PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Stacy Davis [email protected]
We Players ANNOUNCES CAST AND CREW for upcoming siteintegrated production of “ONDINE” at Sutro Baths and Environs
In partnership with the NPS, Golden Gate National Recreational Area Original Play by Jean Giraudoux Adapted by Maurice Valency C0Directed by Carly Cioffi and Ava Roy Produced by Lauren D. Chavez and Ava Roy
Ondine at Sutro May 1 – June 7th, 2015 Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons (exact time TBA) 680 Point Lobos Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
Ticket prices: $35 $80 Advance ticket sales (to We Players mailing list) begin February 2 General ticket sales start March 2
January 26, 2014 (San Francisco, CA): We Players (Artistic Director, Ava Roy; Managing Director, Lauren D. Chavez), presents Jean Giraudoux’s Ondine at Sutro Baths. This siteintegrated production is produced in partnership with the Golden Gate National Recreational Area (with whom We Players has been innovating siteintegrated theatre since 2008). We Players brings this enchanting love story between a sea spirit and a knight errant to life on the cliffs at Land’s End, where the windswept Monterey Cypress trees tower above and the vast Pacific stretches sparkling to the horizon. Audiences should be prepared to walk; as with all We Players productions, this show is on the move! Action will occur in the ruins of the baths, on the Point Lobos cliffside, and process across the Great Highway into Sutro Heights Park and atop the foundation of Sutro’s former observatory. Ondine at Sutro runs May 1 June 7, 2015. Advance ticket sales open to our mailing list at February 2, 2015. For press reservations or more information call 415.547.0189 or email [email protected].
ANNOUNCING 2015 CAST OF ONDINE AT SUTRO Making their We Players debuts, the company welcomes Olive Mitra as the The Old One/ The Illusionist, Eli Wirtschafter as Bertram the poet, Nick Medina as the King, and Elaine Harris as the lady Bertha. In addition to new talent, many We Players veterans will take the stage including: Benjamin Stowe (Laertes in Hamlet on Alcatraz, 2010; Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night at Hyde Street Pier, 2012; Macduff in Macbeth at Fort Point, 2013) as Ritter Hans von Wittenstein zu Wittenstein; Nathaniel Justiniano (Zeus in The Odyssey on Angel Island, 2012; Ross in Macbeth at Fort Point, 2014) as the Lord Chamberlain; Jack Halton (Polonius in Hamlet on Alcatraz, 2010; Banquo in Macbeth at Fort Point, 2014) will play the fisherman Auguste and Jennie Brick (Captain of the Diamonds in Macbeth at Fort Point 2013 & 2014), a 2014 TBA award nominee for best actress in a featured role will play Auguste’s wife, Eugenie. Julie Douglas (Athena & Circe in The Odyssey on Angel Island, 2012 as well as one of the infamous weird sisters in Macbeth at Fort Point 2013 & 2014), Libby Oberlin (Penelope in The Odyssey on Angel Island, 2012) along with newcomers Mikka Bonel and Becky RobinsonLeviton will conjure and shapeshift together as the ensemble of “ondines”, whose roles range from sea spirits in Act One, to mortals of the King’s court and Han’s servants in Acts Two and Three. Ava Roy, We Players’ Artistic Director, will play the title role.
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Roy will both produce, alongside Managing Director Lauren Chavez, and codirect the production. Carly Cioffi, an accomplished actor, director and former associate artist at ACT (last seen with We Players in 2010 as Gertrude in Hamlet on Alctraz), will codirect the production alongside Roy. In addition to her role as producer, Mrs. Chavez will bring her choreographer skills to the fore as Movement Director. We Players welcomes costume designer Brooke Jennings, who will create the landscape and Belle Époqueinspired garments for the production. Megan Hillard, who has provided properties and production support in several recent productions, will serve as Properties Master. Resident Music Director Charlie Gurke, a 2014 TBA award winner for his original score for Macbeth at Fort Point, will compose the music and perform alongside Henry Hung (trumpet) and Aaron Priskorn (trumpet) as well as ensemble members Mitra and Wirtschafter. Further credits include Amy Marie Haven as Production Manager, Gabi Immelman as Stage Manager, Lauren Matley as House Manager and Gabriel DeLeon, multitasking as Dramaturg, production assistant and ensemble member.
EXPERIENCING THE BAY AREA WITH WE PLAYERS As with recent and ongoing collaborations at other National Park Sites (Alcatraz Island 20092011, Fort Point 20132014, SF Maritime 20112017, Marin Headlands 2014current/ongoing) We Players hopes to entice locals to visit places often left to tourists, and to experience them anew while offering all visitors a unique way to explore Bay Area sites. "An essential goal of our work is to inspire in our audience personal relationships with the places in which we play," says Artistic Director Ava Roy. Ms. Roy describes Sutro as a perfect location for this playful tale of love and enchantment. She explains, “this simple fable is an allegorical exploration of man’s relationship with the natural world.” Set at San Francisco’s Land’s End, where civilization meets the vast expanse of the Pacific, Roy asserts, “audiences will experience visible and visceral reminders of the mystery and majesty of the sea, and will leave with enhanced appreciation for this stunning and iconic San Francisco site.”
ABOUT ONDINE AT SUTRO Ondine is a tragic love story between a mystical creature of the depths and a mortal man of hubris. Worlds collide, the natural world flirts with the established social order and immortal powers plunge into the realm of mortals. Staged in and around the eroded foundations of the massive buildings and grand swimming pools of Sutro Baths and Sutro Heights Park, audiences will move with the action of the play, exploring the park environs while immersed in the enchanted realm of Ondine. Of the title character Roy explains, “Ondine is pure, elemental – she feels everything but is haunted by nothing. She is seeking something intrinsically human to ground her in the currents of an immortal existence.” While this story of the water spirit that craves a human soul is a fairytale motif, Giraudoux (the play’s author) explains that “the play becomes the tragedy of man divorced from nature and stultified by his confinement within the strictly human sphere.”
ABOUT WE PLAYERS We Players was recently recognized by Backstage.com as one of seven companies around the globe producing groundbreaking immersive theatre. We Players was also honored by San Francisco
Magazine with the “Best of the Bay” pick for their unique sitespecific performance work noting, “We Players didn’t just break the fourth wall, it toppled the whole playhouse.” Our mission is to create siteintegrated performances that transform public spaces into realms of participatory theatre, in an effort to engage with history and the environment, build community, and activate personal relationships with place. Our work inspires, awakens the senses, and connects people with each other and the environment. We Players is a Bay Area arts nonprofit founded in 2000 at Stanford University by Ava Roy, and managed by Ava Roy and Lauren Dietrich Chavez since 2009. For more information about We Players, please visit www.weplayers.org.
Calendar Listing Information
In partnership with the NPS, Golden Gate National Recreation Area We Players presents
Ondine at Sutro
Original Play by Jean Giraudoux CoDirected by Carly Cioffi and Ava Roy
Performance Dates: Friday, Saturday and Sunday; May 1st – June 7th, 2015 Performance Times: Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays (late afternoon start time TBA) Performance Locations: Sutro Baths and Sutro Heights Park, 680 Point Lobos Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94121
For detailed information about performance dates, times, and locations, please visit our website at WePlayers.org.
Tickets: $35$80 Advance tickets available to members of our mailing list starting February 2nd. General ticket sales begin March 2 at WePlayers.org
Information, group sales and educational opportunities: Phone: 415.547.0189 Email: [email protected] Website: WePlayers.org