Phoenix, prepare to enter the exclave!
Schedule to be confirmed: check www.phxfringe.org for more information.
Check out our Kickstarter page at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/464708343/help-send-dark-porch-theatres-tutor-to-the-phoenix. The video is priceless!
A military man, Major von Berg (Ryan Hayes) finds toenails on the floor of his ancestral home and conducts an inspection of his family and dependents (from left: Brandon Wiley, Lippel von Berg, Margery Fairchild, Meg Hurtado). Photo: Martin Schwartz
“I might feel claustrophobic here without you.”
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Critical RAVES for TUTOR!
From the feature review–and starred listing!–in the San Francisco Bay Guardian (click for full article):
“Finally, from this mysterious disorientation, emerges a family of four: egomaniacal Major von Berg (a nicely volcanic Ryan Hayes), sly Mrs. Von Berg (a serenely confident Hurtado), morose teenage daughter Gussie (a withering but vulnerable Margery Fairchild in severe pigtails), and half-feral little Lippel (a wan puppet). They have a decidedly European mien about them, but from where or what century they hail exactly is hard to say.
“What is certain: you have arrived at your destination.
“…Schwartz latches onto an intriguing aspect of this grim goodtime story — which he adapts from his own translation of Sturm und Drang–school writer J.M.R. Lenz’s 1774 play, Der Hofmeister — namely the theme flagged by the “exclave” in the title, which refers to an isolated region detached from the mainland but nevertheless a part of the same country. Attached yet apart proves an apt description of each character’s condition as well as of the family unit itself, which is seemingly lost in time.”
Charles Kruger of examiner.com and theatrestorm.com writes:
“I loved this production. It is funny, thought provoking, staggeringly original, full of experimentation and theatrical verve…Utilizing video, an excellent original score, a puppet for one of the characters, skillfully executed slapstick, masks, dance, sound effects, experimental lighting, alienation effects ala Brecht (one character announces and briefly narrates each episode, using a hand held microphone), the ensemble creates an evening of theatre that is a funny, shocking assault on sense and sensibility that leaves us intrigued, entertained and breathless if somewhat discombobulated. (Wouldn’t an exclave of any sort be discombobulated?)”
Read the full review at www.theatrestorm.com.
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The plot of the piece is partially inspired by JMR Lenz’s Der Hofmeister (1774), and is simple: A young, eager-to-please fop becomes tutor to a rural, aristocratic family with a lovesick daughter and a wild son. But soon, in our play, the textures become more complex. As the tutor frantically navigates his new surroundings, he comes to realize a more substantial, more troubling problem with it all: the family appears to live-literally-in the past.
This highly experimental work explores the idea of the exclave–a detached part of a whole, such as a province of a country that’s physically separated from the motherland–as a way of addressing contemporary experiences of cultural isolation and connection. How are we part of the places, groups, and times with which we identify? Are we components of cultures, nations, things we cannot touch?
Developed with a four-member ensemble of performers, TUTOR employs composedtexts, improvisation, an original electroacoustic musical score, and video projection. A screen will hang from the ceiling, showing composed rhythmic mashups of original video with amateur YouTube uploads from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad--which was, not coincidentally, formerly known as East Prussia, and which was the original setting of Lenz’s play. The set, like the overall tone of the piece, is sparse, moody, and atmospheric with wild gusts of humor.
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Dark Porch Theatre, a company in residence at The EXIT, presents
TUTOR: enter the exclave
Written and directed by Martin Schwartz
Original music, sound, and video by Derek Phillips
Inspiration drawn from Der Hofmeister; oder, Vortheile der Privaterziehung, by J. M. R. Lenz
Ensemble: Brandon Wiley, Margery Fairchild, Ryan Hayes, Meg Hurtado
Set design by Jonathan Horton
Puppet construction by Maxx Kurzunski
Co-produced and costumes designed by Margery Fairchild
Show art by Mikhail D. Poloskin - mikhailpoloskin.com