perfectly encapsulates the richly stylized and wonderfully varied experience. Scandals, pistols, foggy streets, soft shoe, sweet harmonies, and red herrings - this production vividly captures the mood and the moment of those dark, smoky movies. Devised and performed by the Helen Hayes Award-winning ensemble, CABARET NOIR highlights the artistic strengths of the company of six.
The nominees for the 2018 Helen Hayes Awards were announced on February 5, 2018. One of the country's most prestigious cultural honors, The Helen Hayes Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in professional theatre throughout the Washington metropolitan area. The National Theatre's Helen Hayes Gallery set the scene for the announcement of nominees in 47 categories for artistic excellence, and the theatre companies eligible for the 2017 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company. The recipient of the 2018 Helen Hayes Tribute will be announced shortly.
Theater for the New City presents Happenstance Theater's BrouHaHa in its NYC premiere, with previews January 4 & 5 for an opening today, January 6, and a run through January 21st, 2018.
Theater for the New City presents Happenstance Theater's New York Premiere of BrouHaHa, an existential clownesque escapade devised by Happenstance Theater at Theater for the New City (155 1st Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets), January 4-21.
