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LORCA SUMMER FESTIVAL – Final Performances at INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS

31 July 2008

Pangs Theater Ensemble presents Federico Garcia Lorca’s Yerma and House of Bernarda Alba

By Seán Martinfield
Sentinel Fine Arts Critic
Photo by Lynn Imanaka

This Friday and Saturday the PANGS THEATER ENSEMBLE winds up its festival of works by Garcia Lorca at INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS. The ensemble’s Artistic Director, Wolfgang Thompson, has directed YERMA (Friday, 8:00 pm) and HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA (Saturday, 8:00 pm). Yerma is the story of a woman oppressed by traditional society. The work explores the subjects of marriage, childbearing, and suffering under a classical social system. The House of Bernarda Alba deals with a tyrant widow who locks her daughters away from the outside world. The play deals with brutal repression, sexual jealousy, maternal control and the finality of death

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898—1936) is one of Spain’s most treasured poets and playwrights. Included among his friends were poet Pablo Neruda and painter Salvador Dali. Lorca is remembered as a martyr due to his capture and murder by fascists at age 38 for what many believe were his leftist leanings, homosexuality, and criticism of conservative social structures. His work was banned in Spain by General Francisco Franco’s regime until the 1950’s when censored versions were released.

PANGS THEATER ENSEMBLE is a performance company founded in San Francisco in 2004 producing modern multi-disciplinary work and classics. Its work is marked by a physical style of performance and direction, as well as its incorporation of historical and modern elements into its productions. Even classics are presented applying a physical, multi-disciplinary approach, including a strong focus on choreography, patterns of body movement, and exploration of the physical space among the characters. Pangs Theater Ensemble’s physical approach is developed by its Artistic Director Wolfgang Thompson.

YERMA – at Intersection For The Arts, Friday, August 1st

Wolfgang Thompson, Pangs Theater Ensemble’s Artistic Director, has recently directed Georg Buchner’s Woyzeck, Moliere’s Don Juan, and his own multi-disciplinary performance pieces Resolved and Lamb. In the upcoming season, Mr. Thompson will direct Sonderkommando, the second in his Holocaust trilogy of multi-disciplinary performances, the Virginia Woolf/Anne Sexton Project, Shakespeare’s Julius Cesar, and Strindberg’s Miss Julie.

The LORCA SUMMER FESTIVAL is sponsored in part by funding from San Francisco Grants for the Arts. Pangs Theater is on a quest to acquire its own performance and rehearsal space in San
Francisco. Having their own space will free them from the significant costs of locating and renting rehearsal and performance space and, thus, allow them to focus energy and efforts on the quality of their productions. For more information: donate@pangstheater.com.

HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA – at Intersection For The Arts, Saturday, August 2nd

To order tickets on-line: LORCA SUMMER FESTIVAL
INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS is located at 446 Valencia St. (between 15th and 16th Street, San Francisco.

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Seán Martinfield is a native San Franciscan. He is a Theatre Arts Graduate from San Francisco State University, a professional singer, and well-known private vocal coach to Bay Area actors and singers of all ages and persuasions. His clients have appeared in Broadway National Tours including Wicked, Aïda, Miss Saigon, Rent, Bye Bye Birdie, in theatres and cabarets throughout the Bay Area, and are regularly featured in major City events including Diva Fest, Gay Pride, and Halloween In The Castro. As an Internet consultant in vocal development and audition preparation he has published thousands of responses to those seeking his advice concerning singing techniques, professional and academic auditions, and careers in the Performing Arts. Mr. Martinfield’s Broadway clients have all profited from his vocal methodology, “The Belter’s Method”, which is being prepared for publication. If you want answers about your vocal technique, post him a question on AllExperts.com. If you would like to build up your vocal performance chops and participate in the Bay Area’s rich theatrical scene, e-mail him at: sean.martinfield@comcast.net.