Improv Arts, Inc. presents
Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround's The Chemistry of Lime Trees
Improv Arts, Inc. presents
Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround's
Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround's
The Chemistry of Lime Trees
Exploring the impact of real & perceived borders on people's lives
through two historical stories
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"intellectually solid, inquisitive and wonderfully ambitious"
- Milwaukee Express
"elegantly done" as it "showed not the carnage,
but the beautiful love that made the carnage tragic."
- Third Coast Digest
Who: Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround with guest performer/composer Susan Oetgen
What: D.C. premiere of The Chemistry of Lime Trees
Where: Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint
916 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
When: March 14 - 24, 2013 (see exact schedule below)
Tickets: 2 General, 7 for Students, Seniors and Artists
To order tickets go to: http://limetrees.
Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround presents the D.C. premiere of The Chemistry of Lime Trees, which has been seen in New York City, Milwaukee, and Northern Virginia. Combining the realism of theater with the physicality of dance, The Chemistry of Lime Trees explores the impact of real or perceived borders in our lives through two factual, historical stories. Part One is inspired by a story from the Ellis Island archives about a young Russian woman abandoned on her way into America by her fiance. Part Two, drawn from the Bosnian War, focuses on Bosko and Admira, a real-life Romeo and Juliet, and how their struggle against societal, religious and political borders eventually lead to their deaths. The Chemistry of Lime Trees combines theater with athletic movement, live singing, and provocative images to create a work both lush and stark, straightforward and layered, and concrete and abstract. The Chemistry of Lime Trees was created over two years of research, writing, composing, choreographing and collaboration by choreographers/dancers Daniel Burkholder, Kathryn Harris Banks, Stephanie Yazek and Stefanie Quinones Bass, composer/singer Susan Oetgen and composer Jonathan Matis.
For more information on this or other activities of Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround contact us at daniel@
Schedule:
Thursday, March 14, 2013 @ 8pm
Friday, March 15, 2013 @ 8:30pm*
Saturday, March 16, 2013 @ 8pm
Sunday, March 17, 2013 @ 4pm
Thursday, March 21, 2013 @ 8pm
Friday, March 22, 2013 @ 8pm
Saturday, March 23, 2013 @ 8pm
Sunday, March 24, 2013 @ 4pm
*There is a gallery opening in The Flashpoint Gallery that day from 7:00-8:00pm. Audiences are welcome to come early, partake in refreshments and enjoy the gallery opening before the show.
------------------------------ Daniel Burkholder / The PlayGround is a movement based performance group engaging audiences on multiple levels through dynamic work combining the formalism of choreography with the spontaneity of improvisation. By layering movement ranging from highly athletic to subtle gestures with theater, live music and video the company considers multiple perspectives as it presents accessible, yet complex performances works. The company presents work throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Metro/DC region at venues as varied as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Dance Place, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Transformer, Carter Barron Amphitheater, on the sidewalk in front of the Martin Luther King Library, Bladensburg Waterfront Park along the Anacostia River, The H Street Playhouse, and Warehouse Theater as well as performances in New York City and nationally. In 2005 Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround was awarded a Local Dance Commissioning Project from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and in 2006 was awarded a Metro DC Dance Award for "Outstanding Performance by a Group in a Dance Production". Recent projects include: Scenic Route, a 3 hour hike interspersed with site specific performances along the Potomac River; Primary/Scale, an all day performance installation at the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival; and, Worship/Home, an evening length work exploring concepts of home, leaving home and creating home through unique audience interactions, live video feeds, and the company's signature physicality. In January 2011 Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround became the dance company in residence at Georgetown University Hospital offering dance and movement sessions to patients, nurses, doctors, administrative staff and support personnel. Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround is a project of Improv Arts, Inc.
Susan Oetgen is a Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary performing artist whose work combines text, music, movement, video and visual art in solo and collaborative performance projects exploring how stories define our identity. Her recent work has examined the relationship between art and war in a series of projects about the US Marine Corps, including Command Voice, which premiered at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in 2010; Bazm-o-Razm, commissioned by the Brooklyn Philharmonic for the Music Off the Walls series in 2008; and IED: Improvised Experimental Diva, which premiered at the Capitol Fringe Fest in Washington, DC in 2007. Raised in Washington, DC, Susan earned a Master of Music from Catholic University of America and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. She studied composition with David Lang at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and with Randy Woolf during a 2007-2008 fellowship with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. A recipient of a 2007 Jerome Foundation Travel & Study Grant and a 2010 Meet the Composer Creative Connections Grant, Susan has been an artist-in-residence at Tribeca Performing Art Center since 2009. www.susanoetgen.com
Program Notes:
For reference, here are the notes included in the program.
The Chemistry of Lime Trees
Conceived by Daniel Burkholder
She arrived, alone (part one)
"A handsome, clear-eyed Russian girl of about twenty-years, the daughter of a farmer comes in and sits down before us. She nervously clasps and unclasps her hands. 'That girl over there,' says the officer, 'is an interesting case. Her father is a farmer in moderate circumstances. A young man with whom she grew up came here two years ago, and last year wrote to her father that of the girl would come over he would marry her. So she came, alone. He lives somewhere in New Jersey and last week he appeared and looked her over. Finally he said he wasn't sure whether he wanted to marry her or not. So everything is at a standstill. I can't let her land. I don't know what to do. I'll write to that fellow again and tell him he's a fool. He'll never have such a chance again.'" -Commissioner William Williams, March 1910 (edited)
Directed by Daniel Burkholder
Created and Performed by Daniel Burkholder and Kathryn Harris Banks
Traditional Russian Folk Dance choreographed by Katya Denisova
Music by Jonathan Matis
Traditional Russian lullaby sung by Kathryn Harris Banks
Costumes by Daniel Burkholder, Kathryn Harris Banks and Keira Hart Mendoza
Intermission
The Chemistry of Lime Trees (part two)
"Once upon a time, when they were 16, Bosko Brkic and Admira Ismic kissed at a party. Nineteen eighty-four was a magical time to be in Sarajevo. The city was hosting the winter Olympic games and Bosko and Admira saw the world come to their home. That year, a Muslim girl and a Serbian boy fell in love for the first time in their lives. Historically, Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, was a cosmopolitan place, a melting pot where Muslims, Serbs, Croats, Jews and other nationalities had lived together for more than 500 years. On April 5th, 1992, the streets of Sarajevo were filled with Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats. Suddenly, shots rang out. The siege of Sarajevo was about to begin." - excerpt from PBS' Frontline (edited)
Characters
Bosko Brkic.....Daniel Burkholder
Admira Ismic...Stephanie Yezek
Narrator............Susan Oetgen
Directed by Daniel Burkholder and Susan Oetgen
Created by Stefanie Quinones Bass, Daniel Burkholder, Susan Oetgen and Stephanie Yezek
Performed by Daniel Burkholder, Susan Oetgen and Stephanie Yezek
Music by Susan Oetgen and Tony Melone
Text by Daniel Burkholder and Susan Oetgen
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Performance Photos:
   Photos by Rachel Pearl
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