FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joyce Linehan for ArtsEmerson, 617-282-2510, joyce@ashmontmedia.com
Back By Popular Demand
ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage
PRESENTS LES 7 DOIGTS DE LA MAIN (THE 7 FINGERS) PERFORMING
PSY
A French-Canadian Merging of Acrobatics of the Body with Acrobatics of the Mind
High resolution photos available at http://ashmontmedia.com/AE_photos_psy.html
Press night for PSY will be July 12. Please contact joyce@ashmontmedia.com with requests.
(BOSTON—March 14, 2011) Due to the overwhelming demand generated by their short January visit to Boston, ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage is pleased to announce the return of the French Canadian contemporary circus company Les 7 doigts de la main (The 7 Fingers) performing PSY (pronounced P.S.Y.) for a two week summer run. PSY is an astonishingly physical and energetic work that delves into the murky world of the subconscious, depicting a rich psychological dreamscape through the often surreal, incomparable language of the circus arts. Directed by Shana Carroll; Assistant Director Isabelle Chassé, with an eclectic musical score featuring Kid Koala, Burt Bacharach, Yann Tiersen, The Avalanches, Caravan Palace and more. Performances take place July 12—24, 2011 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre (219 Tremont Street, in Boston’s Theatre District). Performance times are Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 5 and 9 p.m.; and Sundays at 3 and 7 p.m. Running time is 2 hours, including intermission. Reserved tickets start at $25, and are on sale to members now. Tickets will be on sale March 15 at 6 p.m. to the general public atwww.artsemerson.org or by phone at (617) 824-8000. Recommended for ages 7 and up.
PSY features 11 staggeringly talented young and achingly hip performers from Quebec. Each has their own peculiar modern malady (insomnia, hypochondria or compulsive behavior) along with an amazing set of heart-stopping, death-defying circus skills to match – including Chinese poles, aerial ropes, knife juggling, trapeze and breathtaking acrobatics. This innovative show is packed with dazzling daredevilry, urban charm, infectious energy and heaps of personality.
Sitting in the quiet of a psychiatrist's office, the voices in a man's head instruct him to climb on a trapeze and hang by his toes. An obsessive - compulsive patient crosses a busy intersection, his attempts to avoid contact leading him to perform acrobatics across a sea of pedestrians. A woman, confronting agoraphobia, is led to swing through the air. PSY brings some of the darker sides of human nature together with the provocative and transcendent language of the circus arts. Traveling through a shifting landscape of distorted visions, fading dreams and fractured memories, there’s insomnia, addiction, amnesia, paranoia, and hypochondria. There’s also juggling, Chinese pole, German wheel, aerial rope, and teeterboard. By juxtaposing these darker issues with the invigorating and life-affirming language of circus arts, PSY illuminates the humor, beauty, and commonality of these various neuroses, all the while celebrating the power of the individual to surmount their ailments and self-imposed restrictions, finding moments of strength, courage and joy while flying through the air.
Don't miss what Boston audiences loved so much in January - a breathtaking and utterly irresistible show from one of the world’s coolest and most inventive contemporary circus companies.
The 7 Fingers was founded in Montreal in 2002 by seven seasoned circus performers. Friends who had worked together in such prestigious companies as the Cirque du Soleil, the Cirque Eloize, Wintergarten Variety, Teatro Zinzanni, the Pickle Family Circus and Cirque Knie, or trained together at Montreal’s National Circus School, these artists decided it was time to offer something new to the circus arts scene, creating a circus of an entirely different flavor. Their goal was to bring circus to a human scale, employing a strikingly human and unprecedented multi-disciplinary approach to circus. Witness the grace and youthful virtuosity of this decidedly hip group of performers.
“…a transfixing circus spectacle that boggles both mind and eye while also relocating your heart to your throat once in a while. It’s one of those shows that has to be seen to be disbelieved.” The Boston Globe
“Ever wondered what a human fireworks display looks like? Les 7 Doigts de la Main’s PSY is about as close as you’re gonna get. You’ll “ooh” and “aah,” be totally bowled over and generally never want it to end.” – Time Out Boston
“Exhilarating. The circus skills are brilliant, twisted into clever, often funny dramas." – The Independent
“One step closer to reinventing the wheel – a circus trailblazer.” – Montreal Gazette
For more information about The 7 Fingers, visit http://7doigts.com/
About ArtsEmerson
ArtsEmerson is the organization established by Emerson College to program the Paramount Paramount Mainstage, Cutler Majestic Theatre and other venues at Emerson’s Paramount Center. The inaugural season includes over 100 performances of 18 different productions, including world premieres, Boston debuts and works being developed in the new facilities created by Emerson College. ArtsEmerson, under the artistic leadership of Rob Orchard, will give Boston audiences a new level of cultural choice, bringing professional American and international work to its four distinct venues: the beautifully restored 590-seat Paramount Mainstage; the versatile, intimate Black Box Theatre, 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.
About Emerson College
Located on Boston Common in the heart of the city’s Theatre District, Emerson is the only four-year private college in the United States devoted to communication and the arts. With 3,453 undergraduates and 837 graduate students from across the United States and 40 countries, Emerson is teaching the next generation of leaders in communication and the arts. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and a renowned faculty, students participate in more than 60 student organizations and performance groups, 15 NCAA teams, student publications, honor societies, television stations including the Emerson Channel, and WERS-FM, the nation’s highest rated student-run radio station. The College is internationally known for its study and internship programs in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic. For more information, visit www.emerson.edu.
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On sale now at ArtsEmerson:
March 15—20, The Select (The Sun Also Rises), Paramount Mainstage
March 23—April 3, Fragments, Paramount Mainstage
March 24—April 3, The Grand Inquisitor, Paramount Black Box
March 29—April 10, The Merchant of Venice starring F. Murray Abraham, Cutler Majestic
April 29, Concert: Low, Paramount Mainstage
May 10—15, Farfalle, Paramount Black Box (co-presented with Celebrity Series of Boston)
