| Atlanta-Based VERNAL & SERE THEATRE Makes New York Debut With HURRICANE SEASON, Aug 23 - Sept 7 at Theatre Row | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 02:45 pm EDT 07/11/24 | |
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| ATLANTA-BASED VERNAL & SERE THEATRE MAKES NEW YORK DEBUT WITH HURRICANE SEASON, AUG 23 - SEPT 7 AT THEATRE ROW Visceral Portrait of American Life Caught Between Erotic Desire and National Strife Vernal & Sere Theatre, one of the most innovative theatre companies in Atlanta, is set to make its New York debut with Hurricane Season, a visceral portrait of American life caught between erotic desire and national strife. Written and directed by Sawyer Estes , this breakout play was dubbed "a strange, uncomfortably erotic, and fascinating show" by ArtsATL when it premiered in 2022. Hurricane Season is scheduled to run August 23 – September 7, 2024, with an opening set for Sunday, August 25, at Theatre Row in Theatre Four, located at 410 W 42nd St in Manhattan. Tickets, which start at $45, are currently on sale at www.hurricaneseasonplay.com . Hurricane Season tackles the opposing forces of erotic desire and national anxiety to present a startling portrait of American life. Set against a backdrop of polarizing headlines and private erotica, this intimate and highly physical production centers on a middle-aged couple who begin extra-marital affairs with younger partners eerily resembling their own likeness. This chance encounter leads them to opposite ends of the earth in search of love and meaning in their doppelgängers. Saturated with a striking visual and sonic design, this "confident, bold work" (ArtsATL) takes inspiration from Ingmar Bergman to Anne Carson to Sarah Kane; in the process Vernal & Sere Theatre delivers a production teeming with sexual energy, melancholy, and whimsy. Writer and director Estes, who studied with Edward Albee, remarked, "I'm drawn to theatre that straddles the line between sacred and profane, happiness and grief, and fertility and barrenness. I trust that audiences will plunge headfirst into the void between such polarities and then reorient themselves to the difficult reality of being. I believe that theatre is sacred, and with Hurricane Season, I hope to invite audiences into that all important space of self-reflection with the hope that we might emerge more complete." Hurricane Season features tour-de-force performances by Erin Boswell, Pascal Portney, Melissa Rainey, and Sam Ross, and with Kathrine Barnes. The creative team for Hurricane Season includes Erin O'Connor (movement direction and assistant director), Josh Oberlander (scenic design), Lindsey Sharpless (lighting design and stage manager), Matthew Shively, (projection design), Zach Halaby and Kacie Willis (sound design), Mitch Butler (sound engineer), and Monty Wilson (production manager and scenic construction). Sixteen performances of Hurricane Season will take place August 23 – September 7, 2024, at Theatre Row in Theatre Four, located at 410 W 42nd St in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of August 23 for an opening on Sunday, August 25. The performance schedule is Wednesday–Saturday at 7:30pm and Saturday & Sunday at 2pm with an additional 2pm show on Wednesday, August 28 and a 7:30pm show on Tuesday, September 3. The running time is 2 hours plus one intermission. Tickets, which start at $45 , are available at www.hurricaneseasonplay.com . Standard ticketing fees apply. Please visit www.hurricaneseasonplay.com for more information. About the artists Sawyer Estes (writer and director) is a theatre director and playwright based in Atlanta. He co-founded the ensemble-based Vernal & Sere Theatre in 2016. Since then, Estes has served as the lead artistic vision for the company which has established itself as the foundational experimental theatre in the city with its ten productions in a span of eight years. Estes is unique in that he both writes and directs many of his original productions and adaptations. He is a conceptual director prone to abstraction, stylized movement, and imagery; however, he is also a playwright with a firm foundation in dramatic structure and dramaturgy. His work is distinguished by a particular blend of high style and grounded, naturalistic performance. This is best exemplified in his original adaptations of Anne Carson's poem The Glass Essay, Luis Buñuel's film The Exterminating Angel, and Alfred Jarry's absurdist classic Ubu Roi. His original play, Hurricane Season, which he both wrote and directed, will receive its off-Broadway premiere this summer at Theatre Row. Sawyer holds a BFA in playwriting and dramaturgy from the University of Houston where he was mentored by Edward Albee. Erin O'Connor (movement direction and assistant director) is a producer, director & teaching artist with Vernal & Sere Theatre. After graduating from Fort Lewis College in Colorado, she knew she wanted to move to Atlanta to find the most innovative theatre-makers —and she did. She began her physical theatre training alongside Felicia Lansbury Meyer studying the Michael Lugering Method and with Kari Margolis in the Margolis Brown Method. For the past eight years, she has been learning and growing with her fellow company members as they push themselves to make sharper work year after year. About Vernal & Sere Theatre Since its founding in 2016, Vernal & Sere Theatre has gained local and national recognition for its daring work which challenges traditional American Theatre. Vernal & Sere is an ensemble-based company driven by the desire to create imaginative, difficult theatre which addresses current issues and traditional modes of interpretation through performance experimenting with language and movement while reaching for the sublime, the profane, and the outright ambiguous. The company asks audiences to plunge headfirst into the void between such polarities and then reorient themselves to the wonderful and difficult reality of being. It is their belief that such an act expands thought, deepens empathy, and reinvigorates one to life. www.vernalandseretheatre.com |
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