Double Edge Theatre
Encyclopedia
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" and serves as the home for the ensemble members. A new house within Ashfield has become a home for theater students and collaborators from around the world.
Double Edge's productions frequently draw on textual sources for material and inspiration, including Miguel de Cervantes
's Don Quixote, Mikhail Bulgakov
's Master and Margarita and the short stories and visual art of Bruno Schulz
. 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. An archive of materials from Double Edge's production history was recently created at UMass Amherst's Special Collections and University Archives.
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
. Presently, Double Edge is creating the disappearance 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
.
Republic of Dreams: under the sign of the crocodile (premiered March 2007), based on the writings, artwork, and life of Polish Jewish artist Bruno Schulz
The UnPOSSESSED (premiered 2004), based on Cervantes's Don Quixote
relentless (2001-2003)
The Song Trilogy (1987-1998)
Song of Absence in the fall of the ashen reign
Song of Songs
Keter: The Crowning Song
The Women's Cycle (1982-1986)
Rites
Had She Spoken
My Sister, In This House
Blood Rubies
A Bold Stroke for a Wife
Physical theatre
Physical theatre is used to describe any mode of performance that pursues storytelling or drama through primarily and secondarily physical and mental means. There are several quite distinct but indistinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term "physical theatre",...
company located in Ashfield, Massachusetts
Ashfield, Massachusetts
Ashfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,737 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
. Artistic Director Stacy Klein co-founded the theater with designer Carroll Durrand in 1982 while at Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
. 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" and serves as the home for the ensemble members. A new house within Ashfield has become a home for theater students and collaborators from around the world.
Double Edge's productions frequently draw on textual sources for material and inspiration, including Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
's Don Quixote, Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
's Master and Margarita and the short stories and visual art of Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz was a Polish writer, fine artist, literary critic and art teacher born to Jewish parents, and regarded as one of the great Polish-language prose stylists of the 20th century. Schulz was born in Drohobycz, in the province of Galicia then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and spent...
. 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. An archive of materials from Double Edge's production history was recently created at UMass Amherst's Special Collections and University Archives.
Double Edge has roots in various movements in the theatrical avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
, beginning with the influence of Rena Mirecka, a leading actor for Polish theater innovator Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and innovator of experimental theatre, the "theatre laboratory" and "poor theatre" concepts....
, and of the Russian director Jacques Chwat. The theater model of Eugenio Barba
Eugenio Barba
Eugenio Barba is an Italian author and theatre director based in Denmark. He is the founder of the Odin Theatre and the International School of Theatre Anthropology, both located in Holstebro, Denmark.-Biography:...
's Odin Teatret
Odin Teatret
Odin Teatret is a theatre troop based in Holstebro, Denmark. It was founded by Italian theatre director Eugenio Barba in 1964. The Odin is also the base for ISTA, the International School of Theatre Anthropology, founded in 1979, also by Barba, and the Centre for Theatre Laboratory Studies ,...
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
Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart was an American theater director and producer and the founder of La MaMa, E.T.C. . In the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, and Henri Bendel.-Biography:Ellen Stewart was either born in Alexandria, Louisiana or Chicago,...
's La MaMA Experimental Theatre Club
La Mama
La Mama may refer to:* La Mama - a German disco group* La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in East Village, Manhattan, New York City, founded 1961* La Mama Theatre in Carlton, Victoria, Australia, founded 1967...
. Presently, Double Edge is creating the disappearance with renowned Mexican-Jewish author Ilan Stavans
Ilan Stavans
Ilan Stavans is a Mexican-American, essayist, lexicographer, cultural commentator, translator, short-story author, TV personality, and teacher known for his insights into American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures.- Life :Ilan Stavans was born in Mexico to a middle-class Jewish family from the Pale...
, 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
Labrys
Labrys is the term for a symmetrical doubleheaded axe originally from Crete in Greece, one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization; to the Romans, it was known as a bipennis....
, which was used in Bacchic sacrifices in ancient Greek cult-worship. Double Edge's first production, Rites, was based on Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
's The Bacchae
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
.
Partial list of Double Edge Productions
The Garden of Intimacy and Desire (2001-present):Republic of Dreams: under the sign of the crocodile (premiered March 2007), based on the writings, artwork, and life of Polish Jewish artist Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz was a Polish writer, fine artist, literary critic and art teacher born to Jewish parents, and regarded as one of the great Polish-language prose stylists of the 20th century. Schulz was born in Drohobycz, in the province of Galicia then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and spent...
The UnPOSSESSED (premiered 2004), based on Cervantes's Don Quixote
relentless (2001-2003)
The Song Trilogy (1987-1998)
Song of Absence in the fall of the ashen reign
Song of Songs
Keter: The Crowning Song
The Women's Cycle (1982-1986)
Rites
Had She Spoken
My Sister, In This House
Blood Rubies
A Bold Stroke for a Wife
A Bold Stroke for a Wife
A Bold Stroke for a Wife is Susanna Centlivre's 18th-century satirical English play developed in 1717. The plot expresses the author's unabashed support of the British Whig Party: she criticizes the Tories, religious hypocrisy, and the greed of capitalism....
External links
- Double Edge Theatre Official Website
- "'Avalon' finds magic down on the farm" by Terry Byrne, Boston Globe August 8, 2007
- Interview with Lead Actors Carlos Uriona and Matthew Glassman nthWORD Magazine February 2010
- The Salvation of Anarchy: A Review of The Disappearance by Double Edge Theatre nthWORD Magazine, Shorts. April 1, 2010
- Double Edge Summer Training Intensive nthWORD Magazine Shorts, Aug 11, 2010
- A Writer’s Reflections – 9/11, Hotel Modern & The Firebird by Carol Martin nthWORD Magazine Shorts. September 13, 2010