FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: November 11, 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: SYDNEY HILL, sydney@thecherry.org
Pictured: Erica Steinhagen & Robin Mazer
THE CHERRY ARTS BRINGS TO LIFE HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN’S THE SNOW QUEEN
Starring: Jordan Dunn-Pilz, Jeffrey Guyton*, Caroline Maloney, Robin Mazer, Darcy Rose, Camilla Schade, Josh Sedelmeyer, Erica Steinhagen* (*member, AEA)
This holiday season, The Cherry Arts is bringing yet another innovative theater experience to Central New York with The Snow Queen. Featuring live actors mixed with original puppetry, projections, and music, this brand-new version of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale (which inspired Disney’s Frozen) will enchant adults and thrill mature young audiences for five performances only, at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, NY, December 16-18, 2016.
When little Kai falls into the hands of the Snow Queen and is whisked away from his former life, his best friend Greta begins a fantastical journey to find him, encountering ravens, snowdrops, sages, thieves, and many other eccentric characters along the way. This classic story of friendship and tenacity has been in development for over nine months, resulting in an innovative adaptation like none before, featuring original puppets by Scott Hitz of PuppHitz Productions, original music by Paul Leschen, and original lyrics by Cornell University professor Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon.
Artistic director, adaptor and director Samuel Buggeln states: “What we are trying to do with this version is to capture the real magic of the original. Andersen’s tale is something like Alice in Wonderland, full of weird and wonderful imagery that doesn’t necessarily add up to a conventional narrative. For The Cherry’s Snow Queen we weave Andersen’s outlandish material into a story that is magical and engaging for both adults and children, without losing the delicious disorientation of the original.”
Original puppets by Scott Hitz take center stage in this production, inviting audiences on an enhanced journey into the world of The Snow Queen. “The story begins in a child’s world: a world without consequence”, says Hitz. “Once we enter the Snow Queen’s world we find that it is made up of paper and shadow. Paper representing the written word of Mr. Andersen’s original work, and shadow representing the mystery and chaos of the world of magic and fairy tales.”
With The Snow Queen, The Cherry is creating a constantly living and evolving holiday piece to present to our community on an annual basis. “Every year we’ll innovate a little bit more, and make it a little more special and a little more unusual. Something to come back to every holiday season,” said Buggeln.
The creative team for The Snow Queen includes Lisa Boquist (costume coordinator), Emily Goldman, (music director), E.D. Intemann (lighting design), Norm Scott (sound design), and Rachel Terwilliger (illustrations).
Tickets can be purchased at http://cherrysnowqueen.bpt.me/.
The Cherry Arts, Ithaca’s newest professional performing arts organization, is a not-for-profit theater company that provides Ithaca and surrounding area audiences with theater that is radically local, radically international, and formally innovative. The company creates works over long periods of time, developed by an ensemble of professional theater artists based in Ithaca. The Cherry Artspace, a multidisciplinary theater and arts venue, is currently under construction at 102 Cherry Street, on Ithaca’s Cayuga Inlet waterfront, and will be opening to the public in early 2017. For more information, visit TheCherry.org
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