January 24–February 10, 2019 January 24–February ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK HERCULES: IN SEARCH OF A HERO EXCLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK HERCULES: IN SEARCH OF A HERO Director/Concept/Dramaturgy Work Alcestis Hercules: In Search of a Hero is Ioanna Katsarou Luisa Alarcón a new theater piece combining Translator Admetos/Servant/Death Demetri Bonaros Demetri Bonaros excepts from Euripides’ plays Alcestis and Hercules, along with Composer Hercules Costas Baltazanis Luke Couzens original material, to explore the meaning of heroism in our time. Lighting Designer Megara Christina Watanabe Helena Farhi Hercules is a man of violence, Set Designer Goddess Christos Alexandridis Alexandra Skendrou most of the time heroic by killing. Alcestis, on the other hand, is a Costume Designer Video Cast/Child Marina Gkoumla Taj Sood woman who stands out for an Assistant Costume Designer act of self-sacrifice: she is heroic Vivian Triviza by dying. Placing the action in Stage Manager a modern setting, Hercules: In Anastasia Thanasoula Search of a Hero challenges the Video conventional, masculine notion Alex Agisilaou of heroism and contemplates a Press Rep feminine alternative. David Gibbs/DARR Publicity Fundraising/Marketing Coordinator Katerina Alexaki Fundraising/Social Media Coordinator/Marketing Alexandra Skendrou Executive Producers Ioanna Katsarou & Demetri Bonaros ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK Hercules: In Search of a Hero ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK HERCULES: IN SEARCH OF A HERO ABOUT Hercules: In Search of a Hero Cast & Crew Production Team Ioanna Katsarou (director, producer): Eclipses artistic director and founding member of Aktis Aeliou Theater, awarded Best Regional Theater in Greece by the Greek Critics Association. Member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab 2017. Selected acting credits: Clytemnestra (Classic Stage Company); Cassandra and Queen Atossa (La MaMa and St. Ambroise Festival Montreal), Phaedra (European Delphi Festival). Ioanna has performed in more than 25 productions and directed more than 15 plays, including Farewell (best poetic monologue at the 2018 United Solo Festival). Demetri Bonaros (translator, actor, producer): Selected theater credits: Agamemnon; Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay; Measure for Measure; The Winter’s Tale; The Taming of the Shrew; and the NYIT-nominated, best production, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (actor/producer/composer); various plays, musicals and operas at Two River Theatre, Stonington Opera House, Queens Theatre, Cell Theatre and elsewhere. Film: Esther (winner, best short film—Athens, OH, International Film Festival), Vestibule and The Shuffle. Studies/training: theatre, mathematics (Swarthmore College, Villanova University), piano, music theory/harmony (Athens Conservatory). www.DemetriBonaros.com Alex Agisilaou (Video). Established director, cinematographer and editor, Alex has worked from featured films with Emmy award-winning actors to award-winning documentaries and TV shows. His work has been featured on television and various festivals, and his latest music video has made an exclusive debut in The Huffington Post. Born and raised in Cyprus. Katerina Alexaki (fundraising/marketing assistant) is the co-founder of Artika theatre company and a board member of Eclipses Group Theatre N.Y. She has directed in New York (Wild Project, Hellenic Cultural Centre) and Athens (National Theatre of Greece, Politeia), and performed at Epidaurus Theatre, Herodion Theatre, National Theatre of Greece, Hearst Greek Theatre in California and La MaMa ETC. She is a graduate student in Applied Theatre at S.P.S.-CUNY and a Theater graduate of Queens College and National Theatre of Greece. ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK Hercules: In Search of a Hero ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK HERCULES: IN SEARCH OF A HERO ABOUT Hercules: In search of a Hero Cast & Crew Costas Baltazanis (Composer): Studied jazz guitar performance and composition at Berklee College of Music. Has performed in the United States and many European countries. He’s played or recorded with Alex Foster, The Mingus Orchestra, Arturo Sandoval, David Friedman, Jeff Tain Watts, James Genus, Mike Wolff, Kenwood Dennard, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, and The Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra. Formed Iasis, a band performing his world fusion music compositions. Was Head Director at Nakas Conservatory and wrote Music Theory and Ear Training; Jazz Harmony; and Electric Guitar. www.costasbaltazanis.com David Gibbs/DARR Publicity (press rep): is the founder of DARR Publicity, a boutique press agency specializing in theater, dance, music-driven shows and unique theatrical experiences. David’s clients include The Amoralists, The Assembly, Company XIV, Ice Factory Festival, La MaMa, The Mad Ones, New Ohio Theatre, The Pool, PTP/NYC and The Queen’s Company. David has publicized shows at Rattlestick, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Atlantic Theater, Minetta Lane Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Theatre Row, New World Stages, The Flea, Walkerspace, Soho Playhouse, Town Hall, Cherry Lane and HERE. His clients have won Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards. www.DarrPublicity.com Marina Gkoumla (costume designer) has worked, as stage/costume designer and actress, with the Greek Cultural Center (N.Y.), National Theatre of Northen Greece, Embassy of Indonesia in Greece, Art Theater Aktis Aeliou, Municipal theater of Serres and Kavala, Opera of Thessaloniki, O.P.E.P. Participated in the Fringe Festival of St. Ambroise-Montreal and the International Film Festival of Thessaloniki. Master in acting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Fine Arts. Also studied Javanese dance and traditional painting of Bali in Indonesia. Christina Watanabe (light designer) is a designer for theatre, dance, music, and events. Her designs have been seen at Lincoln Center, EST, Primary Stages/Cherry Lane, 59E59, HERE Arts Center, The New Ohio, Theatre Row, Urban Stages, Penguin Rep, The Public Theatre, INTAR, The Bushwick Starr, and Theatre for the New City to name a few. Christina has designed and taught at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and with the Yale Dramatic Association, and toured with Shen Wei Dance Arts, Jonah Bokaer, and So Percussion. MFA: NYU ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK Hercules: In Search of a Hero ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK HERCULES: IN SEARCH OF A HERO ABOUT Hercules: In search of a Hero Cast & Crew Tisch. Member USA 829. www.StarryEyedLighting.com. Christos Alexandridis (set designer) studied Cinema Directing in Athens and Acting in the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece, where he worked as an actor and assistant director for five years. In 2002, as a Fulbright scholar, he moved to New York to study musical theatre. Since then he has collaborated with numerous theatrical groups as an actor, director and set designer. Cast Luisa Alarcón (Alcestis): Worked at Colombia’s El Grillote theatre and the Enrique Buenaventura Municipal Theater. Trained at Odin Theatre in Denmark, the Grotowski Institute in Poland and elsewhere. Recent credits: Privatopia (Cairo International Festival). In New York: Lonely Leela; Rose Love Pepe; Women of New York; Are you now or have you ever been?; and Conquest of the Universe or When Queens Collide. Demetri Bonaros (Admetos, Death/Servant): Selected theater credits: Agamemnon; Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay; Measure for Measure; The Winter’s Tale; The Taming of the Shrew; and the NYIT-nominated, best production, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (actor/producer/composer); various plays, musicals and operas at Two River Theatre, Stonington Opera House, Queens Theatre, Cell Theatre and elsewhere. Film: Esther (winner, best short film—Athens, OH, International Film Festival), Vestibule and The Shuffle. Studies/training: theatre, mathematics (Swarthmore College, Villanova University), piano, music theory/harmony (Athens Conservatory). www.DemetriBonaros.com Luke Couzens (Herules): Selected credits: Macbeth (the title role, Stages on the Sound), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom, Mainestage Shakespeare), Our Town (George, Theater at Monmouth), Romeo & Juliet (Tybalt, First Folio Theatre), References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Coyote, Something Marvelous Festival), Coriolanus (The Hypocrites), and Letters Home (Griffin Theatre). Studies: The Theatre School at DePaul University. Helena Farhi (Megara): Favorite acting credits include what she found (Frigid Festival), Into the Woods ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK Hercules: In Search of a Hero ECLIPSE GROUP THEATER NEW YORK HERCULES: IN SEARCH OF A HERO ABOUT Hercules: In search of a Hero Cast & Crew (Heartwood Regional Theater), Much Ado About Nothing (Annapolis Shakespeare Company), The Tempest (Heartwood Regional Theater), Miss Nelson is Missing (Theatreworks/Two Beans nat’l tour), Love and Information (Artists Entrained), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Annapolis Shakespeare Company). BFA: NYU Tisch. Alexandra Skendrou (Goddess): Has performed in opera, musical theater and recitals in Carnegie Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Miller Theatre, Amato Opera, Kaye Playhouse, National Greek Opera, etc. Selected theater credits: Chekhov’s Marriage a La Russe; Dario Fo’s Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay; A Christmas Carol; and various Greek plays. Graduate of Atheneaum-Maria Conservatory, Mannes College/New School and Moscow’s Theatrical Technical School for the Arts. Taj Sood (Video cast/Child): Taj is ten years old and has been studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute for two years. He’s also studied at the Neighbourhood Playhouse Theatre. Previously acted on a short film about climate change, to be