South Korean World Premiere: 13 FRUITCAKES debuts at LA MAMA!
Company:
La MaMa ETC
2018 Tony Award-winning
LA MAMA
PRESENTS
13 FRUITCAKES
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY
BYUNGKOO AHN
AS PART OF STONEWALL 50 AT LA MAMA
JUNE 13 - 16, 2019
LA MAMA – the 2018 Tony Award winning theater – will present the world premiere music drama from South Korea, 13 FRUITCAKES, written and directed by BYUNGKOO AHN, as part of the STONEWALL 50 festival at the Ellen Stewart Theater (66 E. 4 St.) in Manhattan, June 13-16. BYUNGKOO AHN returns to La MaMa having previously directed a Korean adaptation of HAMLET in 2011, described by The New York Times critic as “Intense. The production creates a delicious mood of menace and is beguiling to watch, a reinterpretation with a dark mind all its own.”
13 FRUITCAKES depicts the story of Orlando, a fictional character, who inspires and encourages people to start fighting against social injustice and oppression by telling them stories about great gay ancestors, highlighting 13 noteworthy LGBTQ+ figures and their impact throughout history: from Eleanor Roosevelt to Hans Christian Andersen to Alan Turing to Leonardo da Vinci. The music drama is performed by a cast of Korean actors – including ‘More’ Zimin, the most prominent drag performer in Korea.
13 FRUITCAKES is comprised of 13 musical vignettes, with beautiful original songs composed by Gihieh Lee, lyrics by Lorca, Wilde, Whitman and other Queer Poets and Electronic Music by Los Angeles Laptop Collective.
“I am very excited to come back to La MaMa next month with this new production. When I did research on the Stonewall Riots, people say somehow the air that day was different from before, even though it was a routine police raid, and on this occasion they did not submit to the police. I wanted to create what the 'different air’ that day might have been. I am very attached to this project more than any I have worked on before,” states creator BYUNGKOO AHN.
BYUNGKOO AHN'S first directorial work ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ was presented at the National Theatre of Korea as part of the Young Theatre Festival when he was 20. Since then his opera, theatre and dance productions have been seen in the US, Korea, Italy, and Czech Republic for over 20 years. His recent New York production, Hamyul/Hamlet at La MaMa ETC, New York City, was well received by The New York Times, NYTheatre.com, The Villager, etc. Also, his own experimental musical vignettes, which integrate German art songs, visual images, movement and a laptop computer orchestra, were presented in Korea, Germany, and Italy. He is a board member and resident artist at La MaMa. As a full-time professor, he currently teaches Directing, Acting and Voice at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea.
13 FRUITCAKES, is presented as part of La MaMa’s pride programming, STONEWALL 50 AT LA MAMA, a festival of LGBTQ+ artists from NYC, Philadelphia, Paris, Italy, and South Korea being presented at the Tony Award-winning theater (66 E. 4 St.) in Manhattan, from May 23-June 30 as part of WORLD PRIDE. La MaMa Squirts (May 31-June 2), Global Gay (June 6-9), and Contradict This (June 20-30) are among other highlights during the month-long pride celebration.
TICKETS:
$25 General Admission; $20 Student/Senior (plus $1 facility fee); La MaMa also offers 10@$10, these are the first ten tickets for every performance at $10 each, first come first served, advance sales only, with code: 10AT10.
To purchase tickets, please call OvationTix at: 212-352-3101; or to buy online visit: http://lamama.org/13_fruitcakes/
About La MaMa
La MaMa is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa's vision of nurturing new artists and new work remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961. La MaMa has presented more than 5,000 productions by 150,000 artists of all nations, cultures, races and identities. Cultural pluralism and ethnic diversity are inherent in the work created on our stages. Here, artists find a supportive environment for artistic exploration, and audiences are part of the development of an artist’s work over time.
A recipient of the 2018 Regional Theater Tony Award, and more than 30 Obie Awards and dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie, and Villager Awards, La MaMa has been a creative home for thousands of artists, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Ping Chong, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Warren Leight, Michael Mayer, Tadeusz Kantor, Bette Midler, Meredith Monk, Peter Brook, David and Amy Sedaris, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
‘MOre' Zimin from 13 Fruitcakes. Photo by: Ki Seok Cho
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