James Bonas Director / UnRavelled By Playwright Jake Broder / STAGE EXPLORATIONS Theatre Art Podcast скачать в хорошем качестве

James Bonas Director / UnRavelled By Playwright Jake Broder / STAGE EXPLORATIONS Theatre Art Podcast

https://www.unravelledplay.com World Premiere Set for UnRavelled, a Play Based on the True Story of a Virtuosic Painting Inexorably Linked to Musical Masterwork and the Synergy between Art and Science UnRavelled Play Created and Written by Jake Broder Directed by James Bonas Music and Sound Design by Mark Grey Produced by Cath Brittan Cast Stars Lucy Davenport, Andrew Borba, Larry Poindexter, Leo Marks, and Tracey A. Leigh UnRavelled, an award-winning play offering a unique perspective on the extraordinary power of the human mind in the face of neurological disease by noted playwright Jake Broder (Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara, Our American Hamlet), receives its highly anticipated world premiere with three performances, October 17 and 18, 7:30 pm, and October 19, 2:00 pm, at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Art, science, and love intersect in this stirring true story about the remarkable connection between the work of Canadian painter and eminent biologist Dr. Anne Adams (1940–2007) and French composer Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), both of whom lived with the same brain disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), almost 100 years apart. James Bonas (Metropolitan Opera, BBC Proms, Scottish Ballet) directs the multi-media stage production, which incorporates live music and features composition and sound design by composer Mark Grey (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic). Cath Brittan is the executive producer. UnRavelled centers on Dr. Anne Adams, who, in her fifties and at the height of her prestigious career exhibited radical personality changes, abandoning her life’s work to paint. Starting out with simple subjects — houses, strawberries — she became suddenly, inexplicably obsessed with Maurice Ravel’s symphonic masterpiece, Boléro, launching into a wildly different and masterful painting style. Through her stunning paintings, Dr. Adams’ work may offer clues to unlocking mysteries about the brain’s networks and creativity. Similarly, Ravel’s most famous work, his captivating, single-movement, orchestral piece Boléro, deviated significantly from his deeply honed musical style. He composed it as a ballet for Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein in 1928, when Ravel himself was experiencing dramatic shifts in his personality. Boléro was one of the last works Ravel completed before dementia ultimately stripped him of his ability to compose. FTD is the most common form of dementia in people under age 60, which manifests with behavioral alterations – not memory loss or paralysis typical of other types of dementia. FTD is the same kind of dementia that afflicts actor Bruce Willis. https://www.unravelledplay.com Story of Dignity: Broder based the play on true events, incorporating research and interviews he conducted as a Hellman Visiting Artist at UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center, under the direction of Dr. Bruce Miller, who helped diagnose and treat Dr. Adams. Dr. Miller, who gathered crucial scientific data about changes in Dr. Adams’ brain as her disease progressed, figures as a character in the play. Director of the Global Brain Health Institute as well, Dr. Miller says, “Dr. Adams’ is a case that comes around once in a century – one that changes the way we think about how the brain works, and incontrovertibly shows, through music and art, that we are capable of more than we ever imagined, even in the setting of a neurodegenerative disease.” He explains, “Maurice Ravel and Dr. Adams were both in the early stages of primary progressive aphasia, a form of frontotemporal dementia, when they were working. The disease apparently altered circuits in their brains, changing the connections between the front and back parts and resulting in a torrent of creativity. Telling their incredible story through this engaging theatrical production offers a profoundly important perspective on dementia on a level that is both relatable and accessible.” Broder, whose own father has been diagnosed with dementia, notes, “UnRavelled spotlights Anne’s humanity as well as her courage and will to communicate. It’s a story about dignity – not just the tragedy of dementia. By illustrating how creativity can survive and even emerge in the setting of a diagnosis of dementia, it offers a new narrative on the plasticity and capability of the brain, helping to reframe our understanding of the disease and even how we talk about brain health.” He continues, “At its core, UnRavelled ponders: What does it mean to lose one’s mind, yet still find ways to express one’s soul?” https://www.unravelledplay.com Playwright Jake Broder https://www.jakebroder.com