Alice Unwrapped

Nautilus Music-Theater

By Laura Harrington and Jenny Giering
Featuring Jill Anna Ponasik
Stage direction by Ben Krywosz
Music direction by Jill Dawe

Fifteen year-old Alice Bliss is trying to cope: Dad’s missing in action, Mom won’t come out of her bedroom, and her precocious little sister just wants a normal family. Somebody needs to take charge.

Alice Unwrapped explores what happens to those left at home while loved ones go off to fight. Through music and words, seasoned with both humor and pathos, this solo performance piece explores issues of responsibility, vulnerability, family boundaries, and the spirituality of compassion. Alice Unwrapped was commissioned and produced in 2008 by Premieres in New York City; Paulette Haupt, artistic director. Nautilus presented Jill Anna Ponasik, accompanied by pianist Jill Dawe, in a reading of Alice Unwrapped in last October’s ROUGH CUTS program.

Location:

Chapel

Schedule:

Friday, March 6, 8:30 pm
Saturday, March 7, 5:30 pm
Saturday, March 7, 7:00 pm
Sunday, March 8, 2:30 pm
Sunday, March 8, 7:00 pm

Intended Audience:

Adults and Teens

Caution(s):

Contains Adult Language

Performance Genre(s):

Theater, Musical, Comedy, Drama, Solo Show, Storytelling, Music, Singing

Running Time:

45 minutes

Contact:

Ben Krywosz
Email: nautilusmt@aol.com
Phone: 651-325-7925
Website: www.wesleybalk.org/nautilus.html

Cast Bio(s):

Jill Anna Ponasik (Alice Bliss) recently appeared as Eve in the Nautilus production of The Diary of Adam and Eve, and as Carrie in their production of Carousel. Other Nautilus appearances include Man of La Mancha and From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, along with such Rough Cuts programs as Lavender Girl, El Niño, Dead Man Walking, and Loss of Breath (which she also produced in the 2007 Fringe Festival). Jill Anna has also worked with the Minnesota Opera, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, VocalEssence, North Star Opera, Theater Latte Da, and the Ohio Light Opera. She was a participant in the Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute and three of Nautilus’ Composer-Librettist Studios.

Jill Dawe (Music Director) has worked with Nautilus often, serving as music director for numerous Rough Cuts programs, including readings of Floyd Collins, Zephyrus: Songs Of The West Wind, Aloha Flight 243, Requiem For Unbelievers, Promise, Mozart in Manhattan, and excerpts from Suzi Lori-Parks’ 365 Plays/365 Days. She has also served on the staff of the Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute, and served as music director for Nautilus’ production of The Diary of Adam and Eve. A professor at Augsburg College, Jill has also performed with the Ballet of the Dolls and collaborates often with a wide range of composers, writers, dancers, and musicians.

Ben Krywosz (Stage Director) serves as Artistic Director of Nautilus, directing such world-premiere productions of Loss of Breath, Meditations on Arion, I Am Anne Frank, Hearts On Fire, Dante’s View, and the revised version of Snow Leopard, as well as new productions of The Diary of Adam and Eve, A Water Bird Talk, Carousel, Man of La Mancha, Songs from an Unmade Bed, John and Jen, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, The Last Five Years, Goblin Market, Into the Woods, and most recently, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice. He also produces the company’s Rough Cuts program (their monthly works-in-progress series), manages the Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute, and directs the Nautilus Composer-Librettist Studio in New York and Saint Paul.

Laura Harrington (Writer) has had her award-winning plays, musicals, operas, and radio plays widely produced in the United States, Canada, and abroad. She is a two time winner of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award in playwriting and a two time winner of the Clauder Competition for best new play in New England for Mercy and Hallowed Ground, and was recently given the 2008 Kleban Award for Most Promising Librettist in American Musical Theatre. Her other music theatre work includes Martin Guerre (with Roger Ames), The Perfect 36 (with Mel Marvin), Joan of Arc, (with Mel Marvin), Resurrection, (Tod Machover), and Crossing Brooklyn (with Jenny Giering). She is currently writing a new opera, Alma Mahler, with the composer Deborah Drattell, and a series of choral works, with composer Roger Ames. Laura has participated in Nautilus’ Composer-Librettist Studio, and has had her work performed in their Rough Cuts series. Her music-theater piece Hearts on Fire was premiered by Nautilus in 1995.

Jenny Giering (Composer) is an award-winning composer, singer, songwriter and pianist who previously collaborated with Laura Harrington on Crossing Brooklyn. Her other music-theater work includes such pieces as Princess Caraboo (with Marsha Norman), The Mistress Cycle (with Beth Blatt), The Hotel Carter (with Stephanie Fleischmann), Still Life (with David Javerbaum), and Island of the Blue Dolphins (with Beth Blatt). Her awards include the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, the Constance Klinsky Prize from Second Stage Theatre Company, National Art Song Award, the National Music Theatre Network Director’s Choice Award, the Meet the Composer Grant, and the Frederick Loewe Award. Her recent album Look For Me has been called “beautiful, moving, passionate — a mix of vulnerability and strength.” Jenny has participated in Nautilus’ Composer-Librettist Studio, and has had her work performed in their Rough Cuts series.
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Since 1986, Nautilus Music-Theater has provided opportunities for the artistic growth of music-theater artists who create, develop, and produce new operas and other forms of music-theater that are emotionally expansive, dramatically engaging, and spiritually stimulating. We use music-theater as a tool to create enriching experiences for artists and audiences, contributing to the quality and diversity of new American music-theater and supporting the individual and collective growth of the human spirit. We offer professional development programs for writers, composers, directors, and performers; a monthly works-in-progress series called Rough Cuts; occasional fully-staged productions of new work and innovative interpretations of existing pieces; and other artistic endeavors designed to meet the needs of selected communities. We presented The Diary of Adam and Eve in last year’s Spirit in the House Festival.

• A Night in Persia
• After Leaving Eden
• Alice Unwrapped
• Backwards Ecclesiastes
• Cancer My Ass!
• Chutzpah Awakening
• Cigarettes for Jesus
• Date Rape for Beginners
• Demons on the Prairie
• Got Peace?
• Heebs and Dweebs
• Like Lazarus, Man!
• Saving Pagan Babies: Catholic Culture Clashes
• The Evil Angel and The Birthing of Demons
• Water Overcomes the Stone

• Baptists at our Barbeque
• Conversations with God
• Shorts Program One
• Shorts Program Two
• The Jesus Guy
• The Sacred Sites Of The Dalai Lamas
• Visioning Tibet

Complete Festival Calendar


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Contact

Dean J. Seal
sealtotal@aol.com
(612) 823-6005