"I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs Perceived the scene, and foretold the rest-- I too awaited the expected guest." T.S. Eliot The first danztheatre piece I ever create outside of college was an adaptation of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland. I fell in love with the poem in undergrad at Roosevelt University. Reading it the first time, I felt it read like a Shakespearean drama. After graduating grad school, I was eager to start working on a full length evening theatre piece, but what? I thought back to The Wasteland and this was it. I was calling me. The first workshop production was in 2001 and then in 2002, restaged the adaption along with an installation piece, Death's Dream Kingdom (also based on Eliot's work). From there, we toured The Wasteland in Chicago and in Canada. I've always wanted to restate and work the piece and now, 13 years ago, here we are. Technology has changed. I've changed. The themes of The Wasteland have not changed. When I first did the piece, we had a slide projector and very minimal lights. Now, we are using a video projector, original illustrations from David Sarallo and our lighting is still minimal but illuminating. T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, will be restaged and revisited with a cast of four illuminating “the lost generation” of post-WWI European society and the human soul’s search for redemption using Adler’s unique style of danztheatre that blends together dance, theatre, music and video imagery into a visceral theatre experience. Written in a stream of consciousness, it seeks out what humans are looking for, a constant connection in life. Once we accept our future, there is an inner calming that happens to our soul. The Chicago Tribune wrote, “Adler gently joins artistic forces, even to the point of making the exposed-brick walls of the space speak with a wizened sense of melancholy. When the shadows of the four ensemble members unobtrusively get superimposed on, say an image of a dead tree facing a treacherous sea…conveys in a tactile, aesthetically gorgeous way, the mystical power of fragmented moments weaving through our minds.” Get your tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/606715 $15 in advance (includes the performance of Still Small Voices)
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At heart, I am a storyteller. As a child, in my grandmother's backyard, I would create for all of her friends a "theatrical spectacle" of dance, song and storytelling that would travel from a swing to an apple tree to the prairie field next to us. It is no wondering that I grew up to be an artist that tells stories through dance, theatre, music, and now film. My inspiration is the world around me and all that I see. I believe poetry to be the essence of language. Dance is the essences of movement and film captures life in its visual essence. Love is the essence of living and creating art from this place, allows me to be a conduit of creativity expressing this. One of the love stories in "Touch" is inspired by my parents, Johnny and Karen, and how my father knew he was going to marry my mother from "the moment he laid eyes on her." Loss is apart of love. Longing for love is a theme in touch but the moment we understand that we as humans are all interconnected, we are no longer alone on this journey. "Mirrors" is a reflection of our need for connection to self, others and what guides us in this world. Rumi, in the 13th century wrote, "Man & Woman Arguing" about a couple's disagreement over money. I believe his words still ring true in many households today. Rumi is a poetic storyteller and the reason his words have inspired me and countless others, is because they are timeless. Good storytelling is timeless. Come be apart of the story of "Touch" and "Mirrors" opening May 17th! Buy Tickets $15 in advance, $20 at the door. -Ellyzabeth Adler Executive Director, Founder and Storytelle It starts with a song randomly played on my iPod. It causes me to pause because at that moment while in the creative process of a new danztheatre piece, it speaks to me. I'm currently, exploring what it means to "touch" someone both metaphorically and physically. Everyday we have the power to change the world through our connections with others. Listening to Joy Division's Atmosphere, the lyrics are representing one aspect of touch. The last time. Walking away in silence, once we face the illusions that we have created in our lives. The touch is no longer soft, but hard and cold like the bleakest days of winter. Although this song will not be used in the performance, it is the inspiration behind a monologue and a physical duet. The eyes say it all. It is a point of pure vulnerability to allow someone to look into them. They are as the cliche' says "the window to the soul." You may wonder what they see. This is vulnerability. The place were artists create from reflecting what they see in the world around them. |
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