Scene4 Magazine | Qué Pasa

Sarah Bernhardt's one-act play THE CONFESSION (L'AVEU), will be given its United States premiere by the Xoregos Performing Company this coming Spring as part of its Art Nouveau era program: ARTS NOUVEAUX-UNE CÉLÉBRATION. In the Jewish Museum's stunning exhibition on Miss Bernhardt last year, her dazzling accomplishments as sculptor, actress, director, painter and fashion-setter were highlighted. Not as well-known is her talent as a writer - she wrote articles, an autobiography and several plays, including her dramatic, L'AVEU. The Xoregos Performing Company has had the piece translated into English from the French for its American premiere. The five character cast in THE CONFESSION includes a role Miss Bernhardt might have written for herself, the Countess. The play explores the impact of the Countess' revelation to her husband, and leads to an anguished and shocking conclusion. The published one act was originally given at the Théâtre Odéon in Paris. The rare, beautifully published play includes intricate lithographs of the characters upon which the costume designs will be based. THE CONFESSION will be staged in the melodramatic style extant in late 19th Century French theater, under the direction of Shela Xoregos, Artistic Director of the company. The Xoregos Company has discovered and performed premieres by Oscar Wilde (2004), Jean Cocteau and the painter René Magritte (2005) as well as performing unusual new plays by living playwrights. In addition to THE CONFESSION, this celebration of fin-de-siècle Paris will include a dance tribute to Loïe Fuller, LA LOÏE, choreographed by Shela Xoregos, a salon concert of songs by Claude Debussy, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and others, a suite of dances à la Isadora Duncan choreographed by Rael Lamb, and a new comedy by Dave DeChristopher written as an 1897 phosphorescent dinner party,(a fad of the time). Both Isadora Duncan and Loïe Fuller were American dancers who made their names in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. For a short while, Duncan was in Fuller's dance company which toured Europe. Fuller also launched Duncan's famous Hungarian tour and European career. Set designs will replicate the visual style of Art Nouveau. Other surprises of the era will be presented.
The eleven performances run from April 12-21, 2007 at Wings Theatre, West Village.
FOR PRESS INFORMATION: Shirley Cahn at 212-239-8405 or xoregos@juno.com
XOREGOS PERFORMING COMPANY
496 Ninth Avenue
New York City 10018
212-239-8405
Shela Xoregos, Artistic Director
Website: XOREGOS.COM
a non-profit 501 (c) (3) corporation