Edison Theatre announces 2008-09 OVATIONS! Series

36th season to highlight adaptation and collaboration in music, dance and theater

Since 1973 the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! series has presented both new works and innovative interpretations of classical material by nationally and internationally renowned artists. The 2008-09 season, the Edison’s 36th, will feature more than a dozen dance, music and theatrical events — including several St. Louis and world premieres — designed to challenge, educate and inspire.

Artists’ Background

Sweet Honey in the Rock
Sweet Honey in the Rock opens the 2008-09 Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series Sept. 26.

“Once again, the OVATIONS Series explores new ways of seeing the fresh and the familiar,” says Charlie Robin, executive director of Edison Theatre. “Favorites return for another adventure and new friends are welcomed to the fold. With each offering we invite audiences on the journey and encourage them to not only enjoy but to engage.”

The OVATIONS! Series will open Sept. 27 with Sweet Honey in the Rock, For more than three decades this all-female Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble has celebrated the rich legacy of African-American musical traditions, capturing the sounds of spirituals, gospel, Blues, African chants and ancient lullabies.

The series continues Oct. 3 and 4 with two new productions by L.A. Theatre Works, the nation’s premiere radio theater company. On Oct. 3 the company will present H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, adapted by Howard Koch. The following evening will feature a new production of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, adapted by John de Lancie and Nat Segaloff.

The Trey McIntyre Project
The Trey McIntyre Project Oct. 10 and 11

On Oct. 10 and 11 The Trey McIntyre Project will bring its groundbreaking contemporary ballet to the Edison stage. Next up, on Nov. 7 and 8, is the Luna Negra Dance Theatre in There is a Time, a restaging of José Limón’s Biblically inspired masterwork.

Edison Theatre will present the first of two special events Nov. 22 when Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis brings her acclaimed Broadway hit Rose to the Edison stage. Written by Martin Sherman, this play-length monologue paints an unforgettable portrait of an 80-year-old Jewish woman from the Ukraine, following her life from war-torn Warsaw and through the Holocaust to post-war Atlantic City and modern-day Miami Beach.

Then, from Jan. 9 to 18, Edison will join forces with St. Louis’ own Metro Theater Company for a new production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Adapted by Christopher Sergel’s from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, this all-ages show tells the story of growing up in a small Alabama town in 1935, as the trial of an African-American man turns a community upside down.

Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis in *Rose* Jan. 23 and 24

Two powerhouses of American theater, The Guthrie Theater and The Acting Company, will join forces Feb. 13 for a new production of William Shakespeare’s epic King Henry V. Then, on Feb. 14, the companies will present the world premiere of The Spy, a riveting adventure set during the American Revolution, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the novel by James Fenimore Cooper.

On Feb. 20 and 21 San Francisco’s Joe Goode Performance Group, in collaboration with master puppeteer Basil Twist, will present Wonderboy, an unexpected tale centering on a peculiar superhero who is isolated by his uncanny ability to empathize with everyone. Feb. 27 and 28 find the Ahn Trio back on the Edison stage. These three sisters — cellist Maria, pianist Lucia and violinist Angella — breathe new life into the standard piano-trio repertoire with commissioned works by some of today’s most visionary composers.

The OVATIONS! season will conclude March 27 and 28 with Diavolo, the high-wire Los Angeles dance company, in Foreign Bodies. Set to an orchestral composition of the same title by the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Esa-Pekka Salonen, this new work examines the meaning and experience of home, origin and family.

*Wonderboy*
The Joe Goode Performance Group and master puppeteer Basil Twist present *Wonderboy* Feb. 20 and 21.

Meanwhile, the popular ovations! for young people series, which offers specially priced Saturday matinees for audiences of all ages, will open Jan. 24 with the extraordinary Michael Cooper in Masked Marvels & Wondertales, a breathtaking one-man-show that combines mime, visual art and outlandish stilt dancing. The series continues Feb. 28 and with a special matinee performances by the Ahn Trio and concludes March 28 with Diavolo.

Tickets to OVATIONS! events are $32, $28 for seniors and Washington University faculty and staff; and $20X for students and children. Subscriptions are available at the basic level (three, four or five events at $28 per ticket) and at the premiere level (six or more events at $24 per ticket). Ovations! for young people events are $10; subscription are available at $6 per ticket.

Edison Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. For more information or to order tickets, call the Edison Theatre Box Office at (314) 935-6543, or email Edison@wustl.edu.

Founded in 1973, the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series serves both Washington University and the St. Louis community by providing the highest caliber national and international artists in music, dance and theater, performing new works as well as innovative interpretations of classical material not otherwise seen in St. Louis.

Edison Theatre programs are made possible with support from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis; and private contributors. The OVATIONS! Season is supported by The Mid-America Arts Alliance with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

Diavolo
Diavolo in *Foreign Bodies* March 27 and 28