This preview has been provided by the Burning Coal Theatre Company. A sentence about the play containing strong language was removed on 12/1/11 at the request of the presenter. This play is suitable for all ages.
Burning Coal Theatre Company continues its 15th season with Shakespeare’s Henry V (on Trapeze) presented in collaboration with the NYC-based Fight or Flight. The production will run December 1 – 18, 2011 at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC. For reservations and information, please call 919-834-4001 or visit www.burningcoal.org.
About Henry V (on Trapeze)
Shakespeare’s classic story of King Henry, having recently ascended the throne of England upon the death of his father, Henry IV, is immediately challenged by war with France. His efforts to manipulate the political power structure while rousing the warring troupes and persuading the people of England to follow him into battle makes up the majority of the play. Along the way, Henry must deal with his old friends from Eastcheap (followers of the recently deceased Sir John Falstaff), woo the Princess of France, and fight one of the most lopsided battles in recorded history. It is upon the muddy plains of Agincourt, fighting against virtually insurmountable odds, that Henry’s destiny lies.
About Fight or Flight
Fight or Flight strives to create new and innovative theatrical productions through the marriage of traditional theatre with the aerial arts. By taking to the air, they aim to utilize dimensions typically not addressed by conventional stage performances, thus opening a new realm of possibilities for their audiences. By mixing the established with the cutting-edge, they offer both new and seasoned theatre goers rare and original experiences that challenge preconceptions, and expand the imagination.
About the Director
Steven Cole Hughes is Resident Playwright and Director for Fight or Flight. His also an actor and educator. He is the winner of the 2008 Denver Post Ovation Award for Best New Work for his play, Billy Hell, which premieredat Creede Repertory Theatre in Creede, CO. Other plays include: Intrusives (a Denver Center Theatre Company commission), Behold! The Fig Leaf Apron (commissioned and produced by the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City), cowboyily (Creede Rep & Bloomington Playwrights Project), Slabtown (Creede Rep & Denver Center Theatre Company), and Battleground State, a low-flying trapeze play he wrote and directed for the MFA students at the National Theatre Conservatory. Two of his ten-minute plays, Live! and Germany ’06, were produced in London and then taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As an actor, he has appeared in over a dozen plays in ten years with the Denver Center Theatre Company, and has appeared regionally at Portland Center Stage, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Baltimore Centerstage, Creede Rep, and The Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis. He has a BA in theatre from Indiana University and an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Actors Equity Association, and The Dramatists Guild of America.
About the Cast and Crew
New York City-based actors Daniel Loeser (Henry) and Eileen Little (Princess) will appear with Burning Coal company members John Allore (Enron, The Shape of the Table), Samantha Corey (Pornography, Molly Sweeney), Jade Arnold (1960, Crowns), Jenn Suchanec (The Prisoner’s Dilemma, Pentecost), Whitney Madren (To Kill A Mockingbird) and Lucius Robinson (Howie the Rookie, The Prisoner’s Dilemma). Eileen Little is producing Artistic Director of Fight or Flight. She has performed at the Denver Center Theatre, Baltimore Theatre Project and the Kennedy Center with Bill Pullman. She currently teachers single-point trapeze at Ruby Streak Studios. Daniel Loeser has appeared with Fight or Flight in Richard II in New York City, at Denver Center Theatre, California Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep and Ensemble Studio Theatre.
About the Trapese Workshop
Low-Flying Trapeze Workshop with Fight or Flight Theater Company
We’ll teach you the basics you need to know to learn the art of the low-flying trapeze (currently on display in Burning Coal’s Henry V): the hip hang, the catcher’s hang, the gazelle, the horse, the fugitive, the flapjack… and many more! It’s a terrific workout, and it’s a great way to learn to express yourself physically and artistically, while flying through the air.
Fight or Flight is a New York City-based aerial theatre company that explores classical and original texts by performing them not only on the ground but also up in the air.
The workshop will be conducted by two of Fight or Flight’s co-artistic directors, Eileen Little and Steven Cole Hughes, and FoF company member and star of Henry V, Dan Loeser.
About the Teaching Artists
Eileen Little is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Fight or Flight Theater. A graduate of the Intensive and Residency Program at The New England Center for Circus Arts, she has performed all over the New York and New England areas as an actor and aerialist and will be teaching at Show Circus starting in January. Denver Center Theatre Company: Measure for Measure, All My Sons, A Christmas Carol, Madwoman. Other credits include Matchbook Productions (now Fight or Flight) co-production with Sonnet Repertory Theatre, Richard II, and Bill Pullman’s Expedition 6 at The Kennedy Center and Baltimore Theatre Project. Eileen is an MFA graduate from the National Theatre Conservatory.
Daniel Loeser most recently appeared as Aumerle and Henry Percy in Matchbook/Sonnet Repertory’s co-productions ofRichard II. Regionally, he has performed with Two River Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, and Denver Center Theatre Company, among others. When not swinging on a trapeze, Dan writes and performs with his sketch comedy group, Uptown Girl, in New York City.
Steven Cole Hughes is co-artistic director of Fight or Flight. He directed their crtitcally acclaimed off-off Broadway production of Richard II. He has written two full-length trapeze plays:Arabia (a Denver Center Theatre Company commission), and Battleground State, which he also directed for the MFA students at the National Theatre Conservatory. As an actor he has appeared at regional theatres all around the country.
For further information, please contact Burning Coal’s managing director, Simmie Kastner, at 919.834.4001 or visit our website at www.burningcoal.org.
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Burning Coal Theatre Company is Raleigh’s small, professional theatre. Burning Coal is an incorporated, non-profit [501 (c) (3)] organization. Burning Coal’s mission is to produce literate, visceral, affecting theatre that is experienced, not simply seen. Burning Coal produces explosive reexaminations of overlooked classic and modern plays, as well as new plays, whose themes and issues are of immediate concern to our audience, using the best local, national and international artists available. We work toward a theatre of high-energy performances and minimalist production values. The emphasis is on literate works that are felt and experienced viscerally, unlike more traditional linear plays, at which audiences are most often asked to observe without participating. Race and gender non-specific casting is an integral component of our perspective, as well as an international viewpoint.
