Virus Theater’s next spectacular production comes to audiences Nov. 8-23 with a new interpretation of Carlos Gozzi’s “The Green Bird,” directed by Teresa Dahl-Bredine.
After the last two years of productions, ranging from melodramas to Greek tragedies, Virus performs Gozzi’s 18th century commedia dell’arte sensation, “The Green Bird.” This PG-13 production will run at El Sol Theater in downtown Silver City. Showtimes are 6 p.m. Sundays and 7:30 p.m. on all other days.
Interested parties can learn more about the show by visiting https://virustheater.com.
Virus Theater has been intermittently training in mask work and the commedia dell'arte style for the last several years, after Dahl-Bredine attended a month-long workshop at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater to learn more about the technical aspect of actors performing with masks. Virus Theater ensemble is excited to perform this style of theater with a classic commedia work.
In “The Green Bird,” Gozzi presents a story full of humor and fairy tale, of commoners versus the elite, of the baser human needs (hunger, lust and greed) juxtaposed against the elevated yearnings of philosophy, reason and love. This satire presents its characters, and therefore us all, as inhabiting the universal human predicament. Gozzi creates a story that is sometimes vulgar and sometimes sublime, in which all the characters are proven to be buffoonish at least at some point.
“I attended a production of The Green Bird at the Yale Repertory Theater in 1993, my first year away at college, and was blown away,” Dahl-Bredine said. “I’d never seen anything like it. At the time, most American theater strived for realism — and here you have magic, absurdity, masks, and fantasy — so much color and life, so much for the imagination to grab on to. I’ve wanted to produce this play ever since.”
Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for students and are available at El Sol’s box office, 406 N. Bullard St. in Silver City or in advance at Vintage Fantasies, 412 N Bullard St. in downtown Silver City. Shows on Nov. 10 and 14 are pay-what-you-can at the door.
