{"id":5034,"date":"2014-01-31T07:33:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T07:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/?p=5034\/"},"modified":"2017-08-29T01:53:26","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T01:53:26","slug":"spring-preview-theater-around-the-world-in-21-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/spring-preview-theater-around-the-world-in-21-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Preview Theater: Around the world in 21 days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Check out the full Washington Post article at this link.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

At the Kennedy Center <\/a>come March, all the world\u2019s ON stage.<\/p>\n

From China and Chile the plays will arrive, and from France and Kuwait and Canada and Australia and Mexico and Israel and South Africa. From every continent, in fact, except theater-free Antarctica, for what is shaping up as the most extensive festival of global drama in Washington in memory.<\/p>\n

Twenty-two presentations from 19 countries will fill the center\u2019s halls and theaters from March 10 to 30 for the \u201cWorld Stages<\/a>\u201d festival, under the direction of Alicia Adams, the center\u2019s globe-trotting vice president for international programming. Drawing on her experience in assembling the center\u2019s many arts extravaganzas \u2014 events that over the years have celebrated the cultures of, among other places, the Arab world, the Far East and the Nordic nations \u2014 Adams and her staff are bringing together renowned theater people from around the world for 13 full productions, four exhibitions, three staged readings and two panel discussions.<\/p>\n

Washington is an international destination that comes across as ambivalent about lavishly exploring these connections through art. In the theater sphere, the visits by ensembles from Asian, European, Latin American and African localities are sporadic. Were it not for a few local troupes with a focus on Spanish-speaking drama, some short stops by foreign companies at the behest of the Kennedy Center and the Shakespeare Theatre Company, some university events and one-night programs at various embassies, audiences here would not have much exposure to the dramatic noises being made elsewhere on the planet.<\/p>\n

Plaudits are due, then, to Adams and the center, for giving us an opportunity to broaden the landscape of our own theater journeys. Arriving here in March will be highly esteemed and utterly new names alike, Tony and Olivier Award winners and onetime Oscar nominees, as well people who might someday be on those lists. Peter Brook, the tireless directorial explorer, will be represented by \u201cThe Suit,\u201d a play by his Paris-based Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, based on a South African story<\/a>. Dame Janet Suzman, who appeared at the center in the Royal Shakespeare Company\u2019s \u201cCoriolanus<\/a>\u201d and was nominated for an Academy Award for \u201cNicholas and Alexandra<\/a>,\u201d stars in the American debut of Lara Foot\u2019s \u201cSolomon and Marion,\u201d from the Baxter Theatre Centre <\/a>in Cape Town. And more recent Oscar nominee Emmanuelle Riva (\u201cAmour<\/a>\u201d) is featured in another American premiere, Paris-based Theatre de l\u2019Atelier\u2019s \u201cSavannah Bay,\u201d by Marguerite Duras, directed by Didier Bezace.<\/p>\n

They will perform with groups such as Israel\u2019s fascinating\u00a0Nalaga\u2019at Theater Deaf-Blind Acting Ensemble<\/a>: 11 deaf and blind actors, in \u201cNot by Bread Alone,\u201d a play in which an audience becomes acquainted with each of them as they go through the ritual of baking bread on stage. \u201cEach one has a \u2018handler,\u2019 \u201d Adams said about the actors, \u201cand each one is telling their own story.\u201d The work is performed in Hebrew with English supertitles and American Sign Language interpreters.<\/p>\n

Australia will be represented by the American premiere of Melbourne Theatre Company\u2019s<\/a> \u201cRupert,\u201d a play by David Williamson about media mogul Rupert Murdoch. In the wake of last year\u2019s Nordic Cool<\/a> festival, the National Theatre of Iceland shows up with \u201cHarmsaga,\u201d a contemporary love story by Mikael Torfason and directed by Una Thorleifsdottir. And as a result of links forged in the Kennedy Center\u2019s Arabesque festival, Anglo-Kuwaiti playwright Sulayman Al-Bassam \u2014 adapter of the \u201cRichard III\u201d that was part of that 2009 event \u2014 returns for a reading of his new work, \u201cThe Petrol Station.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still just a slice of what exists in these countries,\u201d Adams said, \u201cbut I think it\u2019s some of the most interesting work that\u2019s being done there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other slices: A version of \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d a collaboration between Britain\u2019s Bristol Old Vic and South Africa\u2019s Handspring Puppet Company, devisers of the mesmerizing puppetry in \u201cWar Horse\u201d; \u201cIncendios,\u201d a drama from Mexico\u2019s Tapioca Inn theater company by Lebanese Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad; the National Theatre of China\u2019s myth-infused \u201cGreen Snake,\u201d adapted and directed by Tian Qinxin; Canada\u2019s Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes, in \u201cPenny Plain,\u201d and from Chile, La Mafia Teatro\u2019s production of playwright Ariel Dorfman\u2019s \u201cLa Muerte y La Doncella,\u201d known to American theater and filmgoers as \u201cDeath and the Maiden.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plays will roll in and out of the Eisenhower, Terrace and Family theaters throughout the festival\u2019s 21 days.<\/p>\n

World Stages International Theater Festival<\/div>\n

March 10-30 at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. Prices vary by performance. 202-467-4600. www.kennedy-center.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Five others to watch<\/div>\n

The spring theater season, however, unfolds with corresponding ripples of possibility in other parts of town.<\/p>\n

\u25cfAt Woolly Mammoth Theatre, a production this month of \u2014take a deep breath \u2014 \u201cWe Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South-West Africa, from the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915.\u201d<\/b> It\u2019s a play within a play about acting and history, written by Jackie Sibblies Drury and directed by Michael John Garces. 202-393-3939.www.woollymammoth.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u25cfAt Signature Theatre, the world-premiere musical adaptation this month of \u201cBeaches.\u201d<\/b> Director Eric Schaeffer brings to the stage a version of theIris Rainer Dart novel <\/a>that on screen became a 21-hanky salute to friendship <\/a>(and the emotive abilities of Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey). Dart has collaborated on a score with composer David Austin and the book of the musical, with Thom Thomas. 703-820-9771. www.signature-theatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u25cfAt Arena Stage, the world premiere in March of \u201cCamp David.\u201d<\/b>Lawrence Wright\u2019s drama relates the 1978 events surrounding the peace accords negotiated by President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. In the first casting announced for the production, directed by Molly Smith, Richard Thomas stars as Carter and Ron Rifkin portrays Begin. 202-488-3300.www.arenastage.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u25cfAt Shakespeare Theatre Company, the area premiere in March of \u201cBrief Encounter.\u201d<\/b> Broadway cheered in 2010 when Kneehigh Theatre of Cornwall, England, brought to New York this adaptation with music and movement of the 1945 film<\/a> and the No\u00ebl Coward play \u201cStill Life.\u201d Several members of the original cast, including Tony nominee Hannah Yelland, reunite for a limited tour that includes Washington. 202-547-1122.www.shakespearetheatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u25cfAt Folger Theatre, a brief visit in May of New York-based Fiasco Theatre\u2019s acclaimed \u201cCymbeline,\u201d<\/b> after a full run there of its \u201cTwo Gentlemen of Verona.\u201d Fiasco, known for a style exuding exhilarating freshness, here tackles one of the late Shakespearean romances, a piece of beguiling if sometimes elusive charms. 202-544-7077. www.folger.edu,<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out the full Washington Post article at this [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-cn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GreenSnake1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5034"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6342,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5034\/revisions\/6342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}