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With new musical, ACTIVE CULTURES THEATRE seeks to reinvent professional theatre in Prince Georges County
University Park, Maryland, December 18, 2006:
From January 25th – February 11th, 2007, Active Cultures, Maryland’s newest professional theatre, will present the world premiere of the hip-hop/rock’n’roll musical, HANSEL AND GRETEL EAT CRABS in the Raw Theatre at the New Joe’s Movement Emporium in Mt. Ranier, Maryland. HANSEL AND GRETEL EAT CRABS will be the first production ever produced in the Raw Theatre. The Raw Theatre is part of Joe’s three-million dollar renovation project and a key component of the innovative Gateway Arts District.
Tonya Jordan, arts & culture program officer at Gateway CDC states, “We're thrilled that Active Cultures has joined us in the Gateway Arts District! This locally based professional theater company is just what we needed to grow this arts district and the New Joe's Movement Emporium is the perfect space to inaugurate top rate theatre that has something to say to all audiences.”
Joe's Movement Emporium— ten-year-old community-based multicultural arts center— has recently completed the renovation of a neighborhood warehouse, dubbed the “New Joe’s Movement Emporium.” It is part of a greater effort, spearheaded by the Gateway Community Development Corporation, to transform Northern Prince Georges County. The Gateway CDC seeks to revitalize the three municipalities of Mount Rainier, Brentwood and North Brentwood as well as nearby Hyattsville by encouraging the growth of a community of artists and arts organizations, where diversity is embraced as an asset. The main program of Gateway CDC is the development of the Prince George’s County Gateway Arts District, a $70 million investment initiative concentrating arts and cultural resources along a two-mile area of Rhode Island Avenue (U.S. Route One). This revolutionary project includes subsidized artist housing and studios, gallery spaces, and the New Joe’s Movement Emporium. Active Cultures’ first production, HANSEL AND GRETEL EAT CRABS, will christen the new theatre at Joe’s.
HANSEL AND GRETEL EAT CRABS is a musical fantasy of beauty, abandonment, cannibalism, triumph and a parent’s worst fears. With sly humor and a strong sense of foreboding, the play follows two young girls who, one magic-laden night, become lost in the wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay. The play was commissioned, developed, and workshopped by Active Cultures Theatre and received a reading at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The musical is aimed at adults and mature children aged 10 and up.
Inspired by the 19th century German opera HANSEL AND GRETEL by Engelbert Humperdink and Adelheid Wette—written for five sopranos and a baritone—the play has been set by writer/lyricist Mary Resing in exurban Maryland. Composer Andy Welchel has updated and expanded upon the music to reflect the popular music culture of contemporary Maryland.
HANSEL AND GRETEL EAT CRABS is directed by Patrick Crowley, the young director who staged HIP HOP ANANSI at Imagination Stage and ORANGE FLOWER WATER at DCAC. Writer Mary Resing most recently dramaturged BIG DEATH/LITTLE DEATH and GRACE at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Dramaturg Jacqueline E. Lawton previous credits include THE CLEAN HOUSE at Woolly Mammoth; she also wrote BLOOD BOUND AND TONGUE TIED. Composer Andy Welchel was part of the musical team who took DC’s Fringe Festival hit LUNCH to New York City. Incidental puppetry will be designed by Betsy Rosen, a puppeteer on THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME at Studio and VELVET SKY at Woolly Mammoth.
HANSEL AND GRETEL EAT CRABS features actors Anu Yadav (the solo show CAPERS), Ashley Robinson (SAVAGE IN LIMBO with Woolly Mammoth/UMD), Brian Rubiano (EVITA with Open Circle Theatre), Jennie Lutz (BUNNICULA with Imagination Stage), Kirsten Benjamin and Lillian Locklear. The designers are: Paul Ring (sets), Levia Lew (lights) and Erin Sutton (costumes).
The show will be performed Thu –Sun, January 25th – February 11th at the Raw Theatre at Joe’s Movement Emporium, 3306 Bunker Hill Road, Mount Ranier, Maryland. Tickets are $12 and may be purchased online at www.activecultures.org or by calling 800-494-TIXS (800-494-8497).
Contact: Mary Resing
Active Cultures Theatre
Phone: (301) 526-9921
4411 Underwood Street
University Park, Maryland
www.activecultures.org
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