| Magis Theatre Will host a Special Launch Party Entitled “The Healing Sun” - In honor of the Solstice and what would have been opening night | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 03:57 pm EDT 06/15/20 | |
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| In honor of the Solstice and the Original Opening Date of their production of Thornton Wilder's THE ALCESTIAD Magis Theatre Company Will host a Special Launch Party Entitled "The Healing Sun" for its newly created interactive website www.Alcestiad.com The event will Stream on Magis Theatre's Facebook Page Saturday, June 20 at 7 PM Alcestis, Act II: "This is the healing sun…the sun of the summer Solstice" The Alcestiad, Thornton Wilder New York: Magis Theatre Company was set to present Thornton Wilder's rarely produced play "The Alcestiad, with a satyr play The Drunken Sisters beginning on this year's Solstice, June 20, 2020, outdoors at Roosevelt Island's Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park, but due to the shutdown, had to reschedule the run for next June 2021. In honor of its original opening night, Magis Theatre will host a Solstice launch party event entitled "The Healing Sun," for its new interactive website (www.Alcestiad.com ) that focuses on this timely and powerful play. It will feature interviews with the cast, dramaturgical material about Wilder's play, letters from Thornton Wilder during the writing of the Alcestiad , and a walking tour of Four Freedoms Park, the outdoor venue on Roosevelt Island in New York City where the event will be held next June. The event will stream on Facebook @ Magis Theatre Company "Wilder sets his play on three days of summer solstice, 12 years apart. Solstice means "when the sun stands still"… a moment of change from the days getting longer to once again getting shorter, calling attention to growth and transformation. On this day, the sun is at its strongest, healing herbs at the full potency. At this time in our own history, we are in great need of healing not only of bodies but of our society and our planet." George Drance, Magis Theatre Company "The Healing Sun" launch party event will be held on Saturday, June 20, at 7 PM. It will include Shree V. Campbell, Russ Cusick, Deniz Demirer, Margid Sharp Douglas, Brian Douglas George Drance, Kimbirdlee Fadner, Sara Galassini, Jacqueline Lucid, Tony Macht, Mae Roney, Diego Andres Tapia, and Jenna Wyman. The Alcestiad takes place in a world where individualism and greed have been driving forces in recent years, this work of Thornton Wilder celebrates the beauty of making sacrifices for the good of others and how this kind of courageous self-giving can transform society. Alcestis learning through her pain to overcome it by understanding is a theme that is crucial for us today. Magis Theatre seeks out neglected works of the past that still have something important to say to us in our present. "The Alcestiad" is one of those pieces and was brought to Magis Theatre's attention by Irene Worth in 1997. In a world where individualism and greed have been driving forces in recent years, this work of Thornton Wilder celebrates the beauty of making sacrifices for the good of others and how this kind of courageous self-giving can transform society. One of America's most lauded playwrights, Thorton Wilder's rarely performed play, The Alcestiad premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 1955, directed by Tyrone Guthrie and is inspired by Euripides Greek tragedy Alcestis. Wilder's third-act imagines a world after Alcestis returns from the land of the dead, her kingdom is overthrown by a tyrant and is ravaged by a plague. The play deals with the power of irrational fear in society at the hands of those who would seek to intimidate others brutally as well as askes questions about the meaning of human life and its' relationship to the divine. Thornton Wilder said of The Alcestiad, "On one level, my play recounts the life of a woman-of many women-from bewildered bride to sorely tested wife to overburdened old age. On another level, it is a wildly romantic story of gods and men, of death and hell and resurrection, of great loves and great trials, of usurpation and revenge. On another level, however, it is a comedy about a very serious matter." ABOUT MAGIS Magis Theatre Company is an actor-driven, physically-based ensemble, creating art and sharing our training with professionals, teachers, and students. We train together for 3-5 hours weekly, while exploring literary works that examine the human condition across cultures and generations. The creative input of the ensemble forms each new artwork. In 2005, Magis began working together to continue the unique kind of training we shared as artists in the Columbia University MFA program. For over ten years, we have opened our doors to student and professional actors seeking this kind of training, produced a yearly season of critically acclaimed performances, and presented our work at professional theatre education conferences regionally, nationally, and internationally. As an ensemble, our weekly training sharpens our skills and lets us work with our texts for a long time before the formal rehearsal process begins. We normally study and work with a text for over a year before we begin rehearsal. Magis Techniques have been shared at workshops at several universities and with the Kennedy Center's Cultural Visitors Program; and abroad in Italy, Albania, Honduras, Kosovo, Cambodia, and Guatemala. In those years, we have presented a number of productions, including "Calderon's Two Dreams" (2017) "Mark," (2014) "Occupy Olympus" (2013) "Shakuntala and the Ring of Recognition." (2010) Our current programming also includes our monthly "Actor's Workout" training open to the public, collaborating across disciplines on new works based on neglected texts, opening readings and workshops for our audiences to experience our process. Magis is committed to collaborating across disciplines to explore neglected texts. The texts we choose to work on seek to foster a greater understanding of the human condition and are texts that speak to the present from the past. Our last major production was the professional American premiere of the 1677 script of "Life is a Dream," by Calderon De La Barca. We presented this new translation in repertoire with the more familiar 1635 version so that audiences could experience the breadth of the playwright's life experience and wisdom as the plays reflected and echoed each other. The production entitled "Calderon's Two Dreams" featured a cast of 14 and 4 musicians playing music specially composed for the production by the late Elizabeth Swados. As an ensemble, we train weekly practicing the "Magis method" which was developed after several alumni from the Columbia University Graduate MFA program in Acting wanted to deepen and develop the training they received at the hands of master teachers such as Andrei Serban, Anne Bogart, Kristen Linklater, Priscilla Smith, and Nikolaus "Niky" Wolcz. Recognizing that there was not yet any single place to go where they could continue to find the diversity and breadth of this training, they decided to work together to create a laboratory where different techniques could be investigated and interact with one another. We are also committed to using theatre to generate a greater understanding of the possibilities of using our artform to help human growth and understanding. To that end, we will be working in concert with "Thrive for Life Prison Ministries." Using Magis Company members as teaching artists working with Joseph Brockets' text of "The Odyssey" and engaging with incarcerated persons exploring the text and how the themes of personal struggle and responsible action might be mirrored in their own lives. |
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| Link | http://www.MagisTheatre.org |
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