WSC Avant Bard

Puppets, Lost Characters, a Devil and Dada
People 2012-2013 Season Lineup

The company once known as the Washington Shakespeare Company and still referencing the Bard in its name has no Shakespeare on tap for its next season. But it does have puppets, a variation on Julius Caesar, and one of The Bard's fellow playwrights.

Starting on March 25, WSC Avant Bard, based in Arlington, Va., will join with Luna Morena, the premier puppet theatre of Guadalajara, Mexico, to host a weeklong camp for children (grades K–12) interested in learning the mechanics of puppetry. Luna Morena also will present Martina y los Hombres Pájaro (Martina and the Birdmen), a story told through the eyes of a young girl immigrating to the United States, March 30–31. Presented in Spanish, this performance will be fun for the entire family. And, because puppetry isn't just for kids, on March 30 WSC Avant Bard invites adults to a performance of El Silencio entre las Olas (The Silence between the Waves), a show that combines puppetry with dance.  A celebration will follow the evening performance at the Hotel Le Meridian's restaurant, Amuse.

WSC Avant Bard will open its season in November with Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. Tom Prewitt (former associate artistic director for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company) will direct this madhouse of a play that examines the relationship between authors and their characters: those they create, those they abandon, and those just trying to rehearse a play.

The season closes out with a repertory run May 16–July 7 of The White Devil by Jacobean playwright John Webster, directed by the company's artistic director, Christopher Henley, and the world premiere of Allyson Currin's Caesar and Dada, directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. Leaning on Dadaism, the new play profiles the inner workings of an acting troupe rehearsing Julius Caesar as the actors seek to challenge and change the audience's expectations and experiences.

"WSC Avant Bard will be taking on new challenges during our 23rd season,” Henley said in a press release. “By hosting an international colleague, we will be broadening our artistic horizons and working to build community. By adding Pirandello and Webster to the expansive list of great playwrights we have tackled, we continue the tradition of taking bold approaches to recognized classics.  By presenting the world premiere of Caesar and Dada, we explore the intersection of our mission with new work.”

Individual tickets and subscriptions to WSC Avant Bard's upcoming season are on sale now. Contact the Artisphere box office at 1-888-841-2787 or e-mail wsc.tix@gmail.com.

September 14, 2012

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