Klasika Tickets are on Sale! Boo Yeah!
KLASIKA
A NEW MUSICAL BY BARBARA ADLER
29 October 2015 - 30 October 2015, 8:00pm
Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W. Hastings, Vancouver V6B 1H4 \
Tickets:
Regular: $22
Student/senior: $11
Ticket can be purchased online, in person, or via phone at the Box Office
Located on the main level of the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings, Vancouver
Box Office Hours:
Wednesday - Saturday, 2:00-6:00pm
P: 778.782.9286
E: GCA_GUESTSERVICES@SFU.CA
Also, a limited number of $5 student/senior tickets will be available at the door, fifteen minutes prior to show-time.
Czech Tramps and Canadian Rodeo Queens Collide in a New Musical by Barbara Adler
In the summer of 2014, Czech-Canadian writer and musician Barbara Adler traveled to the Czech Republic, hoping to immerse herself in a century-old Czech subculture called 'tramping'. An unusual mixture of outdoor recreation, cowboy culture and nostalgic fantasy that continues to this day, tramping reimagined communist-era Czechoslovakia as a country where friends could meet, travel and dream freely.
In a bizarre twist, Adler's travels led to her co-starring in AMERIKA, a feature documentary film, which centers on Czech filmmaker/musician Jan Foukal’s own quest to find tramps. The result of this international exchange is Klasika: a new musical by Barbara Adler & Ten Thousand Wolves, premiering Oct. 29 & 30th at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU.
Inspired by Czech tramping, Canadian Rodeo Queens and the experience of becoming an accidental documentary subject, KLASIKA reinvents Adler’s true story as a sharply funny piece of musical theatre – sparkling with wit, rhinestones and poignant storytelling. At its centre is the unusual partnership between 'Bára' and 'Honza', fictional versions of Adler and Foukal. As Bára and Honza search for tramps, their surprising chemistry crackles in an artistic power struggle that’s both self-interested and tender.
What’s at stake is their shared belief that the world can be edited, through artistic and social intervention, to create brief but real sites of freedom. By mapping the intimate relationships between people and their stories, Klasika asks, What can we accomplish by using real life as material? And what happens when we are the material that’s being used?
Performed by a fourteen-member multidisciplinary ensemble, Klasika remixes its Czech-country roots with musical numbers at once raucous and romantic, field recordings from near and far, and bedazzled denim costuming by designer and director Kyla Gardiner. Both performances of Klasika are followed by a dance party, featuring THE JOHNNY HORTON REMIX, a high-energy dance band led by Adler that plays rollicking country covers of the best songs you’ve never heard.
Klasika plays for two nights only at SFU’s Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre. Find out more about the production, process and inspiration here:TENTHOUSANDWOLVES.COM/ABOUT-KLASIKA
ABOUT CZECH TRAMPING
Since 1918, thousands of Czechs have participated in the tramping movement, which mixes outdoor recreation with a healthy dose of fantasy. Pulling together real and romanticized elements of the American frontier, many Czech tramps dress as cowboys, backwoodsmen or U.S. soldiers, and gather to socialize in the country. During the communist era, tramp settlements like 'Little Bighorn' and 'Toronto' became temporary havens for those struggling under the regime. By celebrating a fictionalized version of America, tramps created an imaginary country within Czechoslovakia, where friends could meet, travel and dream freely. Klasika, the musical, follows their lead to explore the possibility that the most useful stories might not be true.
ABOUT BARBARA ADLER & TEN THOUSAND WOLVES
Ten Thousand Wolves is the music, writing and theatre projects of Canadian artist Barbara Adler. The intimately collaborating ensemble is a multidisciplinary workhorse, mixing songwriting, storytelling, sound art and pictures to make performances for thinking, laughing and dancing. Ten Thousand Wolves loves the music of the performed word: sung or spoken, whispered to the private ear, bantered, harmonized or shout-rocked. Sometimes the drums are louder than the lyrics; that’s on purpose. We work with friends. TENTHOUSANDWOLVES.COM
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
As part of the creation process, Klasika has hosted events and created artwork inspired by Czech tramping and other project themes. This work has been published in an ongoing series by VANDOCUMENT, and includes photography, soundscape, musical essay and written documentation. Klasika is a collaborative effort between Ten Thousand Wolves, Kyla Gardiner, Simon Fraser University’s SCA staff and faculty, and many others.
Book and Lyrics by Barbara Adler
Music by Barbara Adler & Ten Thousand Wolves
Directed by Kyla Gardiner
Featuring: Megan Stewart, Paul Paroczai, Ashley Aron, Robert Leveroos, Dominique Wakeland, Leah Abramson, Lucien Durey, Julie Hammond, Shannon Scott, Gavin Youngash, James Meger, Skye Brooks, Juhli Conlinn and Barbara Adler.
Sound Design by Caisha Bremner-Thompson, Kellen Jackson and Vilhelm Sundin
Set Design by Sophie Tang