Double Edge Theatre

Summary

Double Edge Theatre is a physical theatre company located in Ashfield, Massachusetts. Artistic Director Stacy Klein co-founded the theater with designer Carroll Durrand in 1982 while at Tufts University. The company uses physical training and improvisation to create original performances. After 15 years of working in Boston, Double Edge relocated in 1997 to The Farm, a center for performance, training and collaboration that engenders the company's proposal of a "living culture"[1] and serves as the home for the ensemble members.[2] A new house within Ashfield has become a home for theater students and collaborators from around the world.[3]

Double Edge's productions frequently draw on textual sources for material and inspiration, including Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote,[4] Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita and the short stories and visual art of Bruno Schulz and Marc Chagall. Throughout the company's stages of work, other sources have included the languages and cultures of the Jewish diaspora and the traditions and techniques of Latin American street theater.[5] An archive of materials from Double Edge's production history was recently created at UMass Amherst's Special Collections and University Archives.[6]

Double Edge has roots in various movements in the theatrical avant-garde, beginning with the influence of Rena Mirecka, a leading actor for Polish theater innovator Jerzy Grotowski, and of the Russian director Jacques Chwat. The theater model of Eugenio Barba's Odin Teatret has also been highly influential. With Wlodzimierz Staniewski's Gardzienice Theater of Poland, Double Edge formed the US/Central European International Consortium for Theatre Practice, and has a history of working with students and professionals from Eastern Europe. In the U.S., Double Edge has worked extensively with the Charlestown Working Theater in Boston, MA, and q-staff in Albuquerque, NM. Double Edge has often been produced at Ellen Stewart's La MaMA Experimental Theatre Club. Productions very often involve international collaborations with both groups and individual artists. In the disappearance for instance, work was done directly with renowned Mexican-Jewish author Ilan Stavans, based on his short story of the same name.

Double Edge's name in part comes from the double-edged axe known as the labrys, which was used in Bacchic sacrifices in ancient Greek cult-worship. Double Edge's first production, Rites, was based on Euripides's The Bacchae.

Partial list of Double Edge Productions

The Chagall Cycle (2009 - Present)

The Garden of Intimacy and Desire (2001-2010)

The story of a famous Jewish actor in Belgium, Maarten Soetendrop, who stages his own kidnapping.
Based on the writings, artwork, and life of Polish Jewish artist Bruno Schulz
Based on Cervantes's Don Quixote

The Song Trilogy (1987-1998)

The Women's Cycle (1982-1986)

Distinctions

2012 - A documentary on Double Edge Theatre entitled "Theatre on the Edge" was awarded a regional Emmy.
2010 - Double Edge Theatre was included in the United Nations General Assembly's "2010 Year for the Reapprochement of Cultures."

References

  1. ↑ nthWORD Magazine, February, 2010
  2. ↑ "Where The Theater is a Kibbutz, and the Kibbutz is a Theater" by Chris Fujiwara, New York Times November 7, 2004
  3. ↑ "Double Edge Theatre expands in Ashfield, buys house" by Jeremy Dirac, The Greenfield Recorder, September 24, 2007
  4. ↑ "A Lively Don Quixote Fantasy of Shadow Puppets and Stilts" by Liesl Schillinger, New York Times November 1, 2004
  5. ↑ "Songs at the Well: Double Edge Theatre" by David Miller: The Drama Review (1988-), Vol. 39, No. 2 (Summer, 1995), pp. 115-146
  6. ↑ Special Collections and University Archives - W.E.B. DuBois Library

External links