NORDIC COOL 2013 DENMARK FINLAND Feb. 19–MAR. 17 ICELAND NorwAY SWEDEN THE KENNEDY CENTER GREENLAND THE FAroE ISLANDS WASHINGTON, D.C. THE ÅLAND ISLANDS Nordic Cool 2013 is presented in cooperation with the Nordic Council of Ministers and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Presenting Underwriter HRH Foundation Festival Co-Chairs The Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, and Barbro Osher Major support is provided by the Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Mrs. Marilyn Carlson Nelson and Dr. Glen Nelson, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, David M. Rubenstein, and the State Plaza Hotel. International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts. NORDIC COOL 2013 Perhaps more so than any other international the Faroe Islands… whether attending a performance festival we’ve created, Nordic Cool 2013 manifests at Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theatre (where Ingmar the intersection of life and nature, art and culture. Bergman once presided), marveling at the exhibitions in Appreciation of and respect for the natural environment the Nobel Prize Museum, or touring the National Design are reflected throughout the Nordic countries—and Museum in Helsinki (and being excited and surprised at they’re deeply rooted in the arts there, too. seeing objects from my personal collection on exhibit there)… I began to form ideas and a picture of the The impact of the region’s long, dark, and cold winters remarkable cultural wealth these countries all possess. (sometimes brightened by the amazing light of the , photo by Sören Vilks Sören , photo by aurora borealis). The sounds of the surrounding sea. The Nordic Cool 2013 brings an unprecedented number long horizon. The midnight sun in summer. All of these of these treasures to the Kennedy Center with elements create a unique environment in northern performances by more than 750 participating artists Europe. The purity of the water and air. The lava rocks in theater, dance, music, and more. This includes Fanny and Alexander Fanny and evergreens. They all comprise a landscape and some of the best jazz musicians in the world, as well natural world that is truly breathtaking. as one artist who plays on instruments made from THEATER PAGE 5 ice, including a Norwegian glacier. You’ll also be able Along our journey to discover and ultimately create to enjoy demonstrations and tastings of New Nordic MUSIC PAGE 11 Nordic Cool 2013—and to answer, or at least attempt to Cuisine; visual art and design exhibitions that will fill answer, the question “What is Nordic?”—I experienced the entire building; literary readings and discussions, DANCE PAGE 23 the art, culture, people, land, and values that are including one on popular crime novels; and fascinating honored daily. Among them: nature, sustainability, forums on everything from the meeting of theater and LITERATURE / FORUMS PAGE 29 innovation, design and technology, children’s well-being architecture to designs for holistic living. Educational and rights, gender equality, and diversity. workshops, discussions, and classes will offer EXHIBITIONS PAGE 35 contextual information for all of these presentations. Whether walking down the sloping roof of the Opera FILM PAGE 41 House in Oslo all the way to the sea or watching And to complete the journey north, you’ll find the a performance in the brand-new Opera House in beautiful Northern Lights beamed on the Kennedy YOUNG AUDIENCES PAGE 47 Reykjavik… whether dining at globally revered Center’s façade for the duration of the festival. Indeed, restaurants in Copenhagen or visiting the Louisiana Nordic Cool 2013 will offer an extraordinary experience INTERACTIVE EVENTS PAGE 51 Museum just outside the city… whether boating between for all who visit. Expect rapture! icebergs in Nuuk or wandering among 60,000 sheep in CALENDAR PAGE 57 Tickets at the Kennedy Center Box Office Alicia Adams or charge by phone at (202) 467-4600 Vice President, or toll-free (800) 444-1324 International Programming Order online at kennedy-center.org/nordiccool Festival Curator Groups call (202) 416-8400 TTY (202) 416-8524 For complete festival information, visit KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG/NORDICCOOL PAGE 3 THEATER THEATER , photo by Eggert Jonsson , photo by Metamorphosis PAGE 5 NORDIC COOL 2013 THEATER ICELAND feelings of revulsion steadily turn to resentment, NORWAY VESTURPORT with horrifying results. This hugely acclaimed WINTER Guests production of Kafka’s Metamorphosis by Icelandic METAMORPHOSIS theater collective Vesturport and the U.K.’s Lyric U.S. PREMIERE Hammersmith combines stunning design and daring BIRD IN Magic RAIN WITH Tears by Franz Kafka February 20–22 at 7:30 p.m. action, as Gregor lithely negotiates a gravity-defying, Directed and adapted Eisenhower Theater split-level set. From a topsy-turvy upstairs room, his Written by February 20 & 21 at 7:30 p.m. by Gisli Örn Gardarsson Tickets $29–$60 insect contorts to the sounds of his family’s betrayal, Alan Lucien Øyen Terrace Theater Rønne Rasmus , photo by and David Farr In English swinging from the rafters as in a veritable gymnasium. and Andrew Wale Tickets $34 August Director Gisli Örn Gardarsson’s trademark aerial Directed by In English “Visual imagination and startling physical power... physicality seems a match made in heaven for Kafka’s Alan Lucien Øyen DENMARK a striking marriage of cinematic atmosphere and hellish creation. And the evocative music—composed “TEATRET” theatrical artifice” by world-renowned musician and lyricist Nick Cave “Sends shivers of joy down your spine —The New York Times with longtime collaborator Warren Ellis from The Bad because it’s so elegant, raw, and cheeky” U.S. PREMIERE Seeds—further emphasizes Kafka’s dreamlike vision, —Aftenposten (Norway) August Domestic tragedy, or metaphor for totalitarian turning it into an electrifying reality. brutality? The ordinary, unremarkable life of the How far would you go to be immortalized in Directed by Larz Knutzon February 23 at 7:30 p.m. Samsa family is turned upside down when their Feb. 20: Free post-performance discussion with cyberspace? In this riveting, multimedia play in two February 24 at 2 p.m. adult son, Gregor, is inexplicably transformed company members acts, the lengths—and the limits—to this question are Terrace Theater one morning into a gigantic insect. His family’s precariously navigated by three lost souls whose Tickets $34 paths fatefully intertwine: a conceptual artist grieving over her son’s death, an HIV-positive boy-prostitute “Wistful, touching, and poetic. Great fun!” seeking the truth about his past, and a terminally —Berlingske Journal (Denmark) ill, closeted gay businessman longing for the love his marriage could never provide. Starting with a Winner of the 2007 “Best Show” Reumert Award, sparse set, up-and-coming Norwegian theater artist Denmark’s foremost recognition in the performing Alan Lucien Øyen and his company Winter Guests arts, August is a joyously moving and thought- surround these characters with two revolving walls, provoking wordless comedy about the basic juxtaposing their interactions with live video and human condition. The story begins quite simply: using smartphones and laptops as the only props. four individuals go for a stroll in a dark and empty Also taking inspiration from a biography of real-life space. Utterly vulnerable to their surroundings, they shipping mogul John Fredriksen, once the richest stumble upon tiny fragments of life we all struggle man in Norway, Øyen treads the boundaries of fact vs. with—wonder and anxiety, enthusiasm and anger, fear fiction—and how we attempt to stage and preserve and expectation, victory and defeat. The bumbling our fragile lives. quartet soon comes to realize a force bigger than themselves—a state of being between childlike Feb. 20: Free post-performance discussion with innocence and adult awareness, animal instinct and Bird in Magic Rain with Tears in Magic Rain Bird company members human rationality. The production is “a formidable clown performance,” says Denmark’s Jyllands Post. “It tells us about all of the important things in life without one single word.” Feb. 23: Free post-performance discussion with company members PAGE 6 PAGE 7 NORDIC COOL 2013 THEATER FINLAND farm, the Kotalas are now destitute, living beneath the TAMPERE WORKERS’ THEATRE overpass of a forgotten highway alongside a motley crew of drunks, Iraqi refugees, and Romanian gypsies. U.S. PREMIERE When the camp dwellers begin rehearsing a Christmas THE Warmblooded pageant for their charitable neighbors, they discover that their dismal lives under a cold, wintry sky can , photo by Erik Aavatsmark , photo by Written and directed March 2 at 7:30 p.m. also be filled with small miracles. Written and directed by Sirkku Peltola March 3 at 1:30 p.m. by one of Finland’s most frequently performed Eisenhower Theater playwrights, The Warmblooded is a comedic, Hedda Gabler Tickets $29–$60 warm-hearted look at Finnish life. NORWAY In Finnish with NATIONAL THEATRE English supertitles SWEDEN U.S. PREMIERE “The Christmas tableau performed under the bridge ROYAL DRAMATIC THEATRE Hedda GABLER must be the most spectacular theater scene I have ever seen.” U.S. PREMIERE Written by Henrik Ibsen February 26 & 27 at 7:30 p.m. —Demari News (Finland) FANNY AND ALEXANDER Directed by Peer Perez Øian Eisenhower Theater Vilks Sören , photo by Adapted by Ole Johan Tickets $49–$80 From one of the largest theaters in Tampere, Finland’s Directed March 7–9 at 7:30 p.m. Skjelbred In Norwegian with performing arts capital, comes The Warmblooded, the by Stefan Larsson Eisenhower Theater third and final stand-alone production from an award- Tickets $49–$80 English supertitles winning trilogy that chronicles the thinning fortunes and Alexander Fanny “Good God—people don’t DO such things!” These of the Kotala family. Once the proud owners of a small “A lavish production.