 |
Blessed Unrest |
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
Blessed Unrest is committed to producing dynamic, disciplined, and exuberant new works for the stage by training and collaborating as an ensemble of artists, building original pieces, and reconstructing established texts.
Schedule of Upcoming Productions
Production History
BLESSED UNREST PRESENTS TOUCH
| Open: 05/01/21 Close: 05/09/21
The award-winning performance ensemble Blessed Unrest presents a new, live, movement-based performance TOUCH, a post pandemic meditation on skin hunger and a longing to connect. Inspired by our growing understanding of the function of mirror neurons and driven by the need to provide a refuge from the isolation and fear of the past year, the piece invites its audience to partake in the warmth of creative intimacy, with the safety of distance. Presented as part of the NYC Open Culture program of outdoor performances, TOUCH weaves together text, music, and movement, and strives to awaken the audience’s senses as they follow the performers through fractured journeys of forbidden touch set against the beautiful canopy of Madison Square Park. Space is extremely limited and reservations are highly recommended. Tickets (suggested donation $25) can be purchased by emailing info@blessedunrest.org with the patron’s name, desired show date and time, and the number of tickets requested. More information at http://blessedunrest.org/. About the Company: Blessed Unrest Blessed Unrest is committed to producing dynamic, disciplined, and exuberant new works for the stage by training and collaborating as an ensemble of artists, building original pieces, and reconstructing established texts. | |
 | |
Blessed Unrest Presents A Midsummer Night's Dream
| Open: 03/20/10 Close: 04/12/10
In A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, directed by Jessica Burr, Blessed Unrest heats up Shakespeare’s magical tale of people desperately trying to love each other in spite of volatile weather, identity confusion and meddling sprites. This physically dynamic production ignites Shakespeare’s language and tears open the heart of the play. Blessed Unrest’s Production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAMuses the company’s core principals and safe structure of training, rehearsal and performance to create an environment where “dangerous things can happen.”
| |
| |
Blessed Unrest presents A Christmas Carol
| Open: 12/20/16 Close: 12/31/16
In Blessed Unrest’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the beloved holiday classic meets innovative, socially conscious devised theatre as a tale of a misanthrope’s redemption turns into a critique of an unjust socioeconomic system. Matt Opatrny’s adaptation returns to the little-known origins of the work: A Christmas Carol was created in lieu of a political pamphlet “An Appeal to the People of England on behalf of the Poor Man’s Child,” which Dickens wrote in 1843 but never published. The story focuses on Ebenezer Scrooge’s lonely existence and his life-changing decision to enact positive change in the troubled world around him. “I love this story, but it's usually made too easy,” explains playwright Matt Opatrny. “It's very political and timely, and it highlights the individual responsibility and power to affect change. It's the story of a person grappling with who they are, how they got there and how to forge a new path. It's the story of genuinely seeing the people around you, seeing yourself, and choosing to make things better,” he further explains. Under Jessica Burr’s direction, A CHRISTMAS CAROL becomes a raw, physical, and darkly comic story, while still remaining a family-friendly holiday show. Six performers play thirty-seven characters who speak fluent Dickens, wear quirky costumes... and dance to Lady Gaga. | |
| |
Blessed Unrest presents The Snow Queen
| Open: 12/30/17 Close: 01/07/18
Following the 2016 hit production of A Christmas Carol, the award-winning company Blessed Unrest returns to the New Ohio this holiday season with a contemporary riff on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, tailored for the entire 21st century family (ideal for children 7 and up). This story of a fearless young woman on a quest to save her friend from a frozen world devoid of feelings features the troupe’s signature physicality, magical transformations, extravagant costumes, and modern humor. Written by Matt Opatrny, directed by Jessica Burr, and developed by Blessed Unrest in a year-long New Victory LabWorks residency, The Snow Queen presents the title character as a metaphor for the cool allure of modern technology. The production stars longtime company collaborators Rich Brown, Tatyana Kot, Celli Pitt, and Joshua Wynter, as well as Nancy McArthur and Todd Grace who mark their stage debut with Blessed Unrest. The production features costume design by Sydney Maresca (Hand to God on Broadway); sound design by Beth Lake (The Great Comet of 1812 and The Play That Goes Wrong on Broadway); scenic design by Sam Vawter; and lighting design by Jay Ryan. | |
| |
Chasing the Tides, or Exposure
| Open: 12/09/22 Close: 12/18/22
In this tense one-woman show, combining text with physical theater, eerie images mix with an internal monologue as the writer/ performer Matilda Woods (writing under a pseudonym) dives into a series of events from her life, swimming in the ever-shifting waters of memory. A woman, bound by conventions and expectations that befall her gender, navigates the fluctuating tides of exposure and concealment. When the truth is suppressed, it gains power and momentum. Where in a woman’s body does that power live, and when it is finally released, where does it go? What is the sensation? Disquiet? Hysteria? Or something far more sinister? Chasing the Tides, or Exposure is a Rorschach test of a play, guaranteed to evoke a strong response in everyone who ever struggled with secrets. Jessica Burr directs.
This Blessed Unrest production is presented by Theaterlab as part of the 2022 Gallery Series. | |
| |
Comotion
| Open: 05/09/10 Close: 05/09/10
Two worlds collide as Blessed Unrest and the New York University Percussion Ensemble combine classical percussion and physical theatre. This explosive show is Blessed Unrest's third percussive theatre collaboration with NYU, and this year's all-new program features Igor Stravinsky's "A Soldier's Story" with text by Kurt Vonnegut. Also included is music and text by Phillip Glass, Ho Chi Minh, Larry Spivak, and Javier Diaz. | |
| |
| Lying
| Open: 05/05/06 Close: 05/08/06
Lying tells the story of Lauren, a precocious girl with a compulsion to lie, as she comes of age in a grownup world. Along the way she encounters a gaggle of teenage girls, a flock of nuns, adoring doctors, and a very famous lover. Lauren bends truth and uses metaphor in the telling of her playful, impish tale, shaped, if it could be, like a question mark. Directed by Damen Scranton | |
| |
| Misconceptions
| Open: 05/11/23 Close: 06/03/23
Blessed Unrest’s MISCONCEPTIONS is a very serious—and very funny—play about a mother who questions motherhood. Penned by the Emmy-nominated playwright Steve Wangh (The Laramie Project) and directed by Jessica Burr, it was developed over 30 years of research and features material from interviews with women personally facing abortion. It is also a dramatic inquiry into the performance of fact and fiction, an exploration of how verbatim theater, performance art, and magical realism frame reality. Performed by a cast of seven actors (six of whom are playing multiple characters, both real and imaginary) and arriving soon after the demise of Roe vs. Wade, the play takes a careful look at the divisive subject and approaches it with imagination, humor, and artistic risk-taking. The show is performed by Rich Brown, Hilary Dennis, Ethelyn Friend*, Sean Mana*, Shah Motia, Julie Becker, and Celli L. Pitt*(* Appearing courtesy of the Actor’s Equity Association.) Misconceptions features set design by Calypso Michelet, costume design by Sera Bourgeau, sound design by Ryan Gamblin, and lighting design by Jay Ryan. | |
| |
Music Mélange
| Open: 06/12/10 Close: 06/12/10
French for “a bit of this and a touch of that”, Music Mélange asks the question, what happens when you get a bunch of musicians to pick their own repertoire? The bar will be stocked so come party and listen to performers with passion playing whatever their hearts desire.
Featuring: Ervin Dede, Carol McGonnell, Boris Shpitalnik, Matt Muszynski, Danny Famiano, Sean Statser and Paul Brill with Nuno Antunes and Katie Scheele DJ Assterism and live special guests to spin after the show until LATE LATE LATE! And in the lobby… A Silent Auction to support the work of Blessed Unrest Items on the block include a selection of hand-crafted infused vodkas, private Pilates lessons, intriguing books, and more! Can't make the show? Come late to hear DJ Assterism and party at the theatre. Tickets are $5 after 10pm About the Company: Blessed Unrest Blessed Unrest is committed to producing dynamic, disciplined, and exuberant new works for the stage by training and collaborating as an ensemble of artists, building original pieces, and reconstructing established texts. | |
| |
The Storm
| Open: 04/13/12 Close: 05/07/12
Time speeds up and thunder rages as Katrina escapes her stifling marriage through forbidden passion. The residents of this small town bracing for the deluge include her oversexed sister-in-law, a prophetess with a musical harem, and the lovelorn inventor of a time machine. Called the most poetic of Russian plays, The Storm is a dangerous fusion of true love and immorality unleashed. Blessed Unrest's physically dynamic world-premiere is electrifying, blatantly romantic and wickedly funny. Featuring Sora Baek, Zenzelé Cooper, Andrew Dahl*, Dave Edson, Tim Eliot*, Jason Griffin, Terria Joseph*, Darrell Stokes*, Laura Wickens*
Production Stage Manager Jaimie Van Dyke About the Company: Blessed Unrest Blessed Unrest is committed to producing dynamic, disciplined, and exuberant new works for the stage by training and collaborating as an ensemble of artists, building original pieces, and reconstructing established texts. | |
| |
The Storm
| Open: 04/13/12 Close: 05/07/12
Called the most poetic of all Russian plays, The Storm is a dangerous fusion of romance and immorality unleashed as its heroine attempts to escape her loveless marriage through forbidden passion while living in a small town full of hypocrisy and righteousness. The intensity of Ostrovsky's story along with Wickens's choice of language, rhythm, and scene structure, combine to create a play that is resonant, moving, and surprisingly funny. About the Company: Blessed Unrest Blessed Unrest is committed to producing dynamic, disciplined, and exuberant new works for the stage by training and collaborating as an ensemble of artists, building original pieces, and reconstructing established texts. | |
| |
This Is Modern Art
| Open: 06/02/18 Close: 06/23/18
Who decides what art is and where it belongs, and what is the role of race, class, and pedigree? THIS IS MODERN ART, the acclaimed and controversial play by Idris Goodwin and Kevin Coval, based on the 2010 “bombing” of the Art Institute of Chicago by an underground graffiti crew, is making its New York debut. The production by Blessed Unrest is directed by Jessica Burr and performing as part of the inaugural season of Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop. Blessed Unrest brings their award-winning, trademark physicality to a play that has wowed audiences in Chicago, Denver, New Haven, and Houston. The set design features a stage-filling original graffiti piece painted for the production by legendary NYC street artist KEO XMEN. The cast consists of returning Blessed Unrest collaborators J. Stephen Brantley, Nancy McArthur and Ashley N. Hildreth, as well as the actors making their debut with the company: Andrew Gonzalez, Shakur Tolliver, and Landon G. Woodson. | |
| |