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Press Invitation
A Restless Egyptian Spirit &
a Broken Archeologist Find Rebirth in
Ankhst
A Transcendent Drama about a
Revolutionary Pharaoh
Continuing Through March 6 at the
American Theatre of Actors
With
the Egyptian revolution at the forefront of our minds--as well as the story
of the statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten, stolen
from the Cairo Museum during the protests and miraculously recovered--it is
uncanny that there is currently a play running off-off Broadway about the life
of Pharaoh Akhenaten, which
mirrors current events in Egypt. Stolen from the
Cairo
Museum was
the statue of a man at the heart of the first Egyptian revolution, three
thousand years ago, when the revolutionary Pharaoh Akhenaten
convulsed Egyptian society and was himself overthrown. As after the
assassination of Anwar Sadat, a corrupt military-run elite
government assumed control.
ANKHST, A Play About Pharaoh
Akhenaten, by Clarinda
Karpov, set in ancient Egypt and in the world of contemporary archeology,
is running through March 6 at the American Theatre of Actors, 314 West 54th
Street between 8th and 9th Avenues, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m.
with Sunday matinees at 3; there will be a special performance at The New York
Open Center, 22 East 30th Street, between 5th and Madison Avenues, on March 12
at 7:30 p.m. Members of
the Press are welcome at all performances.
As Akhenaten--husband of legendary beauty
Nefertiti and father of King Tut--actor Anwar Uddin leads a multicultural
ensemble cast in a colorful production that features Middle Eastern folk
dance, work shanties from Karnak, and a
setting of the visionary Pharaoh's own Hymn
to the Sun. In the
play, passionate archeologist Dr. Alexandra Philips, recovering from a
breakdown, encounters the ka-spirit
of Akhenaten in a squalid tomb. Can Alex, like Akhenaten, risk all to rise like
a phoenix from the ashes of her life?
"It was extraordinary, to read in the paper day by day,
about events in Egypt that
echoed those we were rehearsing," according to co-director William York
Hyde. "In so many ways, this is a play for our time." Composer
Mark Nelson thinks "The recovery of Akhenaten's
statue on the day of our opening means to us that in our own way,
we are 'recovering' Akhenaten and
his story for the modern world, as well." The extraordinary story of the
statue’s theft and return can be found at http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE71G16D20110217 .
February
19th’s performance was a fundraiser for the Amarna Project, the
archeological team led by Dr. Barry Kemp, CBE, excavating and preserving
Akhenaten's city, Tell el-Amarna in middle
Egypt. Dr.
Marsha Hill, a curator of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and an associate of the Amarna Project, spoke. Dr. Hill said that while
other archeological missions left
Egypt when
the digs were shut down during the revolution, because Dr. Kemp has a base in
Cairo, he
has been able to remain, pending an expected return to work at
Amarna.
Told in a style which combines blank verse,
modern-day prose, incidental music and Near-Eastern dancing, the multi-ethnic
cast of Ankhst features: Maggie Alexander,
Seon Britton, Shelly Christian, Ryan F. Cupello,
Izzy
Durakovic, William York Hyde, Jharrel Jerome, Clarinda Karpov, Kendra Peters,
Alia Thabit, Sly Turner*, Anwar Uddin, William J. Vila*, Joe Williams, and
Michael Young. Dancers: Cristina, Dena, Elisabeth, Rayhana, Sonziry. The set and
lighting is by the show's co-producer William York Hyde, and the chorography is
by Joe Williams. The production is an Equity Approved
Showcase.
Clarinda Karpov's plays have been
produced regionally; in England; in
New York
City (Expanded Arts
Summer One-Act Festival, New York International Fringe Festival); and nationally
(three plays in KVNO-FM's TekniKolour Radio series, broadcast
by National Public Radio). Karpov is the artistic director of
performance troupe, How
Now! She conceived and co-created The Earl of Southampton's
Fair, a Renaissance Arts Festival at the ruin of
England's Titchfield Abbey,
home of Shakespeare's patron, the probable "young man of the
sonnets." The Fair has since blossomed into an annual Shakespeare
festival. Karpov writes, acts, directs, and performs as a
musician.
Ted Mornel is considered one of the pioneers of the off-off
B’way movement, having worked at such seminal theaters as Cafe Cino, White
Masque, Theater Crossroads, Bastiano’s Playwrights Workshop, Playbox Studio and
many more. The playwrights he has worked with include Robert Patrick, Lanford
Wilson, Michael Mathias, Michael McGrinder and Donald Kvares. He has premiered
over 200 new plays, including Secrets by Gerald Zipper which played in the
summer of 2006 off-B’way, at Theater at St. Luke’s. He directed a revival of
Driving Miss Daisy in Jersey City and the world premiere of Joel Shatzky’s Girls
of Summer at the Impact Theatre. His body of work has earned him inclusion
in Don Marguis' Who's Who In American
Theater.
Running through March 6th, Ankhst will be performed at Beckmann
Theatre at the American Theatre of Actors, located at
314 West
54th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues) on the 2nd Floor.
Show times are Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $18.00 for adults and $13.00 for
students and seniors. Tickets can be ordered by calling 212-868-4444 or at www.smarttix.com. Further information can
be found at www.ankhst.com.
Ms. Karpov and the cast members of Ankhst are available for interviews.
Members of the press are invited to
all performances.
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