A Night of Preposterous Horror
Written and performed by Cleveland's New World Performance Laboratory actor Terence Cranendonk
Adapted from Nikolai Gogol's Inspector General
***********ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY !!!!!!!!!!***************
In cooperation with Brave Hearts Theatre, The WInter Project is happy to present "I Dreamed of Rats," continuing its mission of creating and hosting high quality experimental theatre performances in Madison. Our guest, Cleveland's New World Performance Laboratory, is one of the most distinguished experimental theatre companies in the United States.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE: Conspiracies, political corruption, and a covert government operative are the ingredients for a brew of fear and ambition inside the anguished soul of a provincial Mayor. Isolated in his darkened room, the Mayor plays out a grotesque comedy of confusion, secrecy, and triumph brought on by the rumor of a Government Inspector's imminent arrival. "I Dreamed of Rats" confronts its audience with a frightening propositionthat fear and abuse of power are one and the same, for the small and the mighty alikeand offers cleansing through the ridiculous and the burlesque.
Cleveland's New World Performance Laboratory actor Terence Cranendonk performs this solo work, bringing a 150 year-old Russian classic to contemporary audiences in an intimate and visceral event. The performance is both an actor's personal exploration and a comedy of universal appeal, highlighting the precision and craft of the performer's body and voice as the channel for an audience's laughter and fears. With a few simple objects and an overcoat, Mr. Cranendonk invites the public in to a night of preposterous horror.
Cleveland Plain Dealer's critic Linda Eisenstein called "I Dreamed of Rats" an "intelligent physical comedy...a finely crafted miniaturespare, exquisitely precise and consistently amusing."
Terence Cranendonk has performed with the New World Performance Laboratory since 1992, appearing in Woyzeck, The Book of Saints and Martyrs, Mother's Work, The Dybbuk, and Recital of the Bird, and has toured the Midwest, Europe, and South America. In addition to his performance work, Mr. Cranendonk is Cleveland Public Theatre's New Plays Festival Director.
WHEN: October 20, at 8 p.m.: One Performance Only!!!!!!!!!!
WHERE: Brave Hearts Theatre, 1988 Atwood Avenue
RESERVATIONS: please call 249-9299: Only eighty seats available!!!!!!!!!!!
TICKETS: $8
Almost three years ago, the members of The WInter Project began working. Some of us more experienced, others less, but all with similar questions and drives: what is the actor’s craft? Which are the interesting stories to tell, and how should one tell them? How can a group develop a work environment that is truly collaborative? How can an artist become actively responsible for the work he or she participates in? Which are our individual and cultural traditions? We have been trying to find some of the answers through practice. Along the way we have met more people, who now have become an integral part of our community. And we have kept on going. We look into the future and plan to create more, travel with our work, establish educational projects, take our performances to different kinds of audiences, bring to Madison other theatre groups interested in innovative work. Once Five Years Pass is our first public performance. It took us six months of daily work to prepare it.
All you will find in the performance space is the result of our investigation, and for it we take both full ownership and responsibility. We believe we are bringing to our spectators a work of quality, one which raises questions that truly concern us, a performance that can speak to different audiences. The process has not been smooth, but it has been gratifying. Above all, the process has been one of personal investment and dialogue. We invite you to meet The WInter Project: the dialogue is now open to each one who comes to see our work.