Story of Hiroshima Survivor IS IT ALREADY DUSK? Premieres at Irondale Center Tonight

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and Irondale Center co-present the World Premiere of IS IT ALREADY DUSK?, a new movement theater piece by Joan Evans and Harry Rubeck based on a true story. Performances begin previews tonight, February 21 at Irondale Center with opening set for Tuesday, February 26.

IS IT ALREADY DUSK? is based on the life of 76-year old Takashi Tanemori. On August 6, 1945 Takashi was an eight year-old playing outside his schoolhouse in Hiroshima, Japan. That morning, when the atomic bomb was detonated, Takashi was orphaned and became an impoverished street urchin. When he was 18, he came to the United States to seek revenge. A spiritual encounter with a butterfly and the events of 9/11 led him to believe in forgiveness as the path to reconciliation instead of revenge.

Directed by Joan Evans with production design by Harry Rubeck, the cast includes Ching Valdes-Aran (Broadway: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet; 1997 Obie Award for Flipzoids), Greta Turken (Sophie's Choice), David Landon (New York Shakespeare Festival), Yasu Suzuki (Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, National Ballet of Maryland), Aya Yamakawa and Mary Cavett (Radio City Rockette). The production team includes Robert Sweetnam (set), Julie Busch (Stage Manager) and Elise Toscano (Assistant Director). The production also features an original score composed by Laurence Gingold, performed live by a pianist, violinist and cellist.

Joan Evans has been creating and performing original physical theatre work since 1975. She won a Fringe First Award at the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe Festival for creating, directing, and choreographing the ensemble piece Where Ravens Rule, a theatrical response to the war in Bosnia. She has toured her solo work in Austria, Brazil, and Germany. She has performed her work at such theatres as the Performing Garage and Manhattan Class Company in NYC, and the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center In Connecticut. She has been the recipient of four National Endowment for the Arts Theatre Grants. She was awarded a 1993, Citation of Excellence from the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA) for her work combining dance, acting, and puppetry in Rico and Dolores. She has taught and directed at Stella Adler for two decades.

IS IT ALREADY DUSK? runs tonight, February 21 - March 2, Tuesday - Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 7pm & 9:30pm. Irondale Center is located at 85 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn, NY. -- accessible from the C train to Lafayette Avenue; the B, D, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, or 5 trains to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street, or the G train to Fulton Street. Tickets are $18, available at www.Irondale.org or 866-811-4111.

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