Rude Mechs will faithfully restage Performance Group environmental theater classic DIONYSUS in 69 at New York Live Arts
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
November 6-10, $30
212-924-0077
www.newyorklivearts.org
www.rudemechs.com
In 1968, the Performance Group, an experimental SoHo theater company founded by artistic director Richard Schechner the year before, staged Dionysus in 69, an avant-garde version of Euripides’ Greek tragedy The Bacchae, which involves the beautiful young partying god Dionysus; Pentheus, the king of Thebes, who took over for his grandfather Cadmus; the blind prophet Teiresias; and Pentheus’s mother, Agauë. The production was filmed by Brian De Palma, who had been impressed by the participatory environmental show that melds audience and performer. Now the Austin-based Rude Mechs, who specialize in organic theatrical performances, are faithfully restaging Dionysus in 69 at New York Live Arts, using the original production and film as sources for the evening-length piece, which features, among other things, full-frontal male and female nudity. Once again the audience gets in on the action, as all seats are general admission on wooden platforms on the floor or accessed via ladders. The show runs November 6-10; on November 8, there will be a preperformance conversation, “The (Re)performance of Discussing Dionysus in 69,” with Schechner and Rude Mechs co-artistic producing directors Madge Darlington and Shawn Sides, while on November 9 there will be a special talk following the 7:30 performance, “Discussing Dionysus in 69, NOW,” with Schechner, Darlington, and Sides speaking with writer and dance critic Elizabeth Zimmer.