[Capdist-announce] METTAWEE RIVER THEATRE COMPANY'S 'OUT OF THE PAST' 40TH YEAR CELEBRATION

Wed Jun 17 11:29:17 EDT 2015

Good morning, the renowned Mettawee River Theatre Company has announced a celebratory summer tour for its retrospective production, "OUT OF THE PAST: Celebrating 40 Years of the Mettawee Journey."

The press release follows below and is attached as a Word doc (which includes the tour schedule), along with a photo of many of the masks and puppets that will be featured. Additional photos are available upon request.

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

EditorialContacts:
Pat Lamb                     or                     Casey Compton, Managing Director
PublicRelations                                   MettaweeRiver Theatre Company
(518)727-4933                                       (518)854-9357 
patalamb at aol.com                              mettawee at gmail.com

METTAWEE RIVERTHEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES TOUR DATES FOR ‘OUT OF THE PAST: CELEBRATING 40 YEARSOF THE METTAWEE JOURNEY’ 

SALEM, NY(June 17, 2015)--TheMettawee River Theatre Company has announced summer touring dates for its 2015production, OUT OF THE PAST:Celebrating 40 Years of the Mettawee Journey. Performanceswill take place at outdoor venues in upstate New York and nearby Vermont andMassachusetts, and are scheduled from July 9 through July 21 (schedule attached).

The production will include scenes and songs from fourdecades of Mettawee productions. There will be appearances by Aristophanes’gluttonous dung beetle, as well as Brecht’s forlorn lovers in THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE. The world will be created on the back of a turtle; thegreat Irish sea god Mannanon will declaim the tragic tale of Phaedra; and GrandmotherEarth will send Nanabozho off to get the world ready for humans, Archy thecockroach and his lowly associates will share memorable moments from theirillustrious careers, and two long lost brothers will be reunited in VALENTYNE AND ORSON. All theseencounters will incorporate an abundance of Mettawee’s signature masks, puppetsand giant figures.  

According to Mettawee ArtisticDirector Ralph Lee, “These headstrong characters have been clamoring to be letout of their boxes for another fling in front of their fans, so I finallydecided to let them have their way. Here goes! I take no responsibility fortheir behavior.”

The production’s score is by NealKirkwood, who has composed scores for Mettawee productions since 2001. Themusic will be performed by the multi-talented Ed RosenBerg on alto and basssaxophone, hammered dulcimer, accordion and any number of rattles, bells anddrums. A company of Mettawee veterans has come together for this summer’sretrospective production (dates indicate the performer’s first Mettawee year):founding member Stephanie Gallas (1975), Tom Marion (1987), Jan-Peter Pedross(2006), Kristine Lee (2008), Greg Manley (2008), Tanya Dougherty (2011) and RobMcFadyen (2012). The production is directed and designed by Ralph Lee, withcostumes by Casey Compton.

About the MettaweeTheatre Company
Under the ArtisticDirection of mask maker, designer and director Ralph Lee, the Mettawee RiverTheatre Company, founded in 1975, creates original theater productions thatincorporate masks, giant figures, puppets and other visual elements with livemusic, movement and text, drawing on myths, legends and folklore of the world’smany cultures for its material. The company is committed to bringing theater topeople who may have little or no access to live professionalperformances.  

In his design anddirection, Lee seeks to create vivid theatrical moments with economy andelegance. This search for an evocative simplicity of image and Mettawee’scommitment to making theater accessible to the widest possible audience throughits outdoor performances give this theater company its particular character.

About Ralph Lee
Ralph Lee firstcreated puppets as a child growing up in Middlebury, Vermont. He graduated fromAmherst College in 1957, and studied dance and theater in Europe for two yearson a Fulbright Scholarship. Upon returning to the United States, Lee acted onBroadway, off-Broadway, in regional theaters and with the Open Theatre. Duringthat period he started creating masks, unusual props, puppets andlarger-than-life figures for theater and dance companies, including the NewYork Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre, the Living Theatre,the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Shari Lewis, the Metropolitan Opera and SaturdayNight Live. 

In 1974, whileteaching at Bennington College, Lee staged his first outdoor production, whichtook place all over the college campus, and featured giant puppets and maskedcreatures. That same year he organized the first Greenwich Village HalloweenParade, which he directed through 1985. For his work on the parade Lee receiveda 1975 Village Voice OBIE Award, a 1985 Citation from the Municipal ArtsSociety, and in 1993 he was inducted into the City Lore People's Hall of Fame. 

Two of Lee's Mettaweeproductions have been honored with American Theatre Wing Design Awards: ThePopol Vuh in 1995 and Wichikapache Goes Walking in 1992. Under Lee'sdirection, Mettawee also received a 1991 Village Voice OBIE Award and twoCitations for Excellence from UNIMA, the international puppetry organization.Additional awards to Lee include a 1996 Dance Theatre Workshop Bessie Award for“sustained achievement as a mask maker and theatre designer without equal,” anda 1996 New York State Governor's Arts Award in recognition of his manycontributions to the artistic and cultural life of New York State.  In2003, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigioushonors. In 2008 Lee served as the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence at theUniversity of Maryland at College Park. He is currently on the faculty of NewYork University.

For more informationabout the Mettawee River Theatre Company, including a full schedule of thissummer’s outdoor tour, visit the company’s web site at www.mettawee.org.

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