Theater – Page 11

Rene Migliaccio, “Dante’s Inferno” Blackmoon Theatre Company (NYC, 2009)

August 18, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“In this new adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, Artistic Director Rene Migliaccio creates a multicultural, multidisciplinary and multimedia visual and aural work that positions performers within video projections, redefining traditional theatrical boundaries. Physical Theatre, Music and Poetry in the Italian language create the ritualistic experience of Dante’s journeys through the nine circles of Hell. Canto after canto, Italian performer Alessio Bordoni portrays the character of Dante leading the audience throughout his descent into Hell. The different realms of sin are portrayed through images: moving fragments of collages by critically acclaimed Collage Artist India Evans. Cellist Aminda Asher performs a classical score, a pre-consciousness of Dante’s journey into Hell. In ‘Dante’s Inferno’, the traditional concept of Hell as a place of eternal tortures is re-defined as a condition of spiritual anguish caused by separation from the Sacred.” —Blackmoon Theatre Company

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

Tim Barsky & Everyday Ensemble, “The Bright River” (2004)

July 7, 2009 By ewsadmin

“The Bright River is a hip-hop retelling of Dante’s Inferno by a traditional storyteller, Tim Barsky, with a live soundtrack performed by some of the best hip-hop and klezmer musicians in the Bay Area. A dizzying theatrical journey through a world spinning helplessly out of control, the show sends audiences on a mass-transit tour of the Afterlife. Guided by a fixer named Quick, and moving through an urban landscape that is at once both intensely real and fantastic, the show is a deep-rooted love story, a profound meditation on mass transit, and a passionate commentary on the current war in Iraq.” [. . .] —Everyday Theater

See Everyday Theater to learn more, watch video clips, and read reviews.

Ruth Virkus and Brenna Jones, “Dawn’s Inferno — A Divine Comedy” (2009)

July 2, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“Midway through her life’s journey, Dawn Ahlgren finds herself in a dark wood… Darkwood, Minnesota. Returning to her hometown for her 10 year high school reunion, Dawn finds herself trapped in the Inferno Bar and Grill, surrounded by classmates determined to prove that hell is indeed other people.
The Flowershop Project, a new theater company based in Minneapolis, is excited to be premiering this original script by company members Brenna Jones and Ruth Virkus. Featuring an original soundtrack by SvenErik Olsen, and based on The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Dawn’s Inferno is an innovative and hilarious update of Dante’s classic trip through Hell, re-invented as another kind of divine comedy.” —The Flower Shop Project

Sante Maurizi, “Paolo e Francesca” (2000-2001)

June 2, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“Paolo e Francesca” is a journey through the different ways in which the story told by Dante in Inferno V has be represented in visual art, theater, poetry, etc.

See La Botta e il Cilindro for information on the play and a wonderful collection of illustrations of the Paolo and Francesca scene from Inf. V.

Roberto Benigni, “TuttoDante” in the US

May 25, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“…Next week he will begin a short North American tour of TuttoDante, a monologue about Dante’s Divine Comedy that mixes literary insights with off-the-cuff political jokes. In Italy, where he has been doing the show regularly for three years, it has drawn more than a million people.” [. . .] –Ben Sisario, The New York Times, May 22, 2009

Contributed by Pamela Montanaro

“For the record, the Italian actor Roberto Benigni does not believe that New Yorkers are going to Hell. ‘I hope they go to Paradise, every one of them,’ he said last Thursday, in the back seat of a taxi, blinking against the swish and roar of traffic. But that might be because he thinks it’s a journey the city’s residents have already made. ‘This is the beginning of Hell,’ he said. ‘The deeper we go, the greater the range of utterances of grief and fury we will hear. Different colors of people. Slang! Obscenity! Curses! Sighs! Keening!’ He paused while a van blasted its air horn. ‘This is really the sound of Hell,’ he said. ‘But we need to pass through the Inferno to reach Paradise.'” [. . .] –Stephan Faris, The New Yorker, June 1, 2009

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

Rene Migliaccio, “Dante’s Inferno” Blackmoon Theatre Company (NYC, 2009)

Tim Barsky & Everyday Ensemble, “The Bright River” (2004)

Ruth Virkus and Brenna Jones, “Dawn’s Inferno — A Divine Comedy” (2009)

Sante Maurizi, “Paolo e Francesca” (2000-2001)

Roberto Benigni, “TuttoDante” in the US

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