Off Broadway Theatre to Premiere New Stage Adaptation of James Joyces Masterpiece "Finnegans Wake"

The Medicine Show, one of NYC's longest-running experimental theatres, will present an adaptation of James Joyce's classic novel "Finnegans Wake."

Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble, one of NYCs longest-running experimental theatres, is pleased to announce Finnegans Wake," a new work for the theatre created from the classic modernist novel by James Joyce (The Dead"). Adapted and directed by Obie-Award winning director Barbara Vann with original music by Christopher McGlumphy, the show runs from March 25th-April 24th with an opening scheduled for April 2nd at The Medicine Show Theatre, 549 West 52nd St., 3rd Floor (between 10th and 11th Ave).

Set in a Dublin pub, Finnegan's Wake" is a boisterous, mind-bending theatrical experience that traces one night in the life of Finnegan, who dreams of primal guilt and is whirled into a comic nightmare as family history and world history become one and the same. The entire Finnegan clan--along with various denizens of the pub--live, fight, drink, dream, assume the roles of mythic & historical figures, and hope that their lives will eventually lead to some kind of spiritual rebirth. Their stories are brought to life by an inventive cast of 10, who act, chant, sing, dance, stomp and howl the piece. With its juxtapositions of the elevated and the vulgar, theres lots of fun at Finnegans Wake."

Featured in the cast: Yascha Bilan, Irene Califano, Richard De Domenico, Sarah Engelke, Mark Gering, John McConnel, Paul Murphy, Mike Still, Colleen Quigley and Barbara Vann.

According to Vann, Finnegans Wake" has haunted her for almost half a century. My very first encounter with this material goes back to 1958, when I wasa part of Abbey Theatre director Denis Johnstons staging of 'Finnegans Wake at Mount Holyoke College, which was based on Mary Mannings free adaptation of the novel for the Poets Theatre of Cambridge. When I decided to tackle this project, I went back and looked at those versions and found them a little too sanitized to be true...to Joyce at least. They rearranged the material into dramatic 'scenes rather than following the flow of the original novel. So I decided to keep the work in the order that Joyce wrote it, which meant re-adapting the novel."

Written over the two decades before its original publication in 1939, Finnegans Wake" has impressed and confounded literary critics and aficionados the world over with its use of over sixty languages and its unique circular structure. Having tackled the longest day in literature with his Ulysses," James Joyce dealt with an even greater challenge in his final work: the night. A nocturnal state. . . . That is what I want to convey: what goes on in a dream, during a dream." Joyce believed that his collideorscope" of a novel would become clear to people if they would listen to its music.

Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble was founded in 1970 by Barbara Vann and the late James Barbosa.The company is dedicated to offering creative alternatives to conventional theatre by creating and presenting works that experiment with language, music, movement, form and ideas. The works are chosen to delight the mind, honor creativity, confound empty convention, encourage active compassion and present the many facets of the American experience within a global community.

The performance schedule for Finnegan's Wake" is Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 7 PM (with the exception of Sunday 4/17, which is at 4 PM, and Saturday 4/9, which is dark). Tickets are $15 and are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or via the web at www.smarttix.com. For more information, please log onto the companys website at www.MedicineShowTheatre.org.

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