SITI co-founder and "Viewpoints" conceiver Anne Bogart will direct The Foundry Theater's latest production, Gertrude and Alice: A Likeness to Loving at New York's Signature Theater, starting previews May 29, for a June 9 opening. The show begins barely a week after the final performance of John Guare's new play there, Lake Hollywood.
Gertrude was written and will be performed by Lola Pashalinski (founding member of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company) and Linda Chapman (Associate Artistic Director of New York Theater Workshop). The production was developed in readings at The Whitney Museum's "Performance on 42nd Street" series, The Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Voice and Vision Theatre and The Foundry Theatre at The Cherry Lane. A version of the play was presented earlier this year as a work-in-progress at Washington University.
As one of this century's greatest literary figures, Gertrude Stein's passion was to renew the meaning of the word by forging new ways to experience language in a more syncopated "continuous present." This passion was fanned by her lesbian lover, Alice B. Toklas. Together the two lived uncompromised lives as expatriated Americans in France earlier in the century. They hosted artistic salons featuring this century's greatest artistic minds: Picasso, Juan Gris, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Tzara, Duchamp and many others.
Director Bogart co-founded the internationally-renowned Saratoga Institute (SITI) in 1992, with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki. With SITI, Bogart has continued to develop her physically-motivated actor training technique, "Viewpoints." Bogart is the recipient of two Obie Awards, a Bessie Award, and is an Associate Professor at Columbia University. Along with Gertrude, Bogart is currently at work on Laurie Anderson's latest performance - Moby Dick. Recent notable productions include Bob and Culture of Desire both at NYTW, Miss Julie at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins at New York City Opera, and the premiere of Paula Vogel's Baltimore Waltz.
As well as being a founding member of the famed Ridiculous Theater with Charles Ludlam and starring in many of their productions (Bluebeard, Stage Blood, and Camille), Pashalinski has appeared with many of America's foremost directors -- Lee Breuer, Richard Foreman, Peter Sellar, and JoAnne Akalaitis. Chapman is also an experienced avant-actress, having worked extensively with The Wooster Group on productions like Brace Up!, L.S.D. (...Just the High Points), North Atlantic, and The Temptation of St. Anthony. Chapman was also one of the founding producers of Dyke TV and DTV productions, a grass-roots cable television program and media center for the lesbian community.
For tickets ($30) or more information, call (212) 244-PLAY.
-- By Sean McGrath
