Pig Iron Theatre Company Unveils a Cardboard Carnival 9/1-18

The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival presents Pig Iron Theatre Company, Philadelphia's OBIE Award-winning physical theater ensemble, in the world premiere of Cankerblossom. This freewheeling, visually surreal tale will be performed at Christ Church Neighborhood House from September 1 -18, 2010.

Cankerblossom begins, as so many of these stories do, with a knock at the door. A young couple discovers a cardboard baby on their stoop. They grow to love the child, who is completely flat, as their own. Then someone or some thing takes away the baby to the Flat World, a planar landscape populated by characters whimsical, sinister, and flat as pancakes. The couple, both ordinary and round, must enter this two-dimensional world to get their baby back. Can they rescue their adopted child and escape from a parallel universe in which there is up-and-down and side-to-side, but no way out?

For Cankerblossom, Pig Iron Co-Artistic Director Dan Rothenberg has teamed up with cartoonist and pioneering puppeteer artist Beth Nixon, whose fantastical cardboard creations cavort alongside stop motion animation, video projection, live music, and Pig Iron's signature physical style to create this shadowy fairytale land. In the spirit of The Phantom Tollbooth and Spirited Away, Cankerblossom invites the audience on a voyage through sinister puns and optical allusions.

"Inventive staging and sublime displays of whimsy." -The New York Times

Last year, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival favorites Pig Iron Theatre Company brought joy to sold-out audiences with Welcome to Yuba City (2009), a cowboy clown odyssey.

The cast includes Pig Iron regulars Alex Torra and Hinako Arao (Yuba City), visionary puppeteer Beth Nixon, and Dave Sweeny (aka Johnny Showcase of last year's Fringe hit Purr! Pull! Reign!). Cankerblossom also features live music by New Zealand gypsy-rocker Rosie Langabeer.

Barrymore Award-winning designer Mimi Lien contributes the scenic design and the stop-motion animations for the piece. Lien is currently at work on a large-scale installation for the Kimmel Center's atrium as part of the Kimmel's 2011 PIFA Festival. Lien's set design for Pig Iron's Love Unpunished was selected for inclusion in the Prague Quadrennial International Exhibition of Performance Design and Space.

Cankerblossom was conceived and created by Pig Iron Theatre Company. Direction by Dan Rothenberg; Text by Tim Sawicki and Pig Iron; Music by Rosie Langabeer; Cardboard Creations by Beth Nixon. Set and Animation by Mimi Lien; Lighting Design by James Clotfelter; Projection Design by Josh Higgason; Costume Design by Leslie Rogers; and Sound Design by Nick Kourtides. Performer-Creators Hinako Arao, Beth Nixon, David Sweeny, Alex Torra.

Post-show discussion moderated by Aaron Cromie, freelance director, dance performer, and mask and puppet designer, following the 6pm performance on September 5. A second post-show discussion moderated by Andrew Simonet, co-artistic director, Headlong Dance Theater, following the performance on September 14.

Cankerblossom will be performed at the Christ Church Neighborhood House, which now has air-conditioning and elevator access.

Cankerblossom has been developed with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art; the William Penn Foundation; the Charlotte Cushman Foundation; and the Independence Foundation's New Works Initiative. Cankerblossom was originally workshopped during two residencies at La Jolla Playhouse.

Pig Iron Theatre Company has been creating original performance works in Philadelphia since 1995, making plays about live music, dead people, neuroscience and thwarted love affairs through a unique method of collaborative creation and with a signature physical approach to character. Past collaborations have included work with legendary director Joe Chaikin, playwright Adriano Shaplin, choreographer David Brick, and composer Cynthia Hopkins. Pig Iron's work has been seen at theaters and festivals in London, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, Romania and Peru. The company's original works have met with critical acclaim and awards, including a 2002 Pew Fellowship in the Arts for the Co-Artistic Directors; 2005 and 2008 OBIE Awards; and multiple Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre.

TICKETS/TIMES
Venue: Christ Church Neighborhood House, 4th Floor Theatre, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA

Box Office: www.livearts-fringe.org
Ticket Prices: $20-$30

Times:

Wednesday, 9/1 7:00 PM (PREVIEW)
Thursday, 9/2 7:00 PM (PREVIEW)
Friday, 9/3 7:00 PM (PREVIEW)
Saturday, 9/4 7:00 PM (PRESS OPENING)
Sunday, 9/5 3:00 PM & 6:00 PM

Wednesday, 9/8 7:00 PM
Thursday, 9/9 7:00 PM
Friday, 9/10 8:00 PM
Saturday, 9/11 12:00 PM & 8:00 PM
Sunday, 9/12 3:00 PM & 6:00 PM

Tuesday, 9/14 7:00 PM
Wednesday, 9/15 7:00 PM
Thursday, 9/16 7:00 PM
Friday, 9/17 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM
Saturday, 9/18 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM

Go to www.pigiron.org for further information.

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