press release

25th Anniversary Season Schedule for Undermain Theatre

As Undermain Theatre reaches its quarter century mark, the company turns to three classic works re-invented by groundbreaking authors. By popular demand Neil Young’s Greendale will launch the season after its sold-out run in New York. In addition to its performances, Undermain presents the exhibition Beneath the Surface: 25 Years of Design at Undermain Theatre at The Dallas Public Library. See below for more details on the season and the exhibition.

Undermain Theatre performances are Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Fridays-Saturdays at 8:15 p.m. Tickets are Wed. and Thurs. $15, Fri. $20, and Sat. $25. Undermain is located at 3200 Main Street at Murray Street in Deep Ellum. Discounts are available for seniors, students and KERA members. Call 214.747.5515 or visit www.undermain.org.

With what The Village Voice called its “celebrated production”, Undermain Theatre returns from a sold out run at The Ice Factory Festival in New York City and a feature story in The New York Times’ Sunday Arts & Leisure section.

During the spring run of Neil Young’s Greendale, Undermain continued to develop the show with new staging and new cast additions. In September, Undermain will bring Dallas the updated version of this profound rock opera by seminal musician Neil Young – a one-of-a-kind experience with its legendary band and power-house cast.

The Band
Kenny Withrow - lead guitar, Paul Semrad – bass and Alan Emert – drums.

The Cast
Joining Bruce DuBose, Stefanie Tovar, Newton Pittman, Marjorie Hayes, Richard Rollins and Jonathan Brooks and Ian Sinclair will be Shannon Kearns-Simmons as Edith Green and Ashley Randall as Sun Green.

“My, my, hey, hey Neil Young’s Greendale is here to stay.”
-Tom Sellar, The New York Times

"Greendale is an overwhelming experience, musically and theatrically."
-Lawson Taitte, The Dallas Morning News

"As presented by Undermain Theatre, Neil Young's Greendale is a hellacious piece of rock n roll. This baby kicks; you’re not likely to hear a livelier performance in any area theater" -Jerome Weeks, KERA 90.1 FM

"Undermain Theatre’s performance of Neil Young's Greendale takes the rock opera close to its source: the sonic undercurrent in every small town becoming a strange intersection of American dreams, sonic highways, and melodic bridges reminiscent of Wilder's Our Town." - Cheryl Anderson, Edge Dallas

"The dense, driving sound goes right through the audience and makes for a terrific night of music and theater." -Martha Heimberg, Turtle Creek News

Monkey: The Quest to the West is a theatrical adaptation of one of the most beloved novels from China, The Journey to the West. The story follows the supernatural trickster Monkey King who makes war with heaven until he is imprisoned under a mountain by Buddha. After five hundred years, he is freed to protect a Buddhist monk on his perilous journey from China to India to bring back spiritual teachings. On the way they encounter all manner of deities, demons, monsters and outrageous misadventures. This magical story has been adapted for The Beijing Opera, several kung fu movies (Jackie Chan and Jet Li are currently teaming up in a new version), plays, rock operas, cartoons, anime, manga, and cult TV series in China, Japan, England, and the U.S. ("Lost Empire").

Laura and Fred's most recent show, Noh: Angels, Demons & Dreamers was recently chosen as one of the "Top Ten Theater Events of 2007" by The Dallas Morning News. Monkey: The Quest to the West promises to take their acclaimed theater work to still a new level of magic and delight.

This production is appropriate for children, teens, and sophisticated grownups alike.

EURYDICE
A re-imagining of the classic myth of the lovers Orpheus and Eurydice
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Bruce DuBose
Nov. 22-Dec. 13, 2008

Undermain Theatre is thrilled to take on the work of this brilliant young writer. Sarah Ruhl’s plays include The Clean House (Susan Smith Blackburn Award, 2004), Melancholy Play, Eurydice, Late: a cowboy song, Orlando, and Passion Play. She received her M.F.A. from Brown University, and is originally from Chicago. In 2003, she was the recipient of a Helen Merrill Award and a Whiting Writers’ Award.

In Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl re-imagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.
"RHAPSODICALLY BEAUTIFUL. A weird and wonderful new play - an inexpressibly moving theatrical fable about love, loss and the pleasures and pains of memory.” The New York Times

"EXHILARATING!! A luminous retelling of the Orpheus myth, lush and limpid as a dream where both author and audience swim in the magical, sometimes menacing, and always thrilling flow of the unconscious." - The New Yorker

“Touching, inventive, invigoratingly compact …Eurydice reframes the ancient myth of ill-fated love to focus not on the bereaved musician but on his bride -- and on her struggle with love beyond the grave” - The San Francisco Chronicle

THE BLACK MONK
An emissary from the unknown, the Black Monk, appears to a young scholar
Written by David Rabe
Based on an Anton Chekhov story
Directed by Katherine Owens
March 28 – April 25, 2009

David Rabe brings Anton Chekov’s spiritual mystery to vivid life. Tony and Obie award winning writer David Rabe is the author of such classic American contemporary plays as Stick and Bones, Hurlyburly, Streamers, In the Boom Boom Room and more. He’s also written screenplays for films such as I’m Dancing as fast as I can, The Firm and Casualties of War. Undermain returns to Rabe’s work after the acclaimed productions of Rabe’s play Goose and Tom Tom, which Rabe attended in 1991.

Kovrin, a young scholar exhausted to the point of madness by his studies decides to visit his childhood friend Tanya on her father's garden estate. The two fall in love and plan to marry. Kovrin tells Tanya the legend of the black monk whose image has been reflected in mirages for a thousand years and who will soon return in the flesh. One day in the garden, the black monk appears to the young man and claims to hold the key to an enlightenment that may lead to total devastation.

“The late 19th-century storyteller and the contemporary playwright become one. The graceful flow from one to the other, and from the page to the stage, is remarkable. Mr. Rabe has heightened theatrical possibilities by extending descriptive passages into dramatic scenes that catch fire…The Black Monk is a heady event... Don't miss it.” -Alvin Klein, The New York Times