Helsinki Syndrome's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
&
Hand2Mouth Theatre's UNDINE

Two works from the Northwest
August 27--September 5

photo: Amber Wolfe

Helsinki Syndrome's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Seattle performance art group Helsinki Syndrome presents a bold, contemporary adaptation of Oscar Wilde's theatrical masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, blowing apart the legendary text into a multi-faceted, non-linear performance that smashes the façade of A Very Famous Play. Earl Grey and cucumber sandwiches transform into cardboard skyscrapers and urban misanthropy as Helsinki Syndrome takes the script (and the audience) hostage to explore the real importance of being earnest.

The Importance of Being Earnest finds two young gentleman (Rachel Hynes + Mike Pham) living in 1890s England using the same pseudonym (Ernest) on the sly, which is fine until they both fall in love with women using that name and the characters become entangled in a series of uproarious mistaken identities discovering themselves in a new world splintered by hypocrisy and inversion, immersed in a complex interplay of Romantic rebellion, literary expressionism, hip-hop poetics, and postmodern nightmares.

In the spirit of Wilde's initial experimentation with traditional Victorian melodrama, Helsinki Syndrome returns to the Ontological Hysteric Incubator to detonate this classic text, presenting a radical and disorienting re-envisioning of this traditional play for a new generation.

Helsinki Syndrome’s "Earnest" was developed during their 2008 summer residency with the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator, New York, and was first workshopped in Portland, OR at Hand2Mouth Theatre's inaugural Risk/Reward Performance Lab.

Helsinki Syndrome is led by artists Rachel Hynes + Mike Pham presenting non-linear, ensemble driven theater pieces incorporating their trademark hybrid of theater, movement, and imagination into bold new performance works. Hailed as “young theatrical explorers…in the rebel spirit of…The Wooster Group and Forced Entertainment” (The Seattle Times) Helsinki Syndrome produces high quality experimental work, challenging individual and collective notions of theater and performance. Helsinki Syndrome is currently producing work from two continents, Seattle USA and London UK. Recent works by Helsinki Syndrome have premiered as a part of On the Boards' NW New Works Festival (Seattle, WA) and as a part of Camden People's Theater SPRINT Festival (London, UK). For more info on Helsinki Syndrome: www.helsinkisyndrome.org

Mike Pham / Artistic Co-Lead, Performer
Rachel Hynes / Artistic Co-Lead, Performer

photo: Tim Summers

Hand2Mouth Theatre's UNDINE

A lonely water creature finds a microphone. Get ready for “electro-sorceress of sound” Faith Helma and her song cycle inspired by the fairy tale anti-heroine, Undine. Lush melodies, live loops and wicked beats cast an eerie spell, and an enchanted girl lost between night and the dawn of day sings her heart out.

Undine is a one-woman wall of sound created and performed by Faith Helma and Hand2Mouth, with music by Peter Musselman, DJ Brokenwindow and John Berendzen. Faith Helma has co-created, performed and led vocal training in all of Hand2Mouth’s original productions, opened for Justin Bond and Holcombe Waller and performed internationally and throughout the U.S.

Undine was first performed at On the Boards in Seattle (Northwest New Works Festival, May 2008), received support from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and was developed in residency at Milepost 5 in Portland, Oregon.

Hand2Mouth is a Portland, OR based theatre ensemble committed to creating original work. Described by The Seattle Times as having “the kind of promise, fearlessness and energy that the American theater needs, and should encourage,” Hand2Mouth makes boundary pushing performances with a limitless appetite for exploration, energetic physicality and vocal experimentation. Recent works by Hand2Mouth have premiered at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time Based Art Festival (Portland, OR), Bumbershoot Arts Festival (Seattle, WA) and have toured throughout the Northwest including On the Boards (Seattle) and the Myrna Loy Center (Helena, MT). For more info on Hand2Mouth Theatre: www.hand2mouththeatre.org

Faith Helma / Undine
Jonathan Walters / Director
Christopher Kuhl / Lighting Design
Peter Musselman, DJ Brokenwindow, John Berendzen / Music Direction
Lacey Cassidy, Harmony Arnold / Costumes
Drew Foster / Scenic Design
Liam Kaas-Lentz / Stage Manager

Performed on a double bill
August 27--September 5
Tuesday--Sunday, 8p.m.
Tickets: General $17/Student $12
Purchase in advance here or by calling 212-352-3101. Cash only at the door.