HERE is set to present The House, as part of the ongoing series StartHERE: Innovative Theater for Young People, in collaboration with the Dream Music Puppetry Program. This production plays 5 performances Friday, February 24 – Sunday, February 26 in the Dorothy B. Williams Theater at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue).
About the show: "Comedy and creepy thrills lurk within The House, where closed doors open to reveal shadowy secrets. Aimed at the family audience (adults, teens, and tweens ages 10+), The House is created and performed by Denmark’s acclaimed Sofie Krog Teater, returning to HERE with this new production following 2009’s DIVA, which launched the StartHERE program."
HERE states: "Brimming with innovative puppetry and exhilarating cartoon-drama, The House springs from a revolving set with intricate lights, complex contraptions and sound effects. The eponymous House serves as a funeral home, occupied by the reclusive, rich Mrs. Esperanza and her faithful dog. As the House’s private rooms expose the old secrets and devious deeds of both inhabitants and oddball visitors, the audience is lured into a suspenseful yet amusing adventure that stirs both light and dark sides of imagination."
About the artist: Born in Denmark in 1977, Sofie Krog was educated in physical theatre, method acting, comedy and mime schools in Denmark and abroad. She founded Sofie Krog Teater in 2003. Krog created several shows in the arena of circus and cabaret before being drawn to puppetry. Today, she works as a self-taught puppet designer, builder and puppeteer. Her first award winning performance DIVA has had success around the world. In 2008 she began collaborating with Spain’s David Faraco, set designer, puppeteer & actor of the company Libélula Puppet Theatre (since 1994) and member of the Company Nao D'amores (since 2004). The House represents their first show together.
The House features dramaturgy, production and design by Sofie Krog & David Faraco. Performed by Sofie Krog & David Faraco. Music by Cuco Pérez.
StartHERE: Innovative Performances for Young People, curated by Jeffrey Mousseau, offers standout programming for young people as an annual highlight within HERE’s season. Recognizing young people as imaginative and active participants in the performance experience, StartHERE affords these audiences the opportunity to experience challenging contemporary multidisciplinary productions from top caliber artists. startHERE showcases the integration of puppetry, object theatre, multimedia and live music in dramatic storytelling, allowing younger audiences, primarily tweens and up, access to the latest trends in the performing arts. At the same time, parents – many of whom may have attended HERE in the past – enjoy the series’ inventive original productions as much as their kids. StartHERE launched with Sofie Krog Teater’s DIVA in early 2009. Since then, the program has delivered productions including Aunt Leaf, written by Barbara Wiechmann and directed by Jeffrey Mousseau, and last season’s Sleeping Beauty, by internationally celebrated artist Colette Garrigan.
Says curator Jeffrey Mousseau, “With startHERE, we bring tweens, teens and adults together to enjoy exceptionally innovative international performance like Denmark's Sofie Krog Teater, whose quirky sensibility and vivid imagination brilliantly resonate with audiences of wide-ranging ages.” HERE Producing Director Kim Whitener adds, “We're enormously grateful to the Danish Consulate of New York and the Danish Arts Council in Denmark for generously supporting our continued exchange with Sofie Krog, whom HERE first presented in 2009 with DIVA. While Sofie is with us, she will share her wonderful process with HERE's Resident Artists and other NYC puppeteers, as well as our eager audiences.”
HERE’s Dream Music Puppetry Program is described as "one of few programs in the country to grow and commission contemporary adult puppet works. Dream Music provides performance opportunities to puppet artists and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration to develop new puppetry techniques." This program was inaugurated with the premiere of Basil Twist’s OBIE-award winning Symphonie Fantastique in 1998 and the opening of the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, an intimate space created specifically for intimate puppetry. Under the artistic direction of Twist, with producing direction from HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino, the Dream Music aesthetic is geared toward puppet works that feature live music as a collaborative element. Dream Music seeks to secure the future of puppetry by providing increased development and performance opportunities to puppet artists, and by collaborating with artists from other disciplines to develop new puppetry techniques. Over the past ten years, Dream Music has presented in the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre many exciting artists ranging from eclectic international troupes to The Jim Henson International Festival of Puppetry and has commissioned over 20 full-scale puppetry works from New York based puppeteers including the acclaimed Arias with a Twist in 2008 (which returned in September 2011 for a limited engagement at Abrons Arts Center).
