Araby by Chris Rael
Dixon Place Mondo Cane! presents a workshop production of:
Araby
an operetta by Chris Rael
Thursday, Friday & Saturday January 26, 27, and 28
All shows at Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, 2nd Fl, between Houston & Prince
Show begins at 8pm, door opens at 7:30pm
Tickets are sliding scale $10-$15
Advance $12 tickets at theatremania.com
TDF vouchers accepted Thursday only
Reservations: 212-219-0736 x111
Araby is an operetta based on James Joyce’s Dubliners, a collection of portraits of ordinary people in an ordinary town. The intensity of their suffering is in stark relief to the mundane environment from which it springs. The depth of these psychological portraits inspired composer/lyricist Rael to re-tell the stories in words and music designed to accentuate the universal human experience of Joyce’s characters. The beauty and horror in these stories could happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone.
Araby explores the gray area between classical music, popular music, and musical theater. Fifteen short stories are recounted in sixteen 3-to-6-minute songs, arranged for six singers and a chamber ensemble.
John Kelly (voice) has been making performance works for 20 years. He recently won an Eliot Norton Award for the role of Cupid in Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage at ART in Cambridge, and is currently a Guest Lecturer in Dramatic Arts at Harvard.
Gwen Snyder (voice) worked in theatre with Meredith Monk, Paul Lazar and Annie B. Parson’s Big Dance and Mabou Mines, transitioned to indie film (Good Machine, Cinema Redux), then finally to music as funk soul singer/songwriter Blueberry. She has performed, recorded and toured with many accomplished musical artists.
Dudley Saunders (voice) is an award-winning filmmaker, musician, performance artist and writer. His new stage collaboration with Heather Woodbury, Tale of 2Cities, opens fall 2006 in New York. His latest CD is The Billy White Acre Sessions, on Fang Records. He now lives in Los Angeles.
Operatically trained Shara Worden (voice) is composer and lead vocalist of the eclectic pop ensemble My Brightest Diamond. She has composed for musical theatre and film, performed in the Manhattan Chamber Ensemble, and toured the world with Sufjan Stevens.
Chris Rael’s (voice, guitar, composer) prolific career encompasses the experimental music scene of late-’80s New York, classical music study in Varanasi, India, and his enduring indo-pop band Church of Betty. In 2005 he performed with Penny Arcade at the Sydney Opera House and won Outstanding Soundtrack at Outfest Film Festival in LA.
Rima Fand (violin, voice) composes music for theater and dance in NYC, as well as for the gypsy-punk string band, Luminescent Orchestrii. She has been a long-time collaborator with Chris Rael in Church of Betty, and is thrilled to be working with him again on Araby.
Violist Marla Hansen has performed throughout the United States and Europe. She has recently collaborated with Sufjan Stevens, Oneida, Chris Rael, Kanye West and the new music group Fireworks. She is a member of the group My Brightest Diamond.
Serena Jost (cello) is a singer-songwriter and cellist living in New York City. She is currently recording a full-length CD of her original songs, with completion set for winter 2006. She performs regularly in NYC and has played, recorded, and toured nationally with many bands and songwriters.
Joe Quigley (bass) has performed and recorded with dozens of Downtown’s finest artists. His fervent affection for alcohol is celebrated by his band, Audio Drinking Companion. Collaborating with Chris Rael since 1994, he also works extensively on Broadway.
Marlon Cherry (percussion, guitar, voice) has performed, recorded and toured with several bands probing the borders of rock and world music. He plays hand percussion in many dance ensembles in New York. A member of Church of Betty since 1998, he will soon release his third album on Fang Records, entitled Ancient Sound Modern Dance.
Dixon Place Mondo Cane! Commissions are made possible with generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Peg Santvoord Foundation and Jerome Foundation.
Dixon Place theatre events are made possible, in part, with public funds from the NY State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; & generous private funds from Alliance of Resident Theatres/NY's Fund for Small Theatres; Altria, Inc.; Blue Man Group; Edith C. Blum Foundation; Carnegie Corporation; Dramatist Guild Fund; Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts; Greenwall Foundation; Jerome Foundation; Jerome Robbins Foundation; Katherine Dalglish Foundation; Low Wood Fund; Lucille Lortel Foundation; Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; and Peg Santvoord Foundation.
