after Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren
Adapted and Directed by Jay Scheib
Featuring Performances by Sarita Choudhury, Caleb Hammond, Mikéah Ernest Jennings, Jon Morris, Ayesha Ngaujah, Tanya Selvaratnam, and Natalie Thomas, Scenic Design by Peter Ksander; Costumes by Oana Botez-Ban; Sound Design by Anouschka Trocker and Catherine McCurry; Lighting by Peter Ksander and Miranda Hardy; Video design by Josh Higgason, Photography and additional video by Carrie Mae Weems; Assistant Director: Laine Rettmer, Stage Manager: Susan Wilson
Assistant Set Design: Abigail Collins, Assistant Lighting Design: Austin R. Smith, Assistant Costume Design: Enver Chakartash, Wardrobe Assistant: Daonne Huff
Producer: Tanya Selvaratnam; Tour Producer: ArKtype/Thomas O. Kriegsmann; Director/Adapter: Jay Scheib
RECENT AND UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
1-10 April 2010, The Kitchen, (New York)
17, 18, 19 March 2011, Maison des Arts / Créteil (Paris)
13, 14, 15 May 2011, Institute of Contemporary Art, (Boston)
Worldwide Tour Representation: Thomas O. Kriegsmann, President
ArKtype, P.O. Box 1948; New York, NY 10027
www.arktype.org; \ tommy@arktype.org; \ +1.917.386.5468
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Mixing multimedia with deadpan-cool (and very sexy) actors, Scheib is forging new ways of seeing drama. - Time Out New York, “The Best New York Theater Directors,” March 2009
In Bellona, Destroyer of Cities, there has been a cataclysmic event but no one is really sure how it started. An important black activist has been murdered and the world has erupted. An entire city that once held millions of inhabitants now numbers in the thousands. Two moons have appeared in the sky and time folds in upon itself—the sun looms larger than life, and for obvious reasons, a nuclear family hiding in a high rise struggles to hold but inevitably explodes—taking the whole place wih it. Or was this just another poem by The Kid? scratched into the pages of a crumbling notebook.
“You may ask me what place the city of Bellona holds in the minds of those who have never been here. The miracle of order has run out and I am left in an unmiraculous place where anything may happen. What use does any of us have for two moons? Objects are lost in doublelight. What makes it terrible is that in this timeless city, in this spaceless preserve any slippage can occur. Sometimes it seems as if these walls on pivots are controlled by subterranean machines, so that, after one passes, they might suddenly swing to face another direction. Parting at this corner, joining at that one, like a great maze -- forever adjustable, therefore unlearnable." from Dhalgren
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Beginning with year of a developmental residencies and work-in-progress presentations at The Kitchen, The Prelude Festival, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Performing Garage, and The Mozarteum Institute for Acting and Directing (in Salzburg, Austria), Bellona, Destroyer of Cities premiered in April 2010 where it played two sold-out weeks at The Kitchen in New York. Most recently, Bellona was presented at the Exit Festival 2011, Maison des Arts, Creteil, (Paris) France and subsequently at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston.
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Lead support provided by The Kitchen; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Music and Theater Arts, School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; and The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. Makeup Provided by M.A.C.
Additional support provided by Anonymous; Anne Bogart, Winsome Brown & Claude Arpels; Elaine Chen; Merry Conway; Lisa Cortes; Sandi DuBowski; the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund; Shari Frilot & Roya Rastegar; Jennifer Gibbs & Luis Castro; Agnes Gund; Catherine Gund; Mitch Hurley; Leila W. Kinney; Marty & Valerie Levenstein; Edward McKeaney; Shira Milikowsky; Walter Mosley; Charles Rice-Gonzalez; Therese Selvaratnam; Lucy Sexton; Audry & Alex Weintrob; Jed Weintrob; Kim Whitener; Soon-Young Yoon & Rick Smith; and Alex Zafiris.
Special Thanks: Everyone at the Kitchen, especially Matthew Lyons to whom I owe an incredible debt, ICA especially David Henry, John Andress, Colette Randall, Maggie Moore and the technical team; Matthew Lyons, Debra Singer, and everyone at The Kitchen (NY); Didier Fusilier, Gilles Bouckaert, and everyone at Maison des Arts; The Wooster Group; Alexandra Rosenberg; Nicole Birmann Bloom; Philippa Wehle; William Nadylam, Kaneza Schaal, April Sweeney; Janet Sonenberg, Leila W. Kinney, Philip Khoury, Deborah Fitzgerald and the faculty, staff and students of Music and Theater Arts at MIT; the Mozarteum in Salzburg Austria; the many people who gave feedback along the way; and most of all, Samuel R. Delany—thank you Chip.
Contact Jay Scheib: jayscheib@jayscheib.com