Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Contemporary Connections: Artaud and van Gogh in Exhibition | Inventing Van Gogh

Based on the categories and the unusual designations put forward by Artaud in "Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society," this exhibition will comprise some forty paintings, a selection of van Gogh's drawings and letters, together with graphic works by the poet-illustrator Antonin Artaud; now at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris until July 6th.


 “Artaud’s text is very interesting since it goes against all the perceived ideas on Van Gogh, and above all against a theory which appeared at the time of the diagnosis of Van Gogh. Artaud wrote Van Gogh was not mad. He was driven to suicidal despair by a society that rejected his work.

I think the emotions we carry with us are human emotions, not anxiety, it is artists that carry anxiety, the anxiety of the time, and we can see in them contemporary anxieties, but they show us how we can go beyond them in art and I think it can be a great help. It does not get rid of questions, which are human, or our aspirations, we just have to show them in the most beautiful way possible.” 
- Isabell Cahn, Musee d’Orsay (Euronews.com)



To learn more about this exhibition or listen to a sample of the exhibition audioguide, visit the following links:

Musée d'Orsay
Excerpts from the Artaud / Van Gogh Exhibition Audioguide

- "Postcard From Paris: Artaud and van Gogh" - The New York Times
"Descent into madness entwines Van Gogh, Artaud at Paris exhibition" - Reuters
"Artaud and Van Gogh Against Society" - Hyperallergic

Friday, November 22, 2013

Subscribe + Pick Your Seat | 2014 Season: Unbound

Want to pick your seat for the 2014 Season? Become a Big Idea Theatre Subscriber and you can choose which seat you like best for each show with your reservation!


All Access Season Pass: $80
Thursday Season Saver Pass: $60


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Press Pass | Outrage

With "deft direction" and "intelligent lighting design," Outrage takes home 4 stars from Sacramento News & Review!

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/who-knew-what-when/content?oid=12087102

Friday, November 15, 2013

Opening Tonight! | Outrage

Tonight, at Big Idea Theatre, join us for the opening of Outrage, by Itamar Moses!


Outrage
By Itamar Moses

November 15 - December 14

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM
(excluding Thanksgiving Day)

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” A time-bending roller-coaster ride through history, Outrage deftly moves between Ancient Greece, the
Inquisition, Nazi Germany, and modern day academia. Outrage examines the price people pay for staying true to their principles in the face of vicious oppression and
reminds us that the revolutionary of one era may become the tyrant of the next.


Photo: Benjamin T. Ismail

Friday, November 1, 2013

2014 Season Passes and Flex Passes Now On Sale!

Season Subscriber Passes and Flex Passes are now on sale for the 2014 Season at Big Idea Theatre!



2014 THURSDAY SEASON SAVER PASS: $60

Love great theater but need to stick to a budget? For just $60 (that's a 14% savings on the Thrifty Thursday ticket pricing) you can become a Big Idea Theatre Subscriber!  You'll attend on a Thursday night with other like-minded, bargain-loving folks. 

This subscriber pass grants admission for one person to any one Thursday performance of each production of the Big Idea Theatre Company's 2014 Season: Unbound.

- Reservations for this pass are eligible for Thursday night performances only.
- Changes in reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance.
- Priority seating is available upon request with your reservation.
- This pass is non-refundable and non-negotiable.
- Big Idea Theatre is not responsible for the loss or theft of this pass.  Treat this pass like cash.



2014 ALL ACCESS SEASON PASS: $80

We appreciate our loyal patrons and want to offer a special discount just for you.  Our most flexible option, this subscriber pass allows you to pick any performance date that works best in your schedule. A $140 value for the entire 2014 season and you only pay $80!

This pass grants admission for one person to any one Thursday, Friday or Saturday performance of each production of the Big Idea Theatre Company's 2014 Season: Unbound.

- Changes in reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance.
- Priority seating is available upon request with your reservation.
- This pass is non-refundable and non-negotiable.
- Big Idea Theatre is not responsible for the loss or theft of this pass.  Treat this pass like cash.



2014 4-SHOW FLEX PASS: $52

Would you like a discount and flexibility?  Enjoy the 2014 season when it fits into your schedule and have the freedom to create the theatre experience that works best for you.  The 4-Show Flex Pass is good for four (4) seat credits to be used for ANY performance during the 2014 Season. Only $52 - a 35% discount from general admission tickets!

You may use your Flex Pass for one ticket to four performances in Big Idea's 2014 season, or you may chose to bring your friends and use it for up to four tickets to a single performance!

- 2014 Flex Passes are only valid for performances during the 2014 season.
- Changes in reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance.
- This pass is non-refundable and non-negotiable.
- Big Idea Theatre is not responsible for the loss or theft of this pass.  Treat this pass like cash.



2014 6-SHOW FLEX PASS: $78

Would you like a discount and flexibility?  Enjoy the 2014 season when it fits into your schedule and have the freedom to create the theatre experience that works best for you.  The 6-Show Flex Pass is good for six (6) seat credits to be used for ANY performance during the 2014 Season. Only $78 - a 35% discount from general admission tickets!

You may use your Flex Pass for one ticket to six performances in Big Idea's 2014 season, or you may chose to bring your friends and use it for up to six tickets to a single performance!

- 2014 Flex Passes are only valid for performances during the 2014 season.
- Changes in reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance.
- This pass is non-refundable and non-negotiable.
- Big Idea Theatre is not responsible for the loss or theft of this pass.  Treat this pass like cash.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

2014 Season Announcement!

Big Idea Theatre also announced their upcoming 2014 Season: UNBOUND.

"The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome." -Helen Keller

Mankind is endowed with one of the greatest gifts of the human experience: the desire to overcome the limits on our potential by any means necessary. When we succeed, it provides us with connection, purpose, joy and love. Even within cultures and ideologies that value submission and community over the individual, there is a overwhelming drive to overcome selfishness and ego. It is a truly universal and innately human quality to seek to better ourselves. Inversely, however, giving into our shackles can become a curse of despair leading to bitterness, fear, and apathy.

For 2014, Big Idea Theatre's company has chosen to tell 7 distinct stories about breaking free from the binds that confine our potential as human beings. These stories of the 'UNBOUND' will each explore struggles to surmount various constraints, real or imagined, placed on us by society, family, and even ourselves.

The season begins with an epic inter-generational story of one man's fight to break free from the destructive and abusive patterns of his family. The season then takes on battles against the binds of social pressure, self-doubt, racial and gender prejudice, fear of rejection, intellectual complacency, and ultimately ends with a classic American story of man's fight to forgive himself amidst a jungle of alluring temptations and distractions.


Big Idea Theatre hopes you'll join them for this varied season chock full of humor, passion and pain as they strive to discover what it means to live truly UNBOUND.


WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING by Andrew Bovell
January 10 – February 8

Sacramento Premiere

It's raining.  Gabriel York is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the son he abandoned decades ago. "I know what he wants. He wants what all young men want from their fathers. He wants to know who he is. Where he comes from. Where he belongs. And for the life of me I don't know what to tell him."
Thus begins this compelling family saga that brings us on an intricate, heart-breaking journey from one generation to another, from 1959 to 2039, from London to Australia. Telling the story of four generations of fathers and sons, their mothers, lovers and wives, the play is epic in its scope, yet at the same time extraordinarily intimate. 

"...It is a powerful metaphor for the impossibility of escaping the past, for the way we are all shaped by what came beforeand are living in the shadow of what comes next."  Time



THE MERRY WIVES by William Shakespeare
Adapted by Big Idea Theatre
February 28 - March 29 

Step back in time to the wild, wild West, where anything goes. It's the Gold Rush, and tens of thousands of immigrants from around the world have flocked to California in search of their fortune.  Among them is Sir John Falstaff, who, having failed to strike gold in the foothills, now attempts to win his fortune by other, less noble means. Enter Mistresses Page and Ford, whom Falstaff plots to separate from their gold by falsely pledging his love. The women, however, are not so easily fooled and turn the tables on the hapless Falstaff through a series of bawdy, raucous and hilarious pranks. 
Enjoy this playful twist on Shakespeare's classic comedy that celebrates our region's vibrant history.



INVENTING VAN GOGH by Steven Dietz
April 18 – May 17

Sacramento Premiere

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Oscar Wilde. 

In September 2013, the art world reeled when a painting, which had languished for years in a Norwegian attic, was revealed to be a previously undiscovered masterpiece by Vincent Van Gogh.
Inventing Van Gogh pulls us into the tale surrounding Van Gogh’s famed, final, lost self-portrait that has never been seen... until now.  This time-bending mystery about the making of art introduces us to the legendary artist himself, the modern-day art expert whose quest for the lost portrait consumes his life, and the protégé who is lured into perpetrating a breathtaking, audacious fraud. 



THE SUBMISSION by Jeff Talbot
June 6 – July 5 

Sacramento Premiere

Danny’s complex new drama about an African-American family struggling to leave the projects has just been selected for the nation's preeminent play festival. But Danny, a young white playwright, submitted his work under a pseudonym in the hope of increasing its chances for production. So he hires Emilie, a black actress, to stand in for him as author. What starts out as a questionable idea pulls Danny, Emilie, Danny’s boyfriend, and his best friend down a path littered with truth, lies, revelation, and betrayal. This whip-smart, fearless and funny new play takes an unflinching look at the quiet prejudice that exists within us all. 



THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE by Julia Cho
July 25 – August 23 

Sacramento Premiere

George has spent his life documenting languages, but words fail him when Mary, his wife, tells George that she is leaving him.  That same day, the last two speakers of a vanishing tongue arrive to work with George and his love-struck assistant, Emma, to record their language for posterity. This magical tale is filled with love and loss, beginning and endings and examines the force and failings of language.

"Quirky, but ravishingly well-written piece that is smart, funny, deep and tender." —OC Weekly.



THE EXIT INTERVIEW by William Missouri Downs
September 12 – October 11 

Sacramento Premiere

Dick Fig has been fired.  On his last day at his university Dick’s excruciating exit interview with Eunice, a humorless HR representative, is interrupted by an unexpected and violent incident.  Downs' witty play bounces from Brechtian interludes to a pair of politically-radicalized cheerleaders, from a pompous newsman to dispatches from God, and includes debates on religion, science and politics before reaching its startling conclusion.



THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA by Tennessee Williams
November 7 – December 6

De-frocked priest T. Lawrence Shannon attempts to hide from his personal demons in a dilapidated hotel on the coast of Mexico and instead finds himself enmeshed in intrigue as three women battle for his attention:  Maxine, a sensuous, earthy proprietor of the hotel, who wants Shannon to share her bed; Charlotte, a young girl looking to escape her conservative upbringing; and Hannah, a penniless artist of heartbreaking dignity and courage who wants to save Shannon from himself. Tennessee Williams last great play is a haunting story of dying dreams, frustrated sexuality, and lost-souls transformed as people are pushed to their breaking point.

2014 Ticket Info:           
All “Thrifty Thursday” show tickets: $10
General Admission Tickets: $16 online, $20 at the door
SARTA/Senior/Student Tickets: $14 online, $18 at the door
All-Access Season Pass: $80
Thursday Season Saver Pass: $60
Flex Passes: 4-show ($52); 6-show ($78)
Gift Certificates available!

www.bigideatheatre.com

Thursday, August 15, 2013

From the Director's Chair | The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Big Idea Theatre's Artistic Director and the director of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Brian Harrower, shares his thoughts on this amazing, 5-star production!


I think I was drawn to the contradiction that lies at the heart of The Lieutenant of Inishmore.  It’s a comedy… about violence.  It’s not a violent comedy, and the violence in the play certainly isn’t comedic.  Violence is the very core of the humor.  It must be that born and bred sense of Irish ironic fatalism that McDonagh has that enables him to hold this warped mirror up to our faces, and force us to laugh at the absurdity of violence in the modern day, at our own placid acceptance of it.  It’s hard for me to argue that our culture hasn’t become desensitized.  McDonagh’s solution to that problem is brilliant in my mind.  He doesn’t try to shock us viscerally.  Instead, he aims for our funny bones, and hits, and hits, and hits.

This show is about an Irish freedom fighter who is contemplating forming a splinter group, off of a splinter group from the IRA (who wouldn’t allow him to join due to anger management issues).  His only friend in the world, his childhood cat Wee Thomas, has died under mysterious circumstances and he is going home to beat, maim and kill his way to the truth about what happened. 

There was a great challenge to finding a balance between the ludicrous and the grounded in this piece that was a joy to tackle. Keeping the cast firmly invested in the world of the play, and not allowing them or myself too much outside awareness was important.  Also, far crazier things: How much blood is too much when it hits a wall?  How much is too little?  How much blood can you pour on the stage before actors start slipping and falling all over each other.  Should a cat scream when it gets shot?  I now have answers to all of these questions.

I found an Irish toast that’s given prominently on New Years.  “Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís.” It translates to “May we be alive at this time next year.”  There is something joyfully morbid about that which sums up so brilliantly my feelings for, and my approach to this show.  No production has ever kept me up later at night.  No production has ever woken me up so early every morning, unable to go back to sleep for thinking about it.  No production has ever had me more hopeless four days before opening.  But this process has been an absolute joy and I could not be prouder of the end result.  Bottoms up!