Media Relations
News Releases
For Release Upon Receipt - September 22, 2008
Contact:
Jean Connaughton, 617-353-7293, jeanconn@bu.edu
Ellen Carr, 617-353-8783, emcarr@bu.edu
BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS PRESENTS THE 12TH ANNUAL FALL FRINGE FESTIVAL
(Boston) – The twelfth annual Boston University Fringe Festival, presented by the School of Music Opera Institute and the School of Theatre, begins October 10 and continues through November 2. This year’s festival features two one-act operas, one full-length play, and a staged vocal recital. All performances will take place at the Lane-Comley Studio 210 at the Boston University Theatre.
A celebration of unconventional opera and theatre repertoire, the Boston University Fringe Festival brings together artists and audiences for a unique performance experience. Sharon Daniels, Director of Opera Programs at Boston University, founded the BU Fringe Festivalwith the goal of cultivating a broader audience for opera. By presenting operas with minimal sets and costumes, bringing artists and audience members together in an intimate performance space, and setting ticket prices at just $7, the Fringe Festival has attracted ever-larger audiences over the last twelve years.
The festival opens with Pope Joan, a compelling new play by BU alumna Michelle Poynton that recounts the scandal surrounding the ninth century German woman who supposedly became Pope. Pope Joan is a production of the Boston University New Play Initiative and this year’s School of Theatre official entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Directed by Tara Matkosky.
Leonard Bernstein’s one-act autobiographical opera Trouble in Tahiti is the moving story of a young couple struggling to find peace and balance in their volatile marriage, which unfolds while an on-stage jazz trio interjects comical, yet ironic, commentary about life in the suburbs. Trouble in Tahiti is occasionally performed as part of Bernstein’s full length opera A Quiet Place. This production features singers from the Boston University Opera Institute with music director William Lumpkin and guest stage director Grethe Barrett Holby, who choreographed the world premiere of Trouble in Tahiti at the Kennedy Center in 1983, and subsequent performances with Leonard Bernstein in Houston and Paris.
Jorge Martin’s Tobermory is the final opera of the festival. During tea time at an English cottage, one of the guests announces he has taught the host’s cat, Tobermory, to speak. The news is skeptically received until the cat starts repeating secrets never meant for the group’s ears. After the tremendous success of Before Night Falls in the 2006 Fringe Festival, the work of composer Martin makes a return appearance festival. Martin will join conductor William Lumpkin and guest stage director Bill Fabris in dress rehearsal and for post-performance talk backs with the cast. Tobermory features a libretto by Andrew A. Joffe and supertitles by Allison Voth.
For the second year, Opera Institute singers take a fresh look at song literature, lifting it out of the formality of the expected recital format and bringing it onto the stage in an intimate setting. Recital Meets Theatre will feature singers mezzo-soprano Kara Lynn Harris and soprano Sarah Beckham performing contemporary and standard repertoire in this free performance that caps off this year’s Fringe Festival.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY FRINGE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Pope Joan
October 10-25
By Michelle Poynton
Directed by Tara Matkosky
Dates:
Friday, October 10, 8:00pm
Saturday, October 11, 8:00pm
Sunday, October 12, 7:00pm
Friday, October 17, 8:00pm
Saturday, October 18, 2:00pm
Thursday, October 23, 7:30pm
Saturday, October 25, 2:00pm
Trouble in Tahiti
October 18 – November 1
Music and Libretto by Leonard Bernstein
William Lumpkin, Music Director
Grethe Barrett Holby, Guest Stage Director
Dates:
Saturday, October 18, 6:30pm
Sunday, October 19, 7:00pm
Friday, October 24, 8:00pm
Sunday, October 26, 7:00pm
Friday, October 31, 6:00pm
Saturday, November 1, 8:00pm
Tobermory
October 25 – November 1
Music by Jorge Martin
Libretto by Andrew A. Joffe
Supertitles by Allison Voth
William Lumpkin, conductor
Bill Fabris, stage director
Dates:
Saturday, October 25, 6:30pm
Sunday, October 26, 2:00pm
Friday, October 31, 8:00pm
Saturday, November 1, 6:00pm
Recital Meets Theatre
Sunday, November 2, 2:00pm
This event is free, but tickets are required. Pick up free tickets at the BU Theatre box office on the day of the performance.
All artists and programs are subject to change; please visit www.bu.edu/cfa for the most up to date schedules and program information.
VENUE AND TICKETING INFORMATION
Tickets: $7, General Admission. BU community: One free ticket with BU ID at the door, day of performance, subject to availability.
Box Office:
www.BostonTheatreScene.com or 617.933.8600
Boston University Theatre, Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley Studio 210
264 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Getting There:
T Green Line, E line, Symphony stop
T Orange Line, Mass Ave stop
INSTITUTIONAL BIOGRAPHIES
Boston University is one of the leading private research and teaching institutions in the world today, with two primary campuses in the heart of Boston and programs around the world. The Boston University College of Fine Arts was created in 1954 to bring together the School of Music, the School of Theatre, and the School of Visual Arts. The University’s vision was to create a community of artists in a conservatory-style school offering professional training in the arts to both undergraduate and graduate students, complemented by a liberal arts curriculum for undergraduate students. Since those early days, education at the College of Fine Arts has begun on the BU campus and extended into the city of Boston, a rich center of cultural, artistic and intellectual activity.
The Boston University School of Music at the College of Fine Arts, founded in 1872, is the oldest degree-granting music program in the United States. The character of the School is shaped by its position at the center of a major university situated in the heart of Boston, a city that takes learning and music seriously. The School is committed to integrating professional training and the study of the liberal arts for undergraduate students. At the graduate level, students participate in a rich intellectual and artistic environment, vital for professional development. Alumni and faculty are members of major symphony orchestras, opera companies, prestigious ensembles, and educational institutions throughout the world.
The Boston University Opera Institute is one of the premier programs of the School of Music in the College of Fine Arts. Founded in 1987 by Dean Emerita Phyllis Curtin, and under the leadership of Director of Opera Programs Sharon Daniels since 1995, the Opera Institute is a non-degree professional training program for the advanced singer preparing for an operatic career. Chosen by special audition, twelve emerging, professional singers are given free tuition and stipends for an innovative two-year residency that provides the crucial transition between student training and professional performance. It also serves as the center of opera training for degree Vocal Performance majors who audition for roles to perform alongside Opera Institute singers.
A theatre conservatory within the embrace of a metropolitan university, the Boston University School of Theatre at the College of Fine Arts offers programs in acting, directing, design, production, management, theatre education, and theatre arts. Its programs foster the synthesis of imagination, intellectual inquiry, and technical skill by combining rigorous training with study in a traditional liberal arts curriculum. A diverse and accomplished full-time faculty and staff, augmented by guest artists and part-time trainers, serve approximately 240 undergraduate and 30 graduate students each academic year. The School produces six fully mounted productions each season, offers an additional 35 to 40 workshop projects, and enjoys professional affiliations with the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Huntington Theatre Company, the professional theatre in residence at Boston University.
MEDIA ONLY
To request press tickets, high resolution photos, or additional information, please contact either:
Jean Connaughton at 617-353-7293 or jeanconn@bu.edu
Ellen Carr at 617-353-8783 or emcarr@bu.edu
To receive emails about concerts, operas, plays, art exhibitions, and visiting artist lectures, sign up for the Boston University College of Fine Arts e-calendar at
www.bu.edu/cfa/events.
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