Pop quiz: did you read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and if you did, were you appalled but riveted, maybe outraged? If you are socially engaged, seek artistic work that makes you think, then the Dresser suggests that Izumi Ashizawa's adaptation of the myth of the Minotaur, which is set in the 1920s stockyards of Chicago might be worth your time and money.
The Dresser was taken behind the scenes at the Clarice Smith Center for the Arts to talk to Ms. Ashizawa and two of the principle actors: Nick Horan and Claudia Rosales. What she learned is the play features Japanese movement (Ashizawa was trained in the arts of Japanese Noh theater) and unusual puppetry. 
The stage is configured in the shape of a steer's hoof. The lighting features "red outs." The original music comes from a Greek contemporary composer, Simos Papanas, who is not a Minimalist but not a Schoenberg either.
The ninety-minute performance about modern day immigration problems runs without intermission. Director Ashizawa hopes to shake the inner core of those who attend. Because every element of this theater work, which features the same group of outstanding graduate students the Dresser saw in the Mendacity Festival, counts--there is no pretty fluff added, the Dresser believes seeing the play once might hook the viewer into seeing it again. 
Minotaur opens April 15, 2011.
Photo Credit: Izumi Ashizawa
