Annenberg Center Live Welcomes 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Hit THE EVENTS Tonight

With the 2014 Philadelphia Fringe Festival closed, Annenberg Center Live welcomes the Best New Play winner from the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Philadelphia premiere of The Events by David Greig is a co-production between the Actors Touring Company, Brageteatret, Drammen, Schauspielhaus Vienna, and the Young Vic Theatre, London. Set in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a church choir rehearsal, The Events explores our destructive desire to fathom the unfathomable and asks how far forgiveness can stretch in the face of brutality. The Events runs at the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street, October 7-19 for 12 performances. Opening night is tonight, October 7 at 7:30 PM. Each performance will feature a local choir which acts as a character in the play. Tickets cost $20-$35 and are available online at AnnenbergCenter.org, at the Box Office or by phone at 215.898.3900.

David Greig created The Events in the wake of the 2011 mass shooting by Anders Breivik in Norway that ended in the death of 77 people. This new work begins months after a young man opens fire in a church. Claire, the small town minister and choir director, lived through the tragedy and was spared, but is now fixated on trying to understand the mind of the boy who committed the atrocity. Claire struggles to find the answers to the most difficult question of all -- Why? The journey takes her to the edge of reason, politics and faith. Awarded Best New Play at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, voted Best Theatre of 2013 by critics in The Guardian, winner of the Carol Tambor Award, winner of The Scotman's Fringe First and declared "The Best Play yet to play in New York'' by The New York Times, The Events features a different Philadelphia-based community choir every night. Each show will also include a post-show discussion that will discuss gun violence and its effects across communities.

The play is directed by Actors Touring Company Artistic Director Ramin Gray. Derbhle Crotty plays Claire and Clifford Samuel plays The Boy. John Browne composed the music. Chloe Lamford is the Lighting Designer and Charles Balfour is the Sound Designer.

"Every act of theatre revolves around a transaction between two communities: the performers onstage and the improvised community that constitute what we call an audience. When Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in July 2011, his actions set out to destroy one community while simultaneously and unintentionally galvanizing other communities around the world. From simple outpourings of grief, through reams of testimony, heated debate, lengthy judicial process, psychiatric analysis and raw soul-searching to the writing and performing of this play, it's clear that we need to churn over such events in an effort to understand. And, of course, the very best forum for those efforts remains the public, shared space of the theatre," said director Gray in the show's program notes. "But could it just be, as David Greig suggests, that some things remain beyond the realm of the comprehensible? As an international touring company in a world where everyone seems to be on the move (something that Breivik clearly found deeply disturbing), this felt like an important subject for us to investigate."

Performance Schedule with Choirs:

Tuesday, October 7, 7:30 PM with the Penn Glee Club
Wednesday, October 8, 7:30 PM with the Penn Sirens
Thursday, October 9, 7:30 PM with the Haverford-Bryn Mawr Chamber Singers
Friday, October 10, 8 PM with the Jersey Sound Chorus
Saturday, October 11, 8 PM with the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Choir
Sunday, October 12, 3 PM with the Jersey Sound Chorus
Tuesday, October 14, 7:30 PM with . Allora: Philadelphia Women's Music Project
Wednesday, October 15, 7:30 PM with the Healing Presence Choir
Thursday, October 16, 7:30 PM with the Rutgers University Singers
Friday, October 17, 8 PM with Philomusica
Saturday, October 18, 8 PM with the Anna Crusis Women's Choir
Sunday, October 19, 3 PM with Philomusica

About Actors Touring Company - Actors Touring Company [ATC] aims to create innovative, contemporary and future facing theatre for audiences in England, the UK and internationally. Since being founded in 1980, ATC has toured ambitious theatre that inspires and challenges audiences. Working with artists at the cutting edge of theatre practice, they seek out new perspectives and engage the public in unusual ways. Their lean aesthetic places the actor at the heart of the performance while aiming for environmental sustainability. By developing practitioners and audiences alike, they seek to expand the possibilities for touring forward-looking international writing that engages with both the world around us and the challenges of our time.

About Annenberg Center Live - Annenberg Center Live is dedicated to the advancement of a diverse and thriving cultural community through the pursuit of excellence, innovation and intellectual engagement in the performing arts. Affirming its core belief in the power of the arts to transform lives, the Center embraces creative expression from the past and the present, of local and global origin, to expand the worlds of all who participate. As a destination and a resource, the Annenberg Center connects and engages artists, audiences, the University of Pennsylvania and the regional community through shared experiences in its high quality venues.

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