BXBX’s Take Shape begins to take shape as company rehearses in masks without makeup
Who: Broken Box Mime Theater
What: New devised physical theater piece
Where: Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./NY Theatres, 502 West Fifty-Third St.
When: Thursday – Monday, April 1 – May 1, $25 in advance, $30 at door
Why: Founded in 2011, Broken Box Mime Theater, known as BXBX, focuses on simple storytelling by contemporizing mime as a theatrical art form. In such shows as Skin, See Reverse, Above Below, and Topography, the NYC-based company explore relationship issues, political protest, gender roles, and racial identity, among other topics, using light, sound, and body movement. The troupe’s latest presentation, Take Shape, opens April 1 at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./NY Theatres on the far West Side.
The eighty-minute work comprises ten short pieces that involve heists, cooking, isolation, transformation, the apocalypse, and other nonverbal narratives. It was devised by cast members Nick Abeel, Becky Baumwoll, Ismael Castillo, Julia Cavagna, Géraldine Dulex, Blake Habermann, David Jenkins, Tasha Milkman, Marissa Molnar, Kristin McCarthy Parker, Regan Sims, and Jae Woo and will feature live music by Jack McGuire. The lighting is by Jamie Roderick, with projections by Gregg Bellón; other collaborators include Dinah Berkeley, Duane Cooper, Joél Pérez, Leah Wagner, Joshua Wynter, and Matt Zambrano. There will be special relaxed performances in addition to an educator night, parents night, industry night, global night, and deaf night.