Ich, Kürbisgeist

Big Dance Theater’s New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” nominated Ich, Kürbisgeist reflects their signature blend of performance, text and visual design. A collaboration with playwright Sibyl Kempson and the members of Big Dance Theater, and directed by Paul Lazar, Ich, Kürbisgeist, originally co-commissioned by Performance Space 122 and The Chocolate Factory, returns just in time for Halloween.

Kempson’s Ich, Kürbisgeist is set in a harsh quasi-medieval landscape facing destruction, populated by a community speaking a rigorous, specific and completely invented language. Every word is semi-recognizable: an amalgam of English, Swedish, German and Sid Ceasar. The language is as tough and unforgiving as the windswept, uncultivated landscape.

The five characters, costumed by visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra, boast of surviving prior catastrophes as they bitterly recount lost times. They sing; they dance; they harvest pumpkin seeds. All the while, they feel threatened by vaguely understood, external forces from which there is no protection. They are grounded in fear and doom.

Oct 31 Stay Late Halloween Dance & Costume Party with special guest DJ Dway. Come to Big Dance Theaters’ opening night dressed in your wildest Holloween drag and win fun prizes, including two free tickets to Fresh Tracks.

Nov 7 Stay Late Discussion: Big Dance Theater discusses the process of restaging Ich, Kürbisgeist, moderated by Carla Peterson, Artistic Director of New York Live Arts.

Nov 8 at 6:30pm Come Early Conversation: Speaking Kürbis, Sibyl Kempson, playwright in conversation with Mark Patkowski, Ph.D, Professor and Director of the Linguistics Program at Brooklyn College.

Please join us on November 9 from 1 – 4pm for Shared Practice with Big Dance Theater. For more information click here.