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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media contact:
Chris Spielberger
408-438-7446
[email protected]
The Tabard Theatre Company Presents
the South Bay premiere of
Inferno Theatre Company’s production of
GALILEO’S DAUGHTERS
SAN JOSE, Calif. (March 23, 2011) –The Tabard Theatre Company welcomes
Inferno Theatre Company to Theatre on San Pedro Square in downtown San
Jose for 11 performances of Inferno’s Galileo’s Daughters, April 22nd through
May 8th. Philosophical questions of no small consequence are addressed in this
contemplative and visually and aesthetically stunning play. Is science part of
God’s plan? Or does the power of science lie in its ability to explain away God’s
existence over time? Scientific inquiry and discovery, on the one hand, and faith
and devotion on the other collide in the life and work of Galileo.
Giulio Cesare Perrone, who resides in Oakland and has worked for more than a
score of California theatre and opera companies since emigrating from Italy in
1995, wrote, directed, and designed both the sets and costumes for the drama,
which features music composed by Bruno Louchouarn and lighting designed by
Michael Palumbo. The two daughters are played by Simone Bloch and
Valentina Emeri with Michael McCamish as Galileo Galilei.
Inferno Theatre Company, which Perrone recently cofounded with the actors in
his new play, is producing Galileo’s Daughters. This is Perrone’s fifth play, a work
that mirrors the playwright’s interest in art, science, religion, and historical
controversy.
What is the relationship between science and religion and how can they serve
the pursuit of knowledge and truth? Galileo’s Daughters examines these
questions through the lens of a father’s loving relationship with his two daughters.
The play highlights both the passion and discipline of Galileo’s search for
scientific truth, but not without an equally unrelenting religious devoutness, all
interwoven in a story that focuses largely on the experiences, emotions, ascetic
life, and religious faith of his two devoted daughters, cloistered nuns Sister
Arcangela and Sister Celeste.
The setting is Florence and Rome from 1630 to 1635. Galileo has moved near
his daughters and strives to support their convent as best he can. Sister
Arcangela has developed a mystic relationship to the Holy Scripture, while Sister
Celeste avidly follows her father’s scientific discoveries and helps him in any way
she can by reading and recopying his manuscripts as his eyesight begins to fail
him. More is actually known about Celeste, through the survival of over 120 of
her letters to her father, an endearing correspondence cited throughout the play.
The audience learns of the family’s early life through a series of flashbacks.
Galileo must remind his daughters that it has become too dangerous to “sing the
truth” as they did when they were children. The scene changes as the two sisters
are transformed into Inquisitors interrogating Galileo and his convictions. Finally,
the action moves back to a time when Galileo’s daughters joyfully share the
“truth” with their father as they first look at the heavens through one of his
telescopic inventions.
Biographical Information:
Giulio Cesare Perrone is a playwright, set and costume designer as well as a
stage director. He began his career in his native Italy, where he directed and
designed mainly for the theatre. Since his arrival in the United States in 1995, he
has directed and designed for both the theatre and opera. He was the recipient of
a 2000 Pew National Artists Residency grant with Dell’Arte International for his
adaptation of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Perrone wrote, designed and directed two
fully staged fragments of Paradise Lost before completing the third, and final,
production in March 2002. Paradise Lost: The Clone of God went on tour in May
2002 to Croatia and Hungary. He has since received a 2002 Pew-Theatre
Communications Group grant for his adaptation of The Memoirs of Jacques
Casanova.
Perrone graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti “Brera” in Milan in
1988, designing 28 productions for Italy’s most important festivals, resident and
touring companies as well as directing Mourning Becomes Electra, Pentesilea
and Andre’s Mother. His American design debut was the Laguna Playhouse
production of Goldoni’s The Liar, for which he won a Drama-Logue award. Now a
U.S. resident, he has 140 theatre and opera productions to his credit. He has
worked for theatres and opera companies including the San Diego Repertory
Theatre, the San Jose Repertory Theatre, Festival Opera, Dell’Arte International,
the ACT Academy, Opera San José, Foghouse Productions, California
Shakespeare Festival, TheatreWorks, A Travelling Jewish Theatre, Marin
Theatre Company, and the Magic Theatre.
Michael McCamish grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He moved to the Bay
Area in 1997 and completed the Ph.D. program in Social and Cultural
Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2004. McCamish
focused his dissertation on the culture of the Western prison system, which led
him to tour Europe as part of the European Prison Theatre Travel Diary. He
launched his studies in theatre anthropology in Italy, where he studied with
Eugenio Barba and the anthropological theatre group Proskenion. Upon his
return to the Bay Area, he performed in productions with Maria Lexa and the Sun
and Moon Ensemble from 2002–2009, including the self-written and co-produced
solo show Twobird.
Simone Bloch was born in the United States but grew up in France, where she
completed her formal education in addition to training in dance and theatre. Bloch
completed her studies in literature and languages at the university level and
became a certified German language teacher while attending classes in Paris
with the Forum du Mouvement, Maria Munk and Antoine Campo. She also
participated in numerous workshops with Mamadou Dioume, who worked with
Peter Brook.
Bloch worked with several experimental theater companies in France and
performed in various festivals in North Africa and France. She worked in Paris at
the Théâtre du Temps with the Kyogen and Nô master Jungi Fuseya. She has
performed both with and without masks in numerous productions with the Sun
and Moon Ensemble since 2001. She was both actor and dancer in the
multimedia show Invaded Dreams by Caroline Arragain in 2001 and played the
lead in Do You Have Time To Die by Imani Harrington. In 2002 she danced and
acted in the DWEEB production of Beckett's Last Dance by Jonathan Whittle. In
2003 she was Marx's wife with the Political Players in Marx von Soho, inspired by
Howard Zinn. In 2004 she danced in the Xyandz Project Hymenoptera at Yerba
Buena Gardens. Her dance career includes performances in modern, contact
improvisation and hip hop
.
Valentina Emeri was born in Bolzano, Italy, and moved to Rome, where she
graduated from the German School of Rome. Emeri studied at the National
Academy of Dramatic Arts “Silvio D’Amico” from 1983 to 1986 under the direction
of renowned author Andrea Camilleri. In 1987 she began working in the Italian
film industry as an actress and assistant director for commercials,
documentaries, TV shows, and movies. Emeri began acting in major Italian
theatre productions in 1990. Becoming more interested in contemporary theatre
and ensemble work, she founded her own company, Cortile - Theater im Hof, in
her hometown of Bolzano. She and the company brought their production of
Scarpette Rosse to the New York Fringe Festival in 2001. In addition to English
and Italian, Valentina is also fluent in German. She has maintained a 12-year
collaborative relationship with Freilichtspiele Südtiroler Unterland (FSU), with
whom she has performed many leading roles in classical works by De
Beaumarchais, Goldoni, and Gogol.
Since her arrival in the Bay Area in 2002, Emeri has performed with
several companies, including Maria Lexa’s Sun and Moon Ensemble. From 2007
to 2009 she completed her certification as a Laban/ Bartenieff Movement Analyst
(CLMA) at Integrated Movement Studies in Berkeley directed by Peggy Hackney.
.
When:April 22 through May 8, 2011
11 performances
All shows at 8pm; Sunday matinees at 2pm
Where:
Theatre on San Pedro Square
29 North San Pedro Street, San Jose, CA 95110
Tickets:
$24
Tickets available at 800-838-3006, www.tabardtheatre/boxoffice.org
and [email protected].
PHOTOS:
ITCGalileo1.jpg: Michael McCamish as Galileo
ITCGalileo2.jpg: From left: Valentina Emeri as Sister Celeste and Simone
Bloch as Sister Arcangela
ITCGalileo4.jpg: From left: Valentina Emeri as Sister Celeste and Simone
Bloch as Sister Arcangela
Photo credits: John Spicer
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Founded in 2001, THE TABARD Theatre Company is the managing and resident theatre
company of Theatre on San Pedro Square, with offices in South San Jose. Tabard is
committed to making a difference in the community through the arts by presenting
professional-quality shows that are suitable and appropriate for audiences of all ages.
Tabard actors, stage crew, and staff of all ages come from throughout the Bay Area as
well as San Jose. The company is also committed to making theatre affordable and
accessible for all, a goal it meets through its various outreach programs. Additionally,
Tabard donates a portion of its concession proceeds to nonprofit organizations that are
thematically related to the shows and often includes food or clothing drives during its
productions. Tabard produces five main stage-shows each season.
Inspiration and Imagination found here. Tabard.
For more information about performances visit http://www.tabardtheatre/boxoffice.org.