What’s up with those pianos on campus?

CHOPIN WITHOUT PIANO, is a radically original theater production that comes to the US from Poland in October for its North American debut. Replacing the piano parts of Fryderyk Chopin’s two piano concertos with penetrating dramatic monologues, the work is staged by Michał Zadara, the most distinguished Polish director-playwright of his generation, and the consummate actress Barbara Wysocka, the founders of the acclaimed Polish theater company CENTRALA. Wysocka is expertly accompanied by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, who will be led by conductor Bassem Akiki from the Warsaw National Opera. In this transformative work, Wysocka hijacks the piano with her physical, virtuoso performance and proceeds to explore cultural, political, and philosophical tensions of the composer’s time that feel strikingly contemporary. Performed in Polish with English supertitles, this new form of concert theater captures the composer as a dynamic living presence within the full force of his music. During CENTRALA’s 2-week residency at Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia, CHOPIN WITHOUT PIANO will premiere on Saturday, October 24, 2015 in Lang Concert Hall on the Swarthmore campus. The production then moves to FringeArts in Philadelphia for four performances, October 28 through 31.

Go to: www.chopinwithoutpiano.com to find out more and follow the show on social media:

The Facebook Event Page is CHOPIN WITHOUT PIANO
https://www.facebook.com/chopinwithoutpiano?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

We look forward to seeing your pics, video, comments and questions all about this exciting production and the Lost Pianos appearing around Philly and the Swarthmore College campus.

Twitter hashtag #chopinwithoutpiano.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/chopinwithoutpiano/….

Have you found a Lost Piano? Take your selfies with any or all of them, or any pianos you can find. Just send your photos through Instagram by tagging them #chopinwithoutpiano. Your photo will show up directly under the header #chopinwithoutpiano. New pics are updated every 30 minutes.

Video: We’re eager to see your Lost Pianos videos. Upload your own Lost Pianos video to Vimeo by taking these 2 special steps: Under “Privacy” make sure “Anyone” can watch “Anywhere”, then click “Share”. Send us the embed link to your video to jtmclucas13@gmail.com to be uploaded to www.chopinwithoutpiano.com

Up next from the Cooper Series:
CHOPIN WITHOUT PIANO
Created by CENTRALA (Warsaw)
Directed by Michał Zadara ‘99
Text by Barbara Wysocka and Michał Zadara
Performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
Conducted by Bassem Akiki
Performances in Polish with English supertitles

On-Campus Performance: CHOPIN WITHOUT PIANO
Saturday, Oct. 24, 8 pm
Lang Concert Hall
Free and open to the public without advance reservation
For information: 610-690-3489 or concertmanager@swarthmore.edu

Philadelphia Performances: CHOPIN WITHOUT PIANO
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Oct. 28-30, 8 pm nightly
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 pm (with roundtable discussion afterwards)
FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia
$25 general admission/$15 Student and 25-and-under
For tickets: FringeArts.com/215-413-1318

Michał Zadara and Barbara Wysocka are among the pre-eminent Polish theater artists of their generation, and are active internationally in both theater and opera. Zadara, who first studied theater and directing at Swarthmore, has emerged as Poland’s most significant and innovative director of the Polish classical and contemporary repertory. Wysocka’s accomplished acting and directing career was preceded by eight years of classical violin training in Germany. Together they founded CENTRALA to create works that cross traditional lines of performance and artistic practice.

Chopin Without Piano is a large-scale performance piece in which the piano parts for Fryderyk Chopin’s two piano concertos (Opus 11 in E minor and Opus 21 in F minor) are replaced by Wysocka performing a virtuosic monologue in Polish with English supertitles. Wysocka captures Chopin as a dynamic living presence, using fragments of the composer’s letters, biographies, and commentaries on his work. The orchestral scores will be performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, led by Bassem Akiki, a leading Polish conductor affiliated with Warsaw’s National Opera, who is making his American debut. Chopin Without Piano presents new possibilities for theater and music to intersect in performance, and reveals how classical composers and music remain alive and relevant for us today.

Considered a contemporary classic in Poland, Chopin Without Piano has been successfully performed in both concert venues and theaters. The performances of Chopin Without Piano in Swarthmore and Philadelphia mark the first international tour of the work, and will be followed by an engagement at Arts Emerson in Boston.

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION:
“Chopin’s Voice: Chopin’s Music in Performance”
Sunday, Oct. 25, 3 pm
Lang Concert Hall
Participants: Michał Zadara, Barbara Wysocka, Bassem Akiki, Jeffrey Kallberg (University of Pennsylvania), David Kasusic (Occidental College)
Moderator: Barbara Milewski (Swarthmore College)

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION:
“Chopin’s Body: Chopin as Theater”
Saturday, Oct. 31, 4:15 pm
FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia
Participants: Michał Zadara, Barbara Wysocka, Bassem Akiki, Tamara Trojanowska (University of Toronto), Tom Sellar (Yale School of Drama)
Moderator: Allen Kuharski (Swarthmore College)

WORKSHOPS & MASTER CLASSES
Week of Oct. 19-23
Michał Zadara and Barbara Wysocka will lead a series of workshops with interested theater students on a schedule to be announced in October.

Bassem Akiki, together with Zadara and Wysocka, will lead a master class and discussion with the Swarthmore College Orchestra on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Major support for Chopin Without Piano has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the William J. Cooper Foundation, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Warsaw). Chopin Without Piano at Swarthmore is presented by the Departments of Theater and Music & Dance, and is co-sponsored by the Dance Program and the Departments of English Literature, Political Science, and Modern Languages & Literatures.

Did you know the Theater Department has a photo archive?  We have an extensive collection of images, programs and posters from past shows. Check it out!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swarthmore-College-Department-of-Theater/167097723340268?sk=photos_stream&tab=photos_albums

And for the much deeper past, you can connect with our archive through the Swarthmore library, if you’re an alum, faculty or staff!

AUDITIONS!!! Senior Company is looking for a few good souls for their December production of Wallace Shawn’s AUNT DAN AND LEMON.  Auditions are TODAY Wednesday, 9/2 – 7-10PM in the Frear Ensemble Theater. More information is available outside the Theater Department office! Sign up or Show up!

Wishing you all the best in your adventures as you go forth from Swarthmore!

From the Gazette:

http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2015/05/01/culture-plus-violence-love-and-beauty/

The Department of Theater presents

OUT OF NARRATIVE

New Works By The Advanced Directing Workshop (THEA 055) in Collaboration with Students in Lighting Design, Integrated Media Design, and Costume Design

MOST LIKELY TO

Directed by Michaela Shuchman ‘16

HADES LADIES

Directed by Michelle Johnson ‘16

A PERPETUAL PROTEST

Directed by Aaron Matis ‘16

THE ONES THAT SLIPPED SILENTLY

Directed by Anita Castillo-Halvorssen ‘15

HAND-IN-HAND WITH FAIRIE

Direction and Costume Design by Dyan Rizzo-Busack ‘15

8 pm Saturday, May 2 & 8 pm Monday, May 4

Frear Ensemble Theater, LPAC

Free and open to the public without advance reservation

The government has riddled the poor areas of the city with addictive hallucinogenic butterflies, once-habitable neighborhoods have descended into anarchy, and those remaining have bought their survival by creating a black market of goods and services catering to the dark sides of the privileged. MERCURY FUR follows two brothers and their chosen ‘family’ of outcasts as they throw a particularly vile party for a businessman.

CONTENT WARNING: This performance includes references to suicide, sexually explicit language and situations, verbal and physical violence, gun shots, and flashing lights.

LPAC Frear Ensemble Theater
4/24/15 @ 8PM
4/25/15 @ 7PM & Midnight

Starring Tyler Elliott ’15, Simon Bloch ’17, Wesley Han ’18, Swift Shuker ’14, Stefan Tuomanen-Masure ’15, Michaela Shuchman ’16, and Ben Grandis ’15

Stage Managed by Grant Torre ’17, Scenic Design and Fight Choreography by Matt Saunders, Puppet Design by Aaron Cromie, Costume Design by Fae Montgomery ’17, Lighting Design by Amanda Jensen, Sound Design by Liz Atkinson.

http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2015/03/31/here-in-my-garden-showcases-historys-most-fearsome-women/

plus

http://swarthmorephoenix.com/2015/04/02/audiences-spend-a-few-hours-in-rosss-garden-of-theater/

An original solo performance, SELVES is a deeply personal and driven exploration of identity and the tensions between who we think we are and how others see us. Actor, student, white, poor; all these identities and many more come to life as Lisak performs, parodies, and critiques the very aspects that shape how we think of ourselves. A compelling look into the mind of an artist simply trying to make sense of who he is, that leaves us wondering the same question about ourselves.

Directed by Jill Harrison.

Written and acted by Jameson Lisak.

Lighting design by Amanda Jensen.

4/10 @ 8PM
4/11 @ 8PM
4/12 @ 2PM

LPAC Frear Ensemble Theater