Crossing the Line Festival 2019FIAF Crossing the Line Festival 2019 FIAF
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Why?

Peter Brook & Marie-Hélène Estienne

Produced by Theatre for a New Audience and C.I.C.T/Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

THEATER

US Premiere

Sat, Sep 21 at 7:30pm
Sun, Sep 22 at 7:30pm

Tue, Sep 24 at 7:30pm
Wed, Sep 25 at 7pm
Thu, Sep 26 at 7:30pm
Fri, Sep 27 at 7:30pm
Sat, Sep 28 at 2pm & 7:30pm
Sun, Sep 29 at 2pm

Tue, Oct 1 at 7:30pm
Wed, Oct 2 at 7:30pm
Thu, Oct 3 at 7:30pm
Fri, Oct 4 at 7:30pm
Sat, Oct 5 at 2pm & 7:30pm
Sun, Oct 6 at 2pm

Theatre for a New Audience
Polonsky Shakespeare Center
262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn

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“A global wanderer in search of theatrical truth.”
— The Guardian

The most celebrated theater director of our time, Peter Brook, and his longtime partner, Marie-Hélène Estienne, present a new work mulling the ultimate questions of existence.

A poignant reflection created by a master theatrical mind as his career comes to a close, Why? is an extraordinary introspective opus by a relentless artist and visionary. In it he asks: “Why theater? What’s it for? What is it about?”

This US premiere marks the highly-anticipated festival debut of Brook, who is celebrated for his work in theater, opera, film, and literature. Brook, who has been based in France since the 1970s, has revolutionized the performing arts around the world for multiple generations of artists through his work and writings.

Text & stage direction: Peter Brook & Marie-Hélène Estienne
Lighting Design: Philippe Vialatte
Cast: Hayley Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni

75 min
In English
Tickets start at $90

Peter Brook
Read Bio

Marie-Hélène Estienne
Read Bio
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Why? received its world premiere at C.I.C.T/Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, France on June 19, 2019.

The project was co-commissioned by C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Theatre for a New Audience, Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, National Performing Arts Center, Taiwan R.O.C. – National Taichung Theater, Centro Dramatico Nacional, Madrid; Teatro Dimitri, Verscio, Théâtre Firmin Gérmier, La Piscine.

Photos Why? photo 1 © Pascal Victor/ArtComArt; photo 2 © Simon Annand
Peter Brook © Colm Hogan
Marie-Hélène Estienne © Pascal Victor/ArtComArt

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Peter Brook

Throughout his career, Peter Brook (b. 1925, London) has distinguished himself in theater, opera, cinema, and writing. He directed his first play in London in 1943 and has since directed more than 70 productions in London, Paris, and New York. His work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes Love’s Labour’s Lost (1946), Measure for Measure (1950), Titus Andronicus (1955), King Lear (1962), Marat/Sade (1964), US (1966), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970), and Antony and Cleopatra (1978). In 1971, he founded with Micheline Rozan the International Centre for Theatre Research in Paris and opened its permanent base in the Bouffes du Nord Theatre in 1974, where he has enjoyed great success, most recently directing The Suit (2012), The Valley of Astonishment (2014) and Battlefield (2015)—many of these in both French and English. He has directed operas at Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera House, the Bouffes du Nord, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Brook’s autobiography, Threads of Time, was published in 1998 and joins his other titles including The Empty Space (1968), The Shifting Point (1987), There are no Secrets (1993), Evoking (and Forgetting) Shakespeare (1999), and The Quality of Mercy (2014). His films include Moderato Cantabile (1959), Lord of the Flies (1963), Marat/Sade (1967), Tell me Lies (1967), King Lear (1969), Meetings with Remarkable Men (1976), The Mahabharata (1989), and The Tragedy of Hamlet (2002, TV).

Why?
Peter Brook & Marie-Hélène Estienne
THEATER
US Premiere
Sat-Sun, Sep 21-22
Tue-Sun, Sep 24-29
Tue-Sun, Oct 1-6
Theatre for a New Audience

Marie-Hélène Estienne

Writer and director Marie-Hélène Estienne first worked with Peter Brook in casting the 1974 production of Timon of Athens at the Bouffes du Nords. She subsequently joined the Centre International de Créations Théâtrales (CICT) for the creation of Ubu aux Bouffes (1977). She was Brook’s assistant on La tragédie de Carmen, Le Mahabharata, and collaborated on the stagings of The Tempest, Impressions de Pelléas, Woza Albert !, and La tragédie d’Hamlet. With Brook, she co-authored L’homme qui and Je suis un phénomène at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. She wrote the French adaptation of Can Themba’s play Le costume and Sizwe Bansi est mort by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona. In 2003 she wrote the French and English adaptations of Le Grand Inquisiteur (The Grand Inquisitor) based on Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. She authored Tierno Bokar (2005) and the English adaptation of Eleven and Twelve by Amadou Hampaté Ba (2009). With Brook, she co-directed Fragments, five short pieces by Beckett, and adapted Mozart and Schikaneder’s Die Zauberflöte for the acclaimed Une flûte enchantée. She a co-creator of The Suit (2012) and The Valley of Astonishment (2013).

Why?
Peter Brook & Marie-Hélène Estienne
THEATER
US Premiere
Sat-Sun, Sep 21-22
Tue-Sun, Sep 24-29
Tue-Sun, Oct 1-6
Theatre for a New Audience