[NEohioPAL] NWPL's Frankenstein at EJ Thomas Performing Arts Hall in Akron

[Slowiak,James R]

NEW WORLD PERFORMANCE LABORATORY’S FRANKENSTEIN

NEW WORLD PERFORMANCE LABORATORY’S FRANKENSTEIN at E.J. Thomas’s Stage Door

AKRON, OH –New World Performance Laboratory’s production of Frankenstein will be presented as part of E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall’s exciting Stage Door series on November 8, 2008, at 8 PM.  E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall is located on The University of Akron campus.  Tickets are $10, $5 for students.  Tickets are available at the Thomas Hall Ticket Office, Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations or charge-by-phone at (330) 945-9400 (Akron) or (216) 241-5555 (Cleveland).  For further information call the Thomas Hall ticket office at (330) 972-7570 or visit the website at www.ejthomashall.com

New World Performance Laboratory's investigation of the classic story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley incorporates images from the novel and scenes from Shelley’s own life. This company creation depicts the epic battle between body, mind, and soul fought on a landscape of solitude and horror. The characters of Frankenstein mingle with Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Shelley, and their friends in a gothic nightmare that displays the deeply detailed physical style of NWPL’s actors and a haunting vocal score exploring 19th century romantic motifs with new music composed by Megan Elk. NWPL’s Frankenstein, which premiered as part of The Cleveland Playhouse’s Fusion Fest, has been called “mesmerizing,”  “amazing,” and “provocative.”

NWPL presents this Northeast Ohio encore performance of Frankenstein following a successful summer tour to Poland where the production was performed in June and July as part of several international festivals including the Malta Festival in Poznan and the Openings Festival in Wroclaw. Co- Artistic Directors Jairo Cuesta and James Slowiak (who recently published a book, Jerzy Grotowski,, Routledge 2007) also conducted a series of workshops while in Poland and then traveled to Italy where they conducted workshops throughout the month of July in Rome, Chieti, and at several locations in Umbria. In August, the group traveled to the Catskills to participate in North American Cultural Laboratory’s Catskill Festival of New Theatre.

Directed by NWPL co-artistic director and University of Akron theatre professor James Slowiak, Frankenstein features NWPL co-artistic director Jairo Cuesta and company members Debora Totti, Christopher Buck, Megan Elk, Justin Hale, and Jamie G. Hale. Costume and set design is by Inda Blatch-Geib, lighting design by Chris Hariasz, dramaturgy by Mike Geither, company and technical management by Danny J Durst, and photographs by Andrew McAllister.

NWPL works in residence at The University of Akron and under the auspices of the Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC). For information on the company’s performances, educational programs, and workshops call 330-867-3299 or visit the website at www.nwplab.org