Silver City, NM, Release: October 14 2019. For Immediate Release
Virus Theater’s next spectacular production comes to audiences November 8-23 with a new interpretation of Carlos Gozzi's The Green Bird, directed by Teresa Dahl-Bredine.
After the last two years of a dizzying array of productions, ranging from melodramas to Greek Tragedies, Virus is proud to perform Gozzi’s 18th-century commedia dell’arte sensation, The Green Bird. This PG-13 production runs from November 8-23 at the El Sol Theater in historic downtown Silver City. Showtimes are 6pm Sundays and 7:30pm on all other days.
Interested parties can learn more about the show by visiting https://virustheater.com.
Virus Theater has been intermittently training in mask work and the commedia dell'arte style for the last several years, after Dahl-Bredine attended a month-long workshop at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater to learn more about the technical aspect of actors performing with masks. Virus Theater ensemble is excited to perform this style of theater with a classic commedia work.
The Green Bird, Gozzi presents a story full of humor and fairy tale, of commoners versus the elite, of the baser human needs (hunger, lust and greed) juxtaposed against the elevated yearnings of philosophy, reason, and love. The satire presents its characters, and therefore us all, as inhabiting the universal human predicament.Gozzi brings us a story that is sometimes vulgar and sometimes sublime, in which all the characters are proven to be buffoonish at least at some point.
Director Teresa Dahl-Bredine says “I attended a production of The Green Bird at the Yale Repertory Theater in 1993, my first year away at college, and was blown away. I’d never seen anything like it. At the time, most American theater strived for realism—and here you have magic, absurdity, masks, and fantasy—so much color and life, so much for the imagination to grab on to. I’ve wanted to produce this play ever since.”
Tickets are $12 for adults/$6 for students and are available at the El Sol box office (406 N. Bullard St.) or in advance at Vintage Fantasies (412 N Bullard St.) in downtown Silver City. Shows on November 10 & 14 are pay-what-you-can at the door.