For Immediate Release
December 1, 2009

Four Performances Dec. 16-19

December 2009, Chicago – On the heels of their Halloween performance at the White House October 31st, and running concurrently with their family-friendly tradition of “Winter Pageant” at Redmoon Central through December 27th, Redmoon has teamed up with the CSO for a surprise holiday treat to present a 30 minute world-premiere shadow-puppetry spectacle accompanying music from Tchaikovsky’s fairy-tale ballet “Swan Lake”.

Russian conductor Alexander Polianichko returns to the CSO podium to conduct the all-Tchaikovsky programs, which also include selections from “The Snow Maiden”.

Known for their enormous and spectacular live productions, Redmoon’s artistic team led by artistic director Frank Maugeri, have constructed a unique addition to the standard concert-hall experience, to be staged in synchronization with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s performance of music from “Swan Lake”.

Redmoon’s specially created dramatization showcases an array of handcrafted shadow puppets, meticulous live puppetry and larger-than-life video projections, bringing alive the tragic story of a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse, and the prince who falls in love with her.
The program also includes Tchaikovsky’s incidental music to “The Snow Maiden”, featuring Chicago actor Alex Balestrieri reciting a new adaptation from Aleksandr Ostrovsky’s play.
Gerard McBurney, CSO artistic programming advisor and an authority on Russian music, has retailored key scenes from Ostrovsky’s original text, telling the poetic story of an ice goddess whose heart is warmed when she falls in love with a mortal.

DATES / TIMES: Dec. 16, at 6:30pm (part of the rush-hour Afterwork Masterworks series); Thursday, Dec. 17, at 8pm; Friday, Dec. 18, at 1:30pm; and Saturday, Dec. 19, at 8pm

WHERE: Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60604

TICKETS: $22 – $199

To Purchase Tickets: call the CSO ticket hotline (312) 294-3000 or visit www.cso.org

“With the remarkable amount of holiday celebrations available to audiences in Chicago during this point in the season, our goal is to create a memorable experience that goes beyond the spectator’s palette of expectation,” noted Artistic Director Frank Maugeri. “The gift of working in collaboration with the CSO, creating the necessary magic to invent a short classical music fairy-tale that visually astounds, is every artistic team’s dream! So we can only do what Redmoon does best—turn our dream into a landscape of the imagination, full of muscle and poetry, and take over Symphony Hall as a temporary holiday playground.”

Conceived by Frank Maugeri and Jim Lasko, co-Directed by Frank Maugeri, Jim Lasko, Alex Balestrieri, in collaboration with Andrea Everman, with a team of Redmoon artists. Executive Produced by Rebecca Hunter

Production credits include: Shadow Puppet Illustration and Design – Andrea Everman, Shadow Performers – Julia Miller, Sarah Latin-Kasper, Sarah Ely, and Mike Oleon, Shadow Workshop Participants –Taylor Bibat, Shu Shubat, Sarah Fornace, Freddie Beckley, Lydia Bottom, Jake Carr, Stephanie Kalil, Cody Proctor, Elizabeth Silva, Laura Statford, Mark Umstattd, Live Film Projectionist – Liviu Pasare, Production Assistants – Taylor Bibat, Shu Shubat, Technical Direction – Mike O’Neill, Shadow Screens and Carts Design – Zach Perrault, Construction Engineer – Gabriel Richardson, Build Interns – Amalia Buisson, Sarah Covert, Dustin Brunjels, Gabriel Underwood.

Redmoon has a commitment to creating new pathways for more audiences to encounter and participate in art and culture. In 2009, Redmoon successfully collaborated with the Chicago Park District for Spectacle 09: Last of My Species, The Fearless Songs Of Laarna Cortaan at Belmont Harbor; travelled to France to present Once Upon A Time in Charleville at the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes; the University of Chicago for a production of Hunchback at Rockefeller Chapel in Hyde Park, and is delighted to collaborate with Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) on Swan Lake at Downtown’s Symphony Center.

Redmoon’s 2009 programming is made possible through the generous support of the following contributors:
The Mullen Family Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts; the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; and by a CityArts Program 3 grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

Redmoon was founded in 1990 to promote a unique brand of performance committed to the highest quality artistic product and to civic well-being. Pulling with conviction from contemporary art forms and ancient theatrical forms, Redmoon has created a performance style that is equal parts pageantry, gadgetry, acrobatics, and ephemera. Over the past decade Redmoon has garnered international attention for theatrical productions and site-specific performances, which have been seen across Chicago from the Jackson Park Lagoon, the façade of Museum of Contemporary Art to Belmont Harbor and theater venues such as Steppenwolf. Over recent years, Redmoon has developed expanding projects in Holland, Ireland, France, and Australia. The company was recently honored to perform for the President and First Lady at the White House for Halloween 2009. Redmoon is committed to a mission of creating unexpected theater in unexpected locations.

Redmoon is a proud member of The League of Chicago Theatres and a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre.

Contact: Sean Kaplan
312-850-8440 ×114
skaplan@redmoon.org

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