May 12, 2005
UW faculty, students in high-flying multimedia production
Several UW faculty members are involved in the newest production of the Pacific Performance Project, GRAVITY, which will be presented May 18–22 in the Playhouse Theater. This original piece melds dance, theater and high-flying aerial work in a revision of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. By using a rocking stage, trap doors, and mid-air performances, the project asks audiences to consider their physical relationship to space, time, and to one another.
The brainchild of UW Drama Professor Steve Pearson; GRAVITY is a collaborative effort including some of Seattle’s best daredevil actors and dancers including Lee Fitzpatrick, UW drama student Adrian Gaeta, Ichiho Hayashi, UW Drama Professor Robyn Hunt, Melissa Kerber, UW Dance Lecturer Peter Kyle, and UW Drama Professor Shanga Parker. With sets designed by Pearson and UW Drama Professor Robert Dahlstrom, costumes by UW Drama Professor Sarah Nash Gates, original script by Hunt, and choreography by Kerber and Kyle, the work is a completely new take on a classic of the theater.
A hundred years ago, Chekhov wrote The Cherry Orchard, Einstein proposed his theory of relativity, the Cubists challenged notions of space and time, and Diaghilev and Nijinsky reinvented dance. GRAVITY occurs in the mind, memory and experience of Cherry Orchard character Madame Ranevskaya in her Paris apartment 10 years after her estate has been sold and the cherry orchard cut down.
GRAVITY performances are at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on May 21 and 22. Tickets are $14, $10 for students and seniors (cash or check only). For reservations call 206-632-1319. Post-performance discussions with the performers will be held after the Thursday evening and Sunday matinee shows.
Pacific Performance Project (P3 for short) was founded by Hunt and Pearson in 1994 to expand the dialogue about culture and theater and to more fully integrate physical conviction in performance with inner conviction. Pacific Performance Project productions employ a synthesis of the core of Tadashi Suzuki’s physical actor training, modern dance, slow tempo, circus technique, silent narrative, and a fresh response to Stanislavski’s ideas.
More information is available on the Web site, http://www.pacificperformanceproj.com.
