59E59 Theaters Will Host the New York Premiere of BAROCOCO

59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) will host the NYC premiere of BAROCOCO, devised by Happenstance Theater and directed by Mark Jaster and Sabrina Selma Mandell. Produced by Happenstance Theater, BAROCOCO begins performances on Wednesday, March 18 for a limited engagement through Sunday, April 5. Press opening is Sunday, March 22 at 7:15 pm. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 7:15 pm; Saturday at 2:15 pm & 7:15 pm; Sunday at 2:15 pm. Please note, there is an added performance on Sunday, March 22 at 7:15 pm for opening. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $25 - $35 ($26 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call the 59E59 Box Office at 646-892-7999 or visit www.59e59.org. The running time is 65 minutes, with no intermission.

BAROCOCO dives into the late Baroque and flaunts 18th-century finery, wigs, panniers, gestural styling, elaborate ornamentation, and the excesses of Rococo in this unique physical comedy. A charming and charismatic six-person ensemble exposes an indulgent aristocratic lifestyle precariously perched on the edge of its extinction.

From parlor games to pantomime, from the exquisite to the revolting, the rich amuse themselves to death in this delightful comedy of manners.

Inspired by Oliver Blanc's Last Letters: Prisons and Prisoners of the French Revolution, a collection of letters Blanc discovered stuffed in bureaucratic files from the period, BAROCOCO digs into the revolutionary fervor of the Reign of Terror, the period during the French Revolution when so-called "enemies of the revolution" (more than 17,000) were sent to the guillotine. While the majority of the Terror victims were peasants, France's aristocracy was hit particularly hard. The aristocracy made up 1% of the population, and 8% of these nobles were executed.

With the prisons overrun, these aristocrats often found themselves imprisoned in manor houses, where they were held until their trial. They often had no idea that they were facing a death sentence.

BAROCOCO comes to NYC by the innovative Washington, DC-based Happenstance Theater Company, who premiered the play at Arena Stage during the 2018 Capitol Fringe, where the Washington Post praised, "as portraits of wastefulness go, this one has an exquisite leer."

The cast features Gwen Grastorf, Caleb Jaster, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Selma Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon.

The design team includes Daniel Weissglass (lighting design) and Sabrina Mandell (costume design).

Photo Credit: Kintz