BOSTON Â- The second season of international theatre programming by ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage continues with the Boston premiere of the world premiere production of 69Â degrees S. (The Shackleton Project), an impressionistic recreation of one of the greatest survival stories of all time. Performances take place Feb. 7 Â- 12, 2012 at the Paramount Center Mainstage (559 Washington Street, in BostonÂ’s Theatre District). Tickets, from $25 Â- $79, are on sale now at http://www.artsemerson.org/ or by phone at (617) 824-8400.
Phantom Limb’s 69 degrees S., co-conceived with The Kronos Quartet, imagines the unimaginable. Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 trans-Antarctic expedition–the real life story of a team of explorers frozen (literally) in crisis–is reignited by a contemporary dilemma: the realities of a changing environment and the planet’s uncertain future. Theatre, dance, puppetry, photography, film and original music– an installation-in-motion – create an impressionistic, stunning and evocative series of tableaux vivants, taking the audience on an artistic and emotional journey that explores the symbiotic relationship between humans and the environment. This extraordinary voyage, and its remarkable ending reinvigorate the spirit of foregoing individual glory for the sake of collective survival. Grammy-nominated Skeleton Key performs live music as the puppets–animated by ghostly figures on stilts–navigate the forsaken plain. A cryptic geologic language accompanies their journey, composed of field recordings layered over a gripping minimalist score (recorded by Kronos Quartet). As astral projections bathe the audience in a long polar night, hope rises with the sun and a darkly beautiful vision of the Antarctic future unfolds in this tale of survival at the end of the earth.
69Â degrees S. was co-commissioned by ArtsEmerson, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College, and Arts Centre of Melbourne, Australia via residency development with the Victoria College of the Arts, EMPAC – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and MassMoCA. For more information, visit: http://www.phantomlimbcompany.com/projects/shackleton/
Recommended for ages 10 and up.
«A remarkable achievement of multimedia artistry.» Â- Backstage
«One stunner of a showÂ…electrifying soundtrackÂ… a hypnotic, overwhelming performance.» Â- Gawker
About Phantom Limb Company:
Led by husband and wife team Erik Sanko and Jessica Grindstaff, the New York City-based Phantom Limb Company has been critically acclaimed for its reinvention of traditional theatrical forms, such as marionette puppetry, in order to probe issues of contemporary life and modern consciousness. Jessica is an installation artist, painter and set designer whose work ranges from tiny Victorian taxidermied music boxes to wax and chalk paintings to 15 ft. tall puppets built out of barn lumber. Over the course of the past few years she has collaborated with such diverse artists as Ping Chong Company, Ulrike Quade, Geoff Sobelle of Pig Iron and Rainpan, and Mark Z. Danielewski. Erik Sanko is a lifelong musician having played with The Lounge Lizards, John Cale, Yoko Ono, and his own band Skeleton Key. Additionally Erik was a closet puppet maker making marionettes for art collectors. For more information, visit http://www.phantomlimbcompany.com/.
February 7 –12, 2012
69Â degrees S. (The Shackleton Project) Â- World Premiere Production
Phantom Limb Company
Created by Phantom Limb
Choreographed by Andrea Miller
Directed by Sophie Hunter in Association with Tony TacconeMusic composed by Erik Sanko
Recorded performance by Kronos Quartet
Live performance and additional music by Skeleton Key
Conceived in Collaboration with David Harrington/Kronos Quartet
Paramount
