FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joyce Linehan for ArtsEmerson, 617-282-2510, joyce@ashmontmedia.com
ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage
PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION OF
MARTHA CLARKE AND ALFRED UHRY’S
ANGEL REAPERS
A SHAKER MUSICAL
NOVEMBER 15 – 20, 2011 – SEVEN PERFORMANCES ONLY
High resolution photos available at http://www.ashmontmedia.com/AE_photos_season_reapers.html
Press night is Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. Please email joyce@ashmontmedia.com with requests.
(BOSTON – Oct. 20, 2011) The second season of international theatre programming by ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage continues with the world premiere production of Angel Reapers, a stirring and dramatic blend of shaker songs, modern dance, and theatre about forbidden sex and unchanneled lust in New England’s 18th century Shaker community. Performances take place Nov. 15 – 20, 2011 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre (219 Tremont Street, in Boston’s Theatre District). Tickets, from $25 – $89, are on sale now at www.artsemerson.org or by phone at (617) 824-8400.
Two consummate artists—Pulitzer, Tony and Academy Award-winning writer Alfred Uhry and MacArthur genius director/choreographer Martha Clarke—collaborated to create a work that combines traditional Shaker music and tales of sexual repression to tell a history-based story. Shakers founder Ann Lee (or Mother Ann, as she came to be known) was a visionary, mystic and powerful spiritual leader. She and her followers were strict believers in celibacy. They were known for their frenetic worship style, brimming with dancing, shouting (resulting in the derisive descriptor “Quaking Shakers”) and a capella singing of simple melodies. Clarke seamlessly weaves together these elements to evoke this mystical figure and the passion——of one spiritual community. Mother Ann’s categorical denial of sexuality and determination to erase it from herself and her followers inspires the stunning, rhythmic and often hilarious choreography in Angel Reapers. This multi-disciplinary piece is not biographical in the usual sense, but more loosely constructed, slipping in and out of reality and embracing Mother Ann’s visions.
About Martha Clarke and Alfred Uhry
Martha Clarke has choreographed and directed for numerous dance, opera and theatre companies. She has received the MacArthur “Genius” Award, Drama Desk Award, two Obie Awards and the L.A. Critics Award, as well as grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts. Alfred Uhry is the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright of Driving Miss Daisy (1987). He also earned an Academy Award for his screenplay for the 1989 film starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman.
Recommended for ages 14 and up. The production contains nudity.
November 15—20, 2011
ANGEL REAPERS – World Premiere Production
A Shaker Musical
Directed and Choreographed by Martha Clarke
Written by Alfred Uhry
With traditional Shaker hymns
Cutler Majestic Theatre
Running Time: 80 minutes with no intermission
Performances:
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 18, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2 and 8 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 20, 2 p.m.
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About ArtsEmerson
ArtsEmerson is the organization established by Emerson College to program the beautifully restored 590-seat Paramount Mainstage; the versatile, intimate Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre (“The Jackie”), which can seat up to 150 people; the state-of-the-art 170-seat Bright Family Screening Room (all located within the new Paramount Center, a cornerstone in the revitalization of downtown Boston); and the beloved, historic 1,186-seat Cutler Majestic Theatre in the heart of the Theatre District, fully restored by Emerson in 2003. Under the artistic leadership of Rob Orchard, ArtsEmerson gives Boston audiences a new level of cultural choice, bringing professional American and international work to its four distinct venues. In addition to its acclaimed theatre works, ArtsEmerson presents adventurous, independent and repertory films on weekends, and offers a diverse music program including cutting edge indie rock and world music. For more information, visit artsemerson.org.
bout Emerson College
Located in Boston, Massachusetts, opposite the historic Boston Common and in the heart of the city’s Theatre District, Emerson is the only four-year private college in the United States devoted to teaching communication and the arts in a liberal arts context. The College has 3,453 undergraduates and 837 graduate students from across the United States and 50 countries. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and a renowned faculty, students participate in more than 60 student organizations and performance groups, 14 NCAA teams, student publications, honor societies, television stations including the Emerson Channel, and WERS-FM, the nation’s highest rated student-run radio station. Emerson is internationally known for its study and internship programs in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., the Netherlands, China, and the Czech Republic. For more information, visitwww.emerson.edu.
