This week's A.P.T. goes out to my friend Mark Stuart. A number of years back when I was just starting to get into producing, Mark and I attended the same CTI class together where he introduced the idea for his dance company. I took the time to come and see one of his presentations and was absolutely blown away. If someone took the acrobatics of the circus world, the passion of theatrical dance numbers, and the creativity of some of the top directors and choreographers, they MAY get something close to what he does. He is currently at the tail end of his fundraising campaign and I urge any producer reading this to take a look at what he's up to and if you like what you see, DONATE. You can read more below.
Excelsior!
About STANDARD TIME:
STANDARD TIME is the first full-evening length work created by Mark Stuart Dance Theatre. Featuring 14 MSDT dancers, 4 singers, and a live orchestra,STANDARD TIME explores the evolution of social conflict and mankind’s difficulty to learn from previous mistakes.
Working within MSDT's signature action-packed and gravity-defying style, this 90-minute dance theatre piece dramatizes the stories of three pairs of lovers – mortal and fallible – who succumb to various forms of social prejudice. Set in three different time periods, (30's–40's, 50's–70's and the 80's–present) each story is woven together musically by the popular "standards" and dance styles of their respective eras. The lovers are observed by mystical beings who control time with ‘powers’ brought to theatrical life in a style reminiscent of "Cirque du Soleil". They place each pair of lovers into the three designated time periods and intervene only when social conflict begins to tear love apart. In the end, the mortals learn to rise above conflict and live in peace.
About Mark Stuart Dance Theatre:
Dubbed “smoldering” by the New York Times, Mark Stuart Dance Theatre brings gravity-defying movement and dramatic storytelling to the stage, screen, and printed page. The company brings together a stunning array of dance styles and backgrounds, featuring an all-star cast of Broadway gypsies from MOVIN' OUT, MEMPHIS, WICKED, COME FLY AWAY, LION KING, IN THE HEIGHTS, SPIDERMAN, BILLY ELLIOT, PROMISES PROMISES, and former members of legendary dance companies Parsons Dance, Momix, Hubbard Street, and Pilobolus.
About THE WORKSHOP:
Before we dive headfirst into a theatre, we need to get our dancers together and fully develop the story and choreography of STANDARD TIME. To accomplish that objective, we are doing a five-week workshop this summer with 12 dancers to lay out the story and choreography. Immediately following the workshop we will present a limited number of performances to an invited audience of industry professionals. From these performances we will gather feedback and fine tune STANDARD TIME. Meanwhile we will begin to solicit backers and theater looking to 2013 to mount a full production.
When is STANDARD TIME?
We are ALREADY in pre-production for STANDARD TIME and the full workshop goes into rehearsal on July 30th, 2012! Our invited-audience presentations follow on September 6th and 7th. We are targeting a full production of STANDARD TIME for 2013.
Comments