The New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC

A production of The Present Company

August 11th – 27th

In New York: (212) 279-4488 or Outside New York: 1-888-FringeNYC

 

 

What happens when our innermost urges turn against our instinct for self-preservation?  Witness the whys and hows of confessions—and their dire consequences—in the world premiere of CONFESSIONS, a fresh spin on the Greek Phaedra myth, with a multicultural cast and in a minimalist Chinese theatre style that explores the innermost, uncontrollable human desires, at the New York International Fringe Festival.

 

In the Phaedra myth, a love triangle is created and restrained by political virility. Theseus, a Herculean hero, dethrones the king of Athens and imprisons Aricia, the royal princess. His son Hippolytus, ordered to guard the princess, is helplessly attracted to her. Phaedra, Theseus’s young wife and Hippolytus’s stepmother, develops a mad passion for Hippolytus. When Theseus is away on an adventure, the repressed passions of the three characters in the triangle have to be unleashed; confessions have to be made.

 

The cast of CONFESSIONS includes performers from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The aim is not only to draw distinguished talents from the huge, multiethnic, multicultural pool of performing artists in New York; it is also an attempt to add ethnic dynamics and cultural edge to the original myth. In its staging, CONFESSIONS employs a non-realistic, minimalist Chinese theatre style that highlights the refined, poetic language of the play and the delicate exposition and explication of inner emotions of the characters.

 

With its eclectic approaches in casting and staging, CONFESSIONS marks the debut of X-plormentals, a theatre collective devoted to exploring the creative potential and possibilities of merging different theatre and performing traditions. Dongshin Chang, founder-artistic director of X-plormentals, is a theatre practitioner, scholar, writer and director. A native of Taiwan, Chang was trained in acting and directing in both Taipei and New York. He has especially focused on the art of kunqu, a form of traditional Chinese theatre. In addition to his creative endeavors, Chang holds an advanced degree in theatre/performance studies and teaches theatre courses at universities in New York and New Jersey.