KAOS, New Martha Clarke Work Based on Pirandello, Opens at NYTW Dec. 4 | Playbill

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News KAOS, New Martha Clarke Work Based on Pirandello, Opens at NYTW Dec. 4 New York Theatre Workshop opens its presentation of KAOS, Martha Clarke's take on Pirandello stories, Dec. 4 Off-Broadway.

Conceived, directed and choreographed by Clarke (Vienna: Lusthaus (revisited)), the new work — performed in Italian with English surtitles — began previews Nov. 10 for a run through Dec. 31.

Featuring a text adapted by Frank Pugliese and dramaturgy by Giovanni Papotto, KAOS uses text, dance movement and live music to re-tell "four Luigi Pirandello stories featured in the Taviani Brothers' 1984 film 'Kaos.'"

The stories that comprise KAOS (pronounced KAH-ows, after the Italian birthplace of Pirandello) "tell of a lonely mother desperately trying to make contact with her children in America, a bride discovering that her new husband goes mad with each full moon and a clan of peasants fighting for the right to have a cemetery on the land they have cultivated for generations," as materials reveal.

The cast of KAOS features Felix Blaska, Sophie Bortolussi, George de la Pena, Daria Deflorian, Vito Di Bella, Lorenzo Iacona, Jim Iorio, Gabrielle Malone, Matthew Mohr, Rocco Sisto, Christina Spina, Rebecca Wender, Robert Wersinger and Julia Wilkins. The ensemble also includes musicians Irving Grossman, John T. La Barbera and Richard Sosinsky.

The design team comprises Scott Pask (scenic), Donna Zakowska (costumes), Christopher Akerlind (lighting) and Tal Yarden (projection). Music direction is by Jill Jaffe with associate music direction by John T. La Barbera. Anita Ross serves as production stage manager. "I have wanted to present a theatrical adaptation of Pirandello's short stories for a very long time," stated NYTW artistic director James Nicola in a release. "When Martha Clarke came to NYTW in 2002 with Vienna: Lusthaus (revisited), I immediately knew that her expansive imagination, ability to paint vivid theatrical pictures, and facility with both theatre and dance made her the ideal artist to realize this complex project."

Director-choreographer Clarke has worked in theatre, ballet and opera. Her stage works have included The Garden of Earthly Delights, Endangered Species, An Uncertain Hour, The Hunger Artist and the premiere of Christopher Hampton's Alice's Adventures Underground at London's Royal National Theatre. Recent credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (American Repertory Theatre) and a new music/theatre work, Belle Epoque, based on the life of Toulouse Lautrec (Lincoln Center Theater). She will next team with Alfred Uhry on a work for Lincoln Center Theater.

The 2006-2007 NYTW season then continues with the world premiere of Alan Ball's All That I Will Ever Be and the American premiere of René Pollesch's 24 Hours Are Not a Day.

Tickets to KAOS at NYTW, 79 East Fourth Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or visit the website at www.nytw.org.

 
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