Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart

Posted on October 22, 2004 by The LIDA Project

Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (2004)

Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart
by Caridad Svich

Blending sex, death, fame, drugs and love into a theatrical paste, playwright Caridad Svich’s work imagines a post-modern world that has changed little from the cold calculations and moral machinations of Greek society. Blending original text with modernist twists and stories of murder and mayhem south of the border, Svich creates mesmeric motion, pummeling every sense with dance-beat and drug-tinged escapism.

“Caridad’s impressive language is full of poetry with a grounded concrete quality that reminds me of the wonderful rootedness of William Carlos Williams. In the dramatic rules of the Svich universe everything is possible.”
– Matthew Maguire,
TheatreForum

Production History
October 22 – December 3, 2004: BINDERY | space :: Denver, CO

Awards
Best Sound Design (Brian Freeland) – Denver Post Ovation Award Nomination
Best Costume Design (Michelle Baldwin) – Denver Post Ovation Award Nomination

Company
Direction: Brian Freeland
Assistant Direction: Jessica Posner
Technical Director: Wolf Butler
Stage Manager: Sarah Hoover
Scenic Design: Wolf Butler
Costume Design: Michelle Baldwin
Lighting Design: Jacob M. Welch
Sound Design: Brian Freeland
Projection Design: Brian Freeland
Properties Design: Steven Gibson
Live Projection Mix: Robin Davies / Brian Freeland
Live Camera: Marcus Loftin

Ensemble
Nissa Almquist: Iphigenia
Jacob Morehead: Achilles
Terry Burnsed: General Adolfo/ Fresa Girl / Virtual MC / Soldier X / General’s Ass
Lisa Mumpton: Camila/ Hermaphrodite Prince
Hart DeRose: Violeta Imperial
Matthew Korda: Newscaster / Fresa Girl / Orestes/ Virgin Puta
Matthew Schultz: Fresa Girl

Images

Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (2004)

Fucking A

Posted on January 16, 2004 by The LIDA Project

Fucking A (2004)

Fucking A
by Suzan-Lori Parks

A darkly comic Brechtian riff on The Scarlet Letter in a modern world where Hester is an abortionist and freedom is for sale, Fucking A is equal parts social commentary, vulgarity and honesty. This modern fairy tale explores the nature of love and the depths of revenge

“Ms. Parks’ vision and voice is one of the most powerful and progressively active in the American theatre today.”
– Brian Freeland

Production History
January 16 – February 21, 2004 : BINDERY | space :: Denver, CO

Awards
Best Productions of 2004 – The Rocky Mountain News
Best Introduction of a Major Contemporary Playwright – Westword

The Company
Direction: Brian Freeland
Technical Director: Wolf Butler
Scenic Design: Brian Freeland
Lighting Design: Jacob M. Welch
Musical Director: Anne Angyal
Costume Design: Brian Freeland
Video Design: Brian Freeland

Ensemble
Lisa Mumpton: Hester Smith
GerRee Hinshaw: Canary Mary
Mathew Korda: The Mayor
Petra Ulrych: The First Lady / Hester Smith Understudy
Robin Freeman: Freedom Fund / Waiting Woman 1
Josh Robinson: Monster
Dane Torbenson: Butcher
Anne Angyal: Scribe
Daniel Langhoff: First Hunter / Jailbait
Tom Salyers: Second Hunter / Guard
Brian E. Lewis: Third Hunter
Susan Perry: Waiting Woman 2
Irish Augustine: Understudy (The First Lady)
Jacob T. Morehead: Understudy (The Mayor)

The Merchant of Auschwitz

Posted on April 16, 1999 by The LIDA Project

The Merchant of Auschwitz (1999). Nils Ivan Swanson (L) as Shylock and Jim Miller (R) as Bassanio. Photo Eric Webber.

The Merchant of Auschwitz
adaptation by Brian Freeland based on William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

A young jewish student, captured in a time of madness, is caught with a copy of The Merchant of Venice. What follows is a debate acted out through the text of one of the most controversial plays of our time.

“In the winter of 1943 I was a member of a company which performed before the SS guards at the extermination camp of Auschwitz. We actors received prodigal hospitality and were waited on by prisoners—long columns of whom we saw with our very eyes. We were greatly astonished at their wearing only striped prison smocks in the middle of winter.”
– Dieter Borsche, German film star

The Third Reich mobilized mass audiences on a scale amounting to a cultural revolution—not so much to expose them to propagandist theatre, as to turn their very presence in the theatre into propaganda.
– Richard Grunberger, Third Reich historian

Production History
April 16 – May 29, 1999 : The LIDA Project Experimental Theatre :: Denver, CO

Awards
Best Experimental Theatre Production, Westword
Best New Play (Brian Freeland), Denver Drama Critics Circle Award Nomination
Best Sound Design (Jeremiah Lyman Moore), Denver Drama Critics Circle Award

Media Coverage
Flesh Wounds, Westword

The Company
Direction: Brian Freeland
Producer: Catherine E. Worster
Dramaturgy: Mary Martin / John Schuttler
Translations: Anne Angyal
Sound Design: Jeremiah Lyman Moore
Scenic Design: Jason Humphrey
Scenic Painting: Anne Angyal
Lighting Design: Brian Freeland
Costume Design: Lisa Mumpton / Catherine E. Worster
Properties Design: Catherine E. Worster
Dialect Coach: Heather Hollingsworth
Fight Choreography: Dane Torbenson

Ensemble
Portia: Tara M.E. Thompson
Bassanio: Jim Miller
Shylock: Nils Ivan Swanson
Antonio: Josh Hartwell
Jessica: Lisa Mumpton
Lorenzo: Paul Cure
Launcelot: Steven Brown
Nerissa: Patty Mintz Figel
Salarino: Sara Casperson
Salanio: Julia Truitt
Translator: Anne Angyal
Hitler Youth: Chris Hale