Touchstone Theatre Presnets FRESH VOICES, 2/18-19

Fresh Voices returns to Touchstone Theatre on February 18 & 19, 2011.  This annual showcase is a celebration of new theatre featuring original works-in-progress by the 2010-2011 Touchstone Apprentices, Mariel Iezzoni and Anne Losq.  Subtitled "The Matter of Moments", the evening is composed of three theatrical "moments" with each apprentice contributing a solo performance and collaborating on a third ensemble piece.

Touchstone's Apprentice Program selects emerging and transitioning artists to study within the company and learn about life in a professional, ensemble theatre.  Their work touches every aspect of the company and includes acting, stage management, playwriting, teaching, prop-making, technique classes, box office, lighting design, project management, marketing, etc.  Over the last decade Touchstone has graduated 35 theatre artists from its program.

Ms. Losq joins Touchstone from Paris, France, and is in her second year as an apprentice.  For her solo, Anne will lead Sarah, her main character, on a journey to "The Third Place" - a shifting land, vast and reassuring, hard to tame.  Along the way, the audience will meet mythical creatures that guide Sarah to "The Third Place" and help her better understand her own identity.  This work uses movement, poetry and puppetry.

A Bethlehem native, Ms. Iezzoni is a first year apprentice writing her first original piece.  Inspired by the true story her grandfather had while fighting in the Korean War, she will explore the realms of story telling and their power to transcend time and place.  Iezzoni states, "I am fascinated by how age-old stories still manage to integrate themselves into our ever-evolving world and would like to discover how a truly good story has the ability to touch us all in its own unique way".

The final, collaborative piece focuses on the story of two sisters who must sell the family home that has been passed down for generations.  The piece explores the tenuous nature of relationships and how personal value is integrated with physical objects that tell the histories of their owners.  It will concentrate on exploring the different performative tools of theatre that shift between abstraction and reality to reveal a more layered perspective to the story of these siblings.
Fresh Voices runs at 8pm February 18 & 19, 2011.  Admission is "Pay What You Will" where audience members may name their own purchase price when reserving tickets. Tickets may be purchased by phone at 610-867-1689, or at the box office opening one hour before showtime.
  Accompanying the work onstage in the Touchstone Gallery is a new exhibit called "Unison", curated by Loly Reynolds and featuring a variety of work by 15+ local visual artists.
 
Celebrating thirty years, Touchstone Theatre produces and presents both original and classic productions, with a dedication to the renewal of theatre as a vital art form. Touchstone works to foster collaboration on a local and national level through educational and youth empowerment programs, using theatre as a community-building tool. Visit us on the web at www.touchstone.org.

 

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