Photo Flash: THE UNCANNY APPEARANCE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

North American Cultural Laboratory (www.NACL.org), Brad Krumholz and Tannis Kowalchuk, Co-Artistic Directors, will present the Manhattan premiere of "THE UNCANNY APPEARANCE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES," based on a story written by Mr. Krumholz and created by NACL in collaboration with the ensemble. Krumholz also directs. Performances begin on December 2 at HERE Arts Center (www.here.org), 145 Sixth Avenue (between Spring and Broome Streets, enter on Dominick Street), and the show will officially open on Thursday, December 4 at 7:00 p.m. Performances will run through Sunday, December 21.

"THE UNCANNY APPEARANCE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" is a carnival-style crime investigation filled with live original rock music, high-energy acrobatics, slapstick comedy antics, cross-dressing, and twentieth century philosophy. The play follows the world-famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, as he investigates the bizarre murders of Dr. Jeremy Nietzsche and Dr. Kevin Freud. To complicate matters, Holmes becomes embroiled in a competition of wits against a formidable female detective, Jacqueline Derrida. As the investigation progresses, the case begins to unravel, and so does the very fabric of Holmes's hyper-rational reality.

Brad Krumholz is co-founder and artistic director of NACL Theatre. Since founding the company in 1997, he has created and directed The Secret Storey, A Canon for the Blue Moon, The Passion according to G.H., ASPHYXIA and Other Promises, Arca Nova, The Time Cycle, an outdoor stilt show entitled Invisible Neighborhood, TERROTICA, and The Uncanny Appearance of Sherlock Holmes. He has toured to Canada, England, Italy, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania with NACL as director and teacher. Since 1990 he has worked in the field of ensemble experimental theatre, first as a student at the Odin Teatret in Denmark, and then with Richard Fowler of Canada's Primus Theatre. As an actor, Krumholz was a founding member of Cleveland's Theatre Labyrinth (dir. Raymond Bobgan), and a collaborator on NACL's site specific performance, The Mystery of Lakewood House, an environmental theatre performance, which premiered at the 2005 NACL Catskill Festival of New Theatre. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and his essay, "The Problem of Movement Theatre" is published in Allworth Press' Movement for Actors.

The six-member cast (who also serve as the show's live rock and roll band) for "THE UNCANNY APPEARANCE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" will be: Liz Eckert (Mrs. Hudson/Simpson/Belle Whittaker/Bishop Wilberforce/Kate), Glenn Hall (Inspector Lestrade/Professor Roderick Champion), Sarah Dey Hirshan (Jacqueline Derrida), Brett Keyser (Sherlock Holmes), Tannis Kowalchuk (Dr. John Watson), and Brad Krumholz (Silent Sonny). Ms. Eckert was most recently seen in Performance Lab 115's Mourn the Living Hector by Paul Cohen, which won a 2008 FringeNYC Oversall Excellence Award for Outstanding Playwrighting. She has also performed at Ensemble Studio Theatre and with Clubbed Thumb and Faux-Real Theatre. Mr. Hall has worked with three emerging experimental performance companies in Winnipeg, Canada. As co-founder and ensemble member of Avera Theatre, he developed roles in Forgotten Rooms and the site-specific Stories for Late Night Drinkers, which played in a turn of the century mansion and with Out of Line theatre he created roles in Life of a Secret, Before the Law, and S&M. This production marks his first show with NACL. Ms. Dey Hirshan has been a performer with NACL since 2003. She originated her roles in Terrotica, American Value, The Mystery of Lakewood House, and The Uncanny Appearance of Sherlock Holmes. Sarah has also performed with New York City based companies including Under The Table, and The International WOW Company. Mr. Keyser is a Philadelphia-based performance artist. Recent solo works include Turkish Delightenment (2006), and Horridus! Horridus!: Name-calling in the Wilderness (2003-04), both commissioned by the Museum of the American Philosophical Society. He has appeared previously with NACL Theatre in The Mystery of Lakewood House (2006). As a core collaborator with the performance group Wishhounds/Theatre Labyrinth, he performed in: Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead, Even Without Angels, The Hidden Twin, Transformations of Lucius, Never Speak to Strangers, and The Warbling Carousel. Ms. Kowalchuk was a core member of Primus Theatre, a prominent experimental theatre troupe based in Winnipeg, Canada. With NACL, Tannis has toured to Canada, Italy, and Balkan Europe, and has created and performed lead roles in The Secret Storey, A Canon for the Blue Moon, ASPHYXIA and Other Promises, Arca Nova, The Time Cycle, Invisible Neighborhood, and 10 Brecht Poems. Her one-woman performance, The Passion according to G.H. has played in New York, Toronto, Cleveland, Washington, DC, Maine, Philadelphia, Halifax, and Montreal. She created The Confessions of Punch and Judy with director Raymond Bobgan (Cleveland Public Theatre) and actor Ker Wells (Number Eleven Theatre, Toronto). The Confessions of Punch and Judy has toured to Cleveland Public Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Theatre Centre (Toronto, Canada), On the Waterfront Festival (Halifax, Canada), The Network of Ensemble Theatre's Festival (CA), The Mad River Festival (Blue Lake, CA), Manitoulin island, and Theatre Projects Manitoba in Winnipeg. The production was named Best of 2005 by TheaterMania. In 2005, Tannis was a guest lecturer at Rutgers University where she played the role of Mother Courage in Mother Courage and Her Children. She was a collaborating artist/performer on The Mystery of Lakewood House, a site specific performance developed collaboratively at NACL.

The set design will be by David Evans Morris, and the lighting design by Juliet Chia. The production stage manager will be Laura May Astwood.

NACL was founded in 1997 by Tannis Kowalchuk and Brad Krumholz. The not-for-profit North American Cultural Laboratory creates innovative original work that is ensemble-based, utilizing devised methods of creation, heightened physicality, and song to create vivid theatre experiences. In addition to Krumholz and Kowalchuk, the company consists of core members Sarah Dey Hirshan and Glenn Hall, and an international roster of associate artists. Upon formation, NACL was in residence at La MaMa E.T.C. in New York City from 1997-2000 where the company trained and produced three performances. NACL draws from a continuum of experimental techniques that includes the ensemble work of Denmark's Odin Teatret, Canada's Primus Theatre, and the research of Jerzy Grotowski. Over the years, the company has built upon these sources to develop a unique approach to training and creation technique that awakens each artist's potential to maximize the expressive use of body, voice, imagination, experience, memory and intellect to create compelling new works for the theatre. In 2000, NACL moved into its own theatre and artists residence in the Catskills Mountains of New York, located about 2 hours from Manhattan. The company owns and operates an historic church-turned-theatre and, next door to the theatre an artist residence in a 1920's summer boarding house (now winterized.) NACL has developed the theatre and house into an international arts center and cultural hub for gatherings, retreats, rehearsals, workshops and performances. NACL produces The NACL Catskill Festival of New Theatre, an annual international festival that provides a nurturing performance venue for an array of theatre performers, drawing a diverse audience to NACL. Having completed its 9th year, the festival has produced the innovative work of artists like Split Britches, Dah Teatar (Serbia), International WOW, Theatre of a Two Headed Calf, ArtSpot Productions, Great Small Works, Curious Theatre Branch, Zuppa Circus, LAVA, Carpetbag Brigade, Strike Anywhere, Walter Thompson Orchestra, Circus Amok, and innovative playwrights and directors such as Michael Rohd, Lisa D'Amour, Raymond Bobgan, and Ruth Margraff.

Since 1993, the OBIE-winning HERE Arts Center has been a premier arts organization in NYC and a leader in the field of new, hybrid performance work. Under leadership of Founding Artistic Director Kristin Marting and Producing Director Kim Whitener, HERE has served over 12,100 emerging to mid-career artists developing work that does not fit a conventional programming agenda. Work presented at HERE has garnered 13 OBIE awards, an OBIE grant for artistic achievement, three Drama Desk nominations, two Berrilla Kerr Awards, three NY Innovative Theatre Awards, an Edwin Booth Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. HERE proudly supports artists at all stages in their careers through full productions, artist residency programs, festivals and subsidized performance and rehearsal space. Work at HERE is curated based on the strength and uniqueness of the artist's vision. HERE's Artist Residency Program (HARP) provides development, commissions and full production for up to 20 artists over one-to-three years. In 2005, with the support of the FJC, a foundation of donor advised funds, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the City of New York, HERE Arts Center purchased its long-time home as part of a five-year "Secure HERE's Future" campaign. With full-scale renovations to the space concluding last June, thanks to generous support from the City of New York, HERE is poised to continue and expand its role as a downtown haven for the finest emerging art. Offering a comfortable, eclectic setting for artists and audiences alike, HERE features a new and improved café/gallery and two state-of-the-art performance spaces. This production is being presented through HERE's Supported Artist Program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical and administrative support.

The complete performance schedule for "THE UNCANNY APPEARANCE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" (December 2 through 21; 17 performances) will be: Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. There will be one additional performance: on Tuesday, December 2 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $20.00. Students, seniors, and artists tickets will be $15.00. To reserve, please visit www.here.org or call 212-352-3101.
Photos by Terry Murphy