Theatre and Memory: Then and Now

NEWS RELEASE

“THEATRE AND MEMORY: NOW AND THEN”

A Theatre Art Event Inspired by Anton Chekhov

Friday, May 12 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, May 13 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, May 14 at 3 pm

Ellen Porter Hall of Fine Arts
Westmont College
955 La Paz Rd.
Santa Barbara, CA 93108
https://litmoontheatre.com

SUMMARY OF FACTS:

• A live performance of UNCLE VANYA by Anton Chekhov, translated by Libby Appel, directed by John Blondell, featuring the artists of Lit Moon World.
• Live performances of Uncle Vanya are preceded and followed by a curated display of the theatre art pieces crafted by designer Yulya Dukhovny of Lit Moon Worlds’ exploration of Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and Ivanov.
• “THEATRE AND MEMORY: NOW AND THEN” A Theatre Art Event Inspired by Anton Chekhov
• Friday, May 12 at 7:30 pm / Saturday, May 13 at 7:30 pm / Sunday, May 14 at 3 pm
• Tickets: $30 General Admission / $20 Students
• Buy tickets at: https://litmoontheatre.com
• A Lit Moon World Occasion
• For more information mail John Blondell (Blondell@westmont.edu) or Kelli Coleman Moore (k.coleman.moore@gmail.com)

 DESCRIPTION:

During the Covid Lockdown, Lit Moon met online for nearly two years with an international treasure trove of performers and artists.  Lit Moon World created online versions of Libby Appel’s versions of the Chekhov plays Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and Ivanov from 2020-2021.  Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters were completed and broadcast live on Facebook.  Ivanov was left incomplete.

 Lit Moon emerges from the pandemic to show the fruits of those desolate times, with a curiosity cabinet of character, image, story, and action, bathed in the unique atmosphere of Chekhov, and filtered through the lives of a dozen-and-a-half incomparable international artists.

 Ironically, the pandemic led to one of the most fertile periods in Lit Moon’s history, though none of it was shown live in a physical space. Now, we are returning to that work, bringing it to the light of day, and placing it in rooms where we breathe and live and marvel together.

 The event is broken up into two parts featuring the art and artists of Lit Moon World. Live performance of Uncle Vanya in the Porter Theatre are preceded and followed by a curated display of the theatre art pieces crafted by designer Yulya Dukhovny of Lit Moon Worlds’ exploration of Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and Ivanov

1)    THEATRE:  NOW

 Uncle Vanya

By Anton Chekhov

Translated and Adapted by Libby Appel

A Lit Moon World Show

Directed by John Blondell

Friday, May 12 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, May 13 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, May 14 at 3 pm

General Admission $30 / Students $20

Purchase at: https://litmoontheatre.com

In Chekhov, the heartaches, the dreams fade, but there’s vodka.

Featuring: Irwin Appel, Jim Connelly, Cierra Denning, Brian Harwell, James McCarthy, Vardan Mkrthchyan, Nina Sallinen, Matt Tavianini, and Mitchell Thomas

Scenography and Costumes by Blagoj Micevski

Lighting Design by Danielle Draper

Assistant Director Kelli Coleman Moore

Stage Manager Anna Warren

2)    MEMORY: THEN

 During the Lockdown Yulya Dukhovny’s theatre art pieces created the visual expression of our online Chekhov Worlds.  Her backgrounds, collages, miniatures, objects, and videos bathed our work in atmosphere and image.  They were necessary to the process.  Now, you can see them in the Westmont Black Box, immediately preceding and following the live production of Uncle Vanya.

ABOUT DESIGNER YULYA DUKHOVNY:

Yulya Dukhovny is an American artist living in Long Beach, California. She centers on the Model Theater medium and contemporary interpretation of traditional paper/toy theater, popular in 19th Century Europe. She creates a dramatic visual narrative Incorporating creative writing, object-based performance, physical theater, experimental puppetry, video, and original music. She defines her tiny-stage plays as a “live paper animation performed in a vertical 2D scenic space, where six-inches paper figures are wading through the metaphorical landscapes”. Dukhovny’s experimental work was inspired by life-size scenography and its multiple-stage process of modeling.

She has been a performer and a Guest Artist resident at the International Festival of Paper Toy Theater in Germany, France, Mexico, and Russia, the “Great Small Works” International Toy Theater Festival in New York, “On Edge” Festival of Contemporary Performance Arts in Santa Barbara, Detroit and Santa Monica Museums of Arts, Japanese American National Museum, the Automata Arts in Los Angeles, National Puppetry Festival at the University of Connecticut. Residences as a Visual Artist/Stage Director/Educator include Meyerhold Theater Center in Moscow and Theater of Generations in ST. Petersburg, Young Arts LA UCLA, and Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. Dukhovny is a recipient of the Long Beach Arts Council Professional Artist Fellowship.

ABOUT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JOHN BLONDELL:

John Blondell is the Founding Artistic Director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company, Director of the Lit Moon World Theater Festivals, Chair and Professor of Theatre Arts at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, and co-founder of the Bitola (Macedonia) Shakespeare Festival. Blondell has directed over 80 professional productions and has produced another 60 for Lit Moon’s various international festivals.

Blondell’s Lit Moon productions have been seen in China, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Scotland, and Canada. His international credits include productions for the Tampereen Teatteri in Tampere, Finland; the Bitola (Macedonia) National Theatre (four occasions); and the National Theatre of Albania.

SPONSOR:

Lit Moon Theatre Company

Founded in 1991, we are a Santa Barbara-based collective of theater artists that integrates aesthetic experimentation with cross-cultural interaction and understanding and cultivates a physical, image-based performance vocabulary. Our productions have been hailed locally and internationally for their pioneering theatricality.

Since 1992, Lit Moon has created 41 new theatrical projects, produced twelve international theater festivals in Santa Barbara, and received dozens of awards for its artists, performing in Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Scotland, Canada, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and China.