Press Release for Ruth Margraff's "Night Vision" at HERE in NY
Source: E-mail from Ruth Margraff* * * * PRESS RELEASE FROM HERE PERFORMANCE CENTER* * * * *
Press contact: Sam Rudy 212-221-8466
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FRED HO and RUTH MARGRAFF's NEW AFRO-ASIAN JAZZ VAMPYRE OPERA NIGHT VISION World-Premiere production at HERE Arts Center Previews TONIGHT Jan. 26-Feb. 2; opening night Feb. 2 through Feb. 19, 2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NIGHT VISION: A New Third to First World Vampyre Opera - conceived and composed by Fred Ho with libretto and lyrics by Ruth Margraff - tracks the perverse power of a 2000-year old female vampyre celebrity who is blowing away the global pop music industry at the turn of the new millennium. But nobody knows she sings with two hearts caught in her throat!....First world heart to get the boys insatiable for her recordings!....Third world heart for vengeance!
Inspired by Hong Kong action cinema, Iraqi desert songs, Crusader art and Times Square erotica, NIGHT VISION tells the story of a 2000-year old superstar, "Ajlinna id-Dibayih", who has been pursued since the Roman Empire by a heartless ghoul named Sunkist Dysney David who turned her
into a vampyre the day after she was born!NIGHT VISION will be given its world-premiere production by the HERE Arts Center (145 Ave. of the Americas, one block south of Spring St.) in Soho, with preview performances beginning Jan. 26 prior to the official press opening Feb. 2. Tim Maner directs.
NIGHT VISION is the first collaboration between Mr. Ho, the well-known Chinese-American composer whose JOURNEY BEYOND THE WEST: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MONKEY was featured in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 1997 Next Wave Festival and Ms. Margraff, a founding member of HERE's Opera Project and author of THE ELEKTRA FUGUES, THE CRY PITCH CARROLLS VINYL PRESSINGS and LOCKET ARIAS.
NIGHT VISION is a bloodcurdling transfusion of Fred Ho's operatic jazz and Ruth Margraff's neo-biblical libretti and was presented to much acclaim in concert as part of the 1999 Inaugural CooperArts Festival at Cooper Union's Great Hall at Astor Place in October.
Featured in the cast of NIGHT VISION are Ron Brice, Daphne Gaines, Kimberly Gambino, Peter McCabe, Greg Purnhagen, Kaipo Schwab, Asa Somers and the Iraqi bedouin desert songs of Dr. Sa'di Al-Hadithi. Lighting design is by Andrew J. Hill; costume design is by Nancy Brous; live processing and
digital audio by Joshua Fried; dramaturgy by Celise Kalke; video by Mario Mamacho and Eugene Nazarov.Director Tim Maner is a co-founder of Tiny Mythic Theatre and the Obie Award-winning HERE Arts Center, and has directed CRY PITCH CARROLLS, LIZZIE BORDEN: A ROCK N' ROLL ROAD SHOW, FRANKENSTEIN: THE MODERN PROMETHEUS, ELEKTRA FUGUES and contemporary adaptations of three Nathaniel Hawthorne novels.
Fred Ho is a Chinese-American baritone saxophonist, composer, writer, activist and producer who leads the Afro Asian Music Ensemble and the Monkey Orchestra and their 10 recordings available on Koch
International. In addition to his martial arts ballet ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINESE AMERICA which premiered at the 1999 JVC Jazz Festival and was presented to sold-out crowds at the Guggenheim Museum in December, he just released his double c.d. opera WARRIOR SISTERS: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF AFRICAN AND ASIAN WOMYN WARRIORS. With co-editor Ron Salosky, he received the American Book Award for the anthology SOUNDING OFF MUSIC AS SUBVERSION/ RESISTANCE/ REVOLUTION.In addition to HERE, other venues where Ms. Margraff's work has been presented include the Public Theatre, Lincoln Center's Bang-on-a-Can Festival, the Kitchen, NYTW, Mabou Mines, Mac Wellman Festival and Salvage Vanguard (Austin), Undermain (Dallas) Red Eye (Mpls), Bottoms Dream (LA),
etc. She has been the recipent of numerous awards including a Jerome Fellowship, a McKnight Advancement grant and commissions from the Rockefeller Foundation, NYSCA Individual Artists and the NEA/TCG. An excerpt from CRY PITCH CARROLLS - which she wrote with composer Matthew Pierce - was performed as part of the 1999 Village Voice Obie Awards ceremony.Since opening in 1993, the HERE Arts Center has been home to some of New York's most daring and unique theatre, art, music and dance in its three theatres, two art galleries and café. Previous work presented by HERE include Eve Ensler's VAGINA MONOLOGUES, Basil Twist's underwater
sensation SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE, Camryn Manheim's WAKE UP, I'M FAT, and original
musical and dance works created and directed by HERE directors Tim Maner and Kristin Marting.This production of NIGHT VISION is made possible with support from Big Red Media, Inc. and with funding from: the Jerome Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
The book of NIGHT VISION and double compact disc set recording will be released during the HERE premiere as published by Autonomedia and Big Red Media and recorded at Avatar Studios and may be ordred on-line at info@autonomedia.org or bigredmedia@hotmail.com
Scheduled through Feb. 19, NIGHT VISION will perform Wednesdays through Sundays at 9:00 p.m. with an added performance Feb. 15 at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $12 during previews and $15 starting Feb.
3. and can be reserved by calling the HERE box office at 212-647-0202, or by visiting HERE's website: www.here.org.