MINNEAPOLIS (Nov. 3, 2011) New Yorks Big Dance Theater has gained an avid international following for its stunning theatrical hybrids with dark comic touches fiercely visual work [that] can move you to tears (Time Out New York). Their newest creation uses poet Anne Carsons fresh translation of Euripides Alkestis, a rarely performed but profound exploration of death, selfishness, and self-sacrifice. Showing off the companys seamless mix of multimedia performance, the piece includes a Greek dance chorus, song, and soundscape contributions by Pulitzer Prizewinning composer David Lang (Bang on a Can All-Stars). Supernatural Wife will be performed Thursday-Saturday, November 1719, at 8 pm in the William and Nadine McGuire Theater.

Sourcing and re-thinking the pulsing, profound, and very old movement of Pontian Greek Dance, Supernatural Wife restores dancing to its rightful place in Greek drama. The live choral singing uses various musical motifs, including French medieval Hocketing, Meeting House hymns and Vegas-style power-ballads. The expressionism of the great Yiddish theater actor Solomon Mikhoels from the early 20th century is the stylistic template for the character of King. The truth of melodrama in Yiddish theater and the stylistic invention that veers from realism is an appropriate fit for this story for at its core Supernatural Wife is about basic human contradictions: our desire to live against the immutability of morality; our desire to be autonomous in the face of our undeniable interconnectedness; and the playful nature of theater against the innate tragedy of reality.

Annie-B Parson, Co-Artistic Director, Choreographer

Parson founded Big Dance Theater (BDT) with Paul Lazar in 1991. Her awards include a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2002 Bessie award for her boldly arranged marriage of dance and theater. She received NYFA Fellowships in 2000 and 2005, and has been nominated for a CalArts/Alpert Award six times. She has been awarded creative residencies by Jacobs Pillow, Baryshnikov Arts Center, LMCCs Swing Space and The Yard. Outside her work with BDT, she has created a work for the string quartet, ETHEL, choreographed dances for David Byrnes recent world tour, and collaborated with the dance company The Other Shore to create work based on The Lesson by Lonesco and Heidi. She choreographed the 2010 production of Sara Ruhls Orlando at Classic Stage Company. In 2010 she curated, with Will Knapp, an homage to Merce Cunningham for the River to River Festival and in 2006 she curated Sourcing Stravinsky at Dance Theater Workshop. She has been a member of the Artist Board at Dance Theater Workshop since 2001. Parson has taught postmodern choreography at universities worldwide, including New York Universitys Experimental Theater Wing since 1993.

Paul Lazar, Co-Artistic Director, Director

Lazar founded Big Dance Theater in 1991 with Annie-B Parson, conceiving, directing and/or performing in most of its works. He received a Bessie with Parson in 2002. He has been an Associate Member of The Wooster Group, acting in Brace Up!, Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape and Northatlantic. Other acting credits include Marie Irene Fornes Mudd, and Richard Maxwells Cowboys and Indians. His film career includes roles in Silence of the Lambs, Beloved, Lorenzos Oil, Philadelphia, and Henry Fool. He has been a guest acting teacher at New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, The Bill Esper Studio, The Michael Howard Studio and Rutgers University, among others.

Tickets to Supernatural Wife are: Thursday, $18 ($15 Walker members);

FridaySaturday, $25 ($21) and are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600.

Press Contact: Rachel Joyce 612.375.7635 rachel.joyce@walkerart.org

Online Press Room: press.walkerart.org