Courtesy of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center:
This past Friday I had the opportunity to interview Izumi Ashizawa, an assistant professor at The University of Maryland in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. She is the writer and director of Minotaur, an original play that made its debut last Friday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Izumi Ashizawa
Minotaur is set in the 1920s American slaughterhouse industry in Chicago, but it is based on Greek mythology and Ashizawa's interpretation of the myth, Theseus and the Minotaur. Ashizawa focused the production on Ardiadone, the heroine. Having the story told through this point of view adds a new twist to the tale. It is a contemporary, powerful, and smart.
I was lucky enough to speak to some of the show's performers as well. Two of the actors, Olivia Brann and Greg Mack, play several roles in Minotaur and they spoke to me about their experiences so far as theatre professionals. What is it really like to be beneath the limelight?
Olivia Brann
(Immigrant, Island Woman, Ensemble)
The interview was made available at WMUCRadio.com and I am working on finding a copy I can post here.
For now, the show is running at the University of Maryland from April 15 - April 23rd. The final showing is at 8:00 pm in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Theatre.
STUDENT TICKETS ARE ONLY $9
As opposed to the $27 price for outside attendees ($22 for subscribers)
You can get your tickets by phone or online at this link:
But keep an eye out for the $2 processing fee you get charged if you order over the phone or online. Tickets can be ordered and picked up in person to avoid the additional cost.
Check out an exclusive sneak peak from the show here:
Biographies:
Izumi Ashizawa
playwright/director/puppet designer
Ashizawa’s original performance works have been presented in the United States, Japan, Australia, the Grand Cayman, Norway, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria, Russia, Greece, Turkey and Iran.
The second of her Neo-Noh trilogy The Blue Rocks was broadcast in a documentary interview format through NHK national public TV in Japan in 2006.
She was featured as a performer speaker in the PBS’s Invitation to World Literature for her Gilgamesh, which is currently viewable nationwide.
She has received Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Faculty Meritorious awards for both Excellence in Directing and Excellence in Scenic Design for her Florida production of Gilgamesh.
Ashizawa is a recipient of numerous awards from different countries: Norwegian Cultural Fund, Australian Government Fund for the Artists, UNESCO-Aschberg Award, Tehran Municipality Culture and Arts Organization Award, Best Performance Award — IIFUT Festival, Special Performance Award — Women Theatre Festival, Puffin Foundation Award and Gritchen Johnson Award.
She is a graduate of Yale School of Drama.
Olivia Brann
sophomore, theatre performance and Chinese double major
Creative and Performing Arts Scholar and President Scholar Kay Theatre credit: Enchanted April (Constanza)
Kogod Theatre credit: Gilgamesh (Bird, Tavern Woman)
In another UMD production, she was a chorus member in Parados Outside production credits: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck) and Right You Are (If you think you are) (Signora Cini)
Greg Mack
senior, theatre performance majorKay Theatre credit: The Dead (assistant sound designer)
Kogod Theatre credits: Am I Black Enough, Yet? (sound designer) and Gilgamesh (Gilgamesh)
Check out more information about the show here: http://www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/2010/c/performances/performance?rowid=11290
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