My Marlene written and performed by Tjasa Ferme

About This Show

War has returned to Europe and the Middle East, Paris has been bombed, a flood of refugees surges westward and Trump puts a ban on immigrants. Through the lens of recent events, My Marlene hits home, now more than ever. The play is a an immersive and confessional theatre experience in which the audience is transformed into the battle-hardened soldiers that Marlene Dietrich entertained during the closing years of World World II.

With imagery evoking German Expressionism and the dynamic days of the birth of Cinema, it tells the story of Marlene’s life and times. The period songs, with their acidic, cynical tone, so characteristic of that Weimar Decadence, serve to highlight Marlene’s status as an erotic pioneer with her gender ambiguity.

Here on the front lines, Marlene unveils her contradicting faces: selfless war hero, tyrannical mother, unrestrained lover, and insatiable romantic. Interspersed with her songs, private letters and films, My Marlene seduces the audience while bombs fall all around.

about the artists

Tjasa Ferme is a Slovenian National Film Award and Stane Sever classical stage award recipient, for the past ten years living and creating in New York. Her first piece was Cocktales: Confessions of a Nymphomaniac, directed by Kira Simring, which premiered at NYC’s The Abingdon Theatre in 2012.  The show ran for several weeks to sold-out houses and was later produced in Miami and shown as part of Art Basel. She is also the creator of a short film Ophelia’s Flip (Cannes Film Festival, 2012), “Wild Child in the City” -an interactive solo show, which premiered in NYC made four European Tours (Italy, Austria, Russia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Kosovo) and received an Audience Choice Award at 46th TSD-Week of Slovenian Drama and and Special Jury Prize at ITI-UNESCO MonoAkt festival in 2017. Ferme is an awardee of TMU and closen NYFA’s immigrant artist of the month of September 2017.

Jesse Edward Rosbrow founded and was the artistic director of Theatre of the Expendable for five years. He was the director, producer, or both for all eleven of TotE’s productions, two of which were nominated for three NY Innovative Theatre Awards, including Outstanding Production of a Play (Cherry Docs and St Nicholas). He performed in the world premiere of the late Dario Fo and the late Franca Rame’s last play, The Story of Qu, in the 2015 Milan World Expo. Other companies Jesse has worked with include the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, Roundtable Ensemble, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, Six Part Productions, Dreamscape Theatre, Quo Vadimus Arts, Living Image Arts…

Michael Hashim’s recording activity extends to film and television, including original music for the PBS American Playhouse production of Clifford Odet’s “Rocket to the Moon”, and solo saxophone heard throughout the film “I’m Not Rappaport” starring Walter Matthau.  He was seen and heard on stage in the long-running Broadway musical “Song of Singapore” and Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Spiegleman’s “Drawn to Death: A Three-Panel Opera”.

Born in Tokyo, Japan. Kuni Mikami immigrated to New York City in 1974 to pursue his dream as jazz pianist. In 1991, Lionel Hampton had invited Kuni Mikami to play the piano with his legendary band. Kuni played with the band until Hampton’s passing in August, 2002 at the age of 94. Kuni also performed with The Duke Ellington Orchestra at Birdland Jazz Club in New York City for 8 years. Currently he is performing  and the Kuni Mikami Trio. As the co-founder of “iMimenation – Piano&Mime duo”, he had performed on tours in Philippines, Brunei, Austria,Ecuador, Honduras and Dominican Republic with the support from the Japan Foundation.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018 at 7:30pm

General Admission

$15 in advance

$18 at the door

Stu./Sen./idNYC

$12 in advance

$15 at the door

Estimated Runtime
75 minutes

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Credits

Director

Jesse Rosbrow

Musical Director & Saxophone

Michael Hashim

Piano

Kuni Mikami

Photo credit:

Ferme Studio

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