San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater ushers in the new year with the first offerings of the company’s year-long celebration of the centennial of August Strindberg’s death; the company will honor the playwright’s vast career throughout 2012 with symposiums, lectures, and staged readings of his works as part of the Hidden Classics Reading Series and RISK IS THIS…The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival, culminating in a festival of fully-staged new translations of Strindberg’s five Chamber Plays, entitled Strindberg Cycle: The Chamber Plays in Rep, in October of 2012. All centennial events take place at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. For tickets and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006.
The Cutting Ball Theater 2012 Strindberg centennial events are as follows:
Hidden Classics Reading Series
This season, Cutting Ball’s Hidden Classics Reading Series explores and celebrates the work of August Strindberg. The series offers a profound look at one of the greatest authors ever to write for the stage in a program that continues to be one of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets.
MISS JULIE and A DREAM PLAY
By August Strindberg
“Two Radical Visions of Theater”
January 29, 2012, 3pm
Cutting Ball Theater begins the 2012 celebration of August Strindberg’s centennial with a Hidden Classics presentation of “Two Radical Visions of Theater,” staged readings of two plays that encapsulate Strindberg’s two major contributions to drama: realism and expressionism. In MISS JULIE, Strindberg examines class tensions through a sexual encounter between an unmarried young lady and her father’s valet. In A DREAM PLAY, Indra’s daughter comes down to earth to better understand the plight of man; Strindberg structured this play using a dream logic that was later adopted by Expressionist playwrights. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose helms MISS JULIE, featuring Aldo Billingslea, Danielle O’Hare, and Cathleen Ridley; Robert Estes directs A DREAM PLAY featuring Ponder Goddard, along with Kirsten Broadbear, Leticia Duarte, Bennett Fisher, Sam Gibbs,Wylie Herman, Maria Leigh, and Garth Petal.
There will be a traditional Swedish dinner served between the two readings, as well as a discussion of these two vastly different visions of theater. Proceeds from the Swedish dinner will benefit Cutting Ball’s season celebrating the Strindberg centennial; those who purchase tickets for the dinner will have priority seating for the staged readings of MISS JULIE and A DREAM PLAY. Swedish dinner tickets are $75; please call 415-292-4700 for more information.
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