Experimental Retelling of ‘The Iliad’ to Be Staged at Williams and MCLA

A scene from 'Living in Exile'

(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – New York-based theater company American Vicarious performs Jon Lipsky’s politically-charged, experimental theater piece Living in Exile, a two-character retelling of Homer’s Iliad, at Williams College on April 10-12, 2012, and at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) on April 13-15.

Jon Lipsky’s Living in Exile, directed by Christopher McElroen and featuring Alfred Preisser, is a two-character retelling of Homer’s Iliad. The piece is performed in the setting of a private American living room, enhanced with technology displays to portray how people experience war through the media. Because limited seating is available at each performance, each member of the audience gains an intimate experience.

Living in Exile will be presented in the Greylock Makepeace Room on the Williams campus on April 10 and 12 at 8 p.m. and on April 11 at 6 and 9 p.m. The production will move to 107 Main St. in downtown North Adams as part of the MCLA Presents! performance series on April 13 at 8 p.m., April 14 at 3 and 8 p.m., and April 15 at 5 p.m.

According to McElroen, “Living in Exile is an attempt to understand war through intimate acts of theatre and spectatorship. It involves live performance, live and pre-recorded video and audience interaction, and it takes place simultaneously in the room, on TV and at times on your cellphone. It has something to do with the The Iliad, something to do with Iraq and Afghanistan, and most wars between. It also has something to do with how we consume these wars from the comfort of our living rooms.”

American Vicarious theater company explores socially relevant work and takes theater to living rooms and street corners.

Lipsky, originally from New York City, was a playwright and director who also taught acting and writing at Boston University for 28 years. He became the associate director of the Vineyard Playhouse in Martha’s Vineyard and his primary works consisted of books which he adapted into plays in order to entertain and educate children and the general public.

In his 2008 book Dreaming Together, Lipsky wrote that “theater is an act of collaboration: between actors and actors, actors and directors, actors and audience. It’s a communal event.’’ He considered Living in Exile to be the play of which he was most proud. Lipsky won various awards, including a 2007 Elliot Norton Award for directing the play Coming Up for Air, which he created with jazz musician Stan Strickland.

Preisser, the leading actor in Living in Exile, is a New York-based theater director. He was the founding artistic director of the award-winning Classical Theater of Harlem from 1999 to 2009, the director of The Theater Division at the Harlem School of the Arts from 1999 to 2007, and has taught directing, acting and theater studies at City College, The Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and Stella Adler NYU.

Preisser is the artistic director of The International Studio Theater, where he curates annual drama festivals with experimental companies from around the world.

McElroen is an award-winning, New York-based producer and director. He has received two Obie awards, the Edwin Booth Award for Outstanding Contribution to NYC Theater and also was awarded the American Theater Wing Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement. He co-founded the Classical Theater of Harlem and also served as its executive director from 1999 to 2009. He has directed over 30 professional productions, including five world premieres.

McElroen’s production, The Blacks: A Clown Show, received four Obie Awards in 2003. McElroen also directed Sekou Sundiata’s final piece, 51st (dream) State, which premiered in New York at The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival before it toured internationally. He has guest lectured at many colleges and also will visit both Williams College and MCLA to lecture in fine and performing arts and arts management classes.

Tickets to Living in Exile are $10 for general admission. Tickets for MCLA alumni are $8, $5 for staff and faculty, and members and students from MCLA are free. For tickets, call 413-662-5204. For information, call 413-664-8718,

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.