Pig Iron Theatre Company presenst The Lucia Joyce Cabaret

[email protected]

Please see the Press Release below for our upcoming show, James Joyce is Dead and so is Paris: The Lucia Joyce Cabaret. I would love to chat with someone about possible story ideas and/or schedule a reviewer to come see the show. Thanks, Jerre Jerre Brisky Managing Director Pig Iron Theatre Company (215) 873-0883 (phone)/ (215) 873-0884 (fax) www.pigiron.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact (not for publication) : Jerre Brisky / Dan Rothenberg215.873.0883 [email protected] / [email protected] FEBRUARY 13, 2005 James Joyce’s Schizophrenic Daughter Makes a Comeback Pig Iron Theatre Company’s new version of THE LUCIA JOYCE CABARET comes to Philadelphia for a limited run

The award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company will present a revamped version of the indie-rock cabaret JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD AND SO IS PARIS: THE LUCIA JOYCE CABARET, April 7-17, at Christ Church Annex on Second and Market Streets in Old City. Tickets are $15-25, and can be purchased in advance by logging on to the Pig Iron website (www.pigiron.org) or by calling the box office at 215-627-1883.

The tantalizing history…Paris, the 1920s. With the publication of Ulysses, James Joyce becomes the toast of the town. His wife Nora and his children, Giorgio and Lucia, accompany him as he mixes and mingles with the Paris avant-garde. Lucia Joyce is alternately promiscuous and shut off from the world. A dancer at the dawn of modern dance, she considers herself to be the real genius of the Joyce family. She becomes romantically entwined with her father’s protégé, Samuel Beckett, then with the sculptor Alexander Calder, in a string of volatile and disastrous love affairs. As she approaches age 30, her behavior becomes increasingly erratic. She is sent from clinic to clinic and finally confined to a mental hospital in England. Her family and friends do not come to visit. She lives in the clinic for more than 30 years, drugged and protesting, until the end of her life.

The rockin’ concept…JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD AND SO IS PARIS takes you to Lucia’s mental institution. Together with her fellow patients, Lucia has put together a rock band and a series of songs about her life, her love affairs, her parents, her struggle with her own genius and her ultimate incarceration. As far as she’s concerned, she’s brilliant, she’s crazy like a fox, and she’s a hell of a lot hipper than Dad.

The shining credentials…The Philadelphia-based Pig Iron Theatre Company has rapidly become known as a rising star in their home of Philadelphia and as a unique, innovative voice in American theatre. Founded in 1995, the ensemble’s physical precision, lyrical writing, and exuberant, whimsical productions have earned them 27 Barrymore Award Nominations in the past 5 years; three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; and a Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. Co-founders Quinn Bauriedel, Dan Rothenberg, and Dito van Reigersberg were awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Performance Art in 2002. JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD… was nominated for 4 Barrymore Awards, including Best Original Music, Best Ensemble, and Best New Play. Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey won the Barrymore Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the mad, mad Madeleine in the show.

Pig Iron has toured widely to theaters and festivals in New York, London, Edinburgh, Germany, Romania, Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, and Poland.

“Prodigious talent and discipline” – The Village Voice

“One of the few theatre companies taking theatre in new directions” – New York Times

“Dark, funny, moving . . . this is first rate, top drawer” – author Toni Morrison on JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD AND SO IS PARIS

More to love…

Pig Iron will create new material for 2005’s JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD… at a creative residency at Brown University and Rhode Island’s Perishable Theater. The older, less-good material will be jettisoned in a festive manner.

The usual suspects…JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD… is performed and created by Pig Iron’s core company of performers, joined by a panoply of musical and theatrical talent: founders Quinn Bauriedel and Dito van Reigersberg; company members Cassandra Friend, Emmanuelle Delpech, Geoff Sobelle, James Sugg, and Sarah Sanford; local fave actress Jane Moore; Amy Pickard, co-founder of country bluegrass phenomenon She-Haw; multi-instrumentalist/producer Ben Edwards of The Ben Edwards Trio and Soulamite!, and independent rocker Brad Trojan of Galactic Federation of Love.

Award-winning director Dan Rothenberg (Best Director, Philadelphia Weekly 2000) directs. Deborah Stein, poet (Best American Poetry 1996) and author of ANODYNE and SHUT EYE, supplies the text for the piece. Emily Stork designs the lights, Greco designs the costumes and Hiroshi Iwasaki designs the set. Three-time Barrymore Award-winning sound designer and front man of the Brothers Suggarillo, the prolific James Sugg composes the rock and the roll of Lucia’s original songs.

Who made it all happen… JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD AND SO IS PARIS was originally developed in residence at Princeton University’s Atelier Program, curated by Toni Morrison and Paul Muldoon. Major support for the creation of this work came from the Independence Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Support for the creative residencies at Brown University and Perishable Theater comes from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Where and when…

JAMES JOYCE IS DEAD AND SO IS PARIS: THE LUCIA JOYCE CABARETPerformance ScheduleThurs, April 7 @ 8 pm PREVIEWFri, April 8 @ 8 pm OPENINGSat, April 9 @ 7 pm and 10 pmSun, April 10 @ 8 pmMon, April 11 @ 8 pm INDUSTRY NIGHT

Wed April 13 @ 8 pmThurs, April 14 @ 8 pmFri, April 15 @ 7 pm and 10 pmSat, April 16 @ 7 pm and 10 pmSun April 17 @ 3 pm

LocationChrist Church Annex20 N. American Street(just north of 2nd And Market Streets in Old City)Philadelphia, PA3rd Floor(not wheelchair accessible)

Tickets$20 regular, $25 for Fri and Sat perfs. Student, senior, and group discounts available.Box Office: 215-627-1883 or log on to www.pigiron.org

LUCIA soundtrack CD, Pig Iron t-shirts available for purchase at the show# # #