Theater in the Galleries
The Eumenides
Tickets available through the Penn Museum website:
http://www.penn.museum/calendar/eventdetail/248/theater-in-the-galleries-the-eumenides
The Eumenides is the third play in Aeschylus’ great masterpiece, the tragic trilogy The Oresteia, written more than 2,500 years ago. In response to the pleadings of his sister Electra and at the command of the god Apollo, Orestes has murdered his mother, Clytemnestra, who was wife and murderer of his father Agamemnon. As a consequence, Orestes finds himself tormented by the terrible Furies, hideous ancient goddesses of the underworld divinely charged with punishing blood murders. Guests follow the actors through the Museum’s third floor galleries. Directed by Marcia Ferguson and featuring original music by composer Patrick Lamborn, this production is performed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Theatre Arts Program’s Artistic Resident for 2016, Sebastienne Mundheim/White Box Theatre, who will create the production design, with additional support from the Provost’s Interdisciplinary Arts fund.
April 7 Performance only: On Thursday, April 7th, audiences are invited to join a post-show discussion of the performance with invited panelists. Participants will include Prof. Sheila Murnaghan (Classics), Prof. Deb Thomas (Anthropology), Sebastienne Mundheim (Theatre Arts 2016 Artistic Resident and production designer), Patrick Lamborn (composer), Manfred Fishbeck (movement consultant) and Marcia Ferguson (director).
Special Performance Note:
Due to the site specific nature of this performance, some members may choose to be seated on the floor or stand behind seats to maximize views of the play. However, seats will be provided for all members of the audience for the first and third parts of the play.
The sequence in the Rotunda is approximately 5 to 8 minutes long. Seating in the Rotunda is limited, and we encourage giving priority to those who most need or wish to be seated.
Directed by Dr. Marcia Ferguson
Theatre Arts spring mainstage production, The Eumenides, will be presented in the Penn Archeological Museum on April 7, 8, 9, 10 at 8pm.
Artistic residency workshop photos courtesy of Brooke Sietinsons, Penn Art & Culture. Visit the full gallery here.
Photos from the Penn Art & Culture gallery featuring the spring 2016 artistic residency with Sebastienne Mundheim.
Photos courtesy Brooke Sietinsons, Arts at Penn.
The 2015/2016 Artistic Residency Artist
Sebastienne Mundheim (Production Designer)
Sebastienne Mundheim is an interdisciplinary performance-maker, installation artist, educator and the Founder and Artistic Director of White Box Theatre. Her artwork integrates visual installation, puppetry, storytelling, dance and theater. She develops story and physical environment in tandem, writing and building together, finally collaborating with performers to ani- mate visual, lyrical and literary worlds.
Mundheim has been creating work for over 25 years. She began her arts career as a painter and writer, earning her BA and BFA at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. Wanting to get away from the solitary practice of studio and get out into the world to make work with more clear social impact, Mundheim began creating interdisciplinary community arts pro- grams and events in Philadelphia and New Orleans, designing and implementing parades, installations, and arts-based learning experiences through museums, cultural organizations, schools, and community centers. In 1994, Mundheim began to include performance into her practice. Since then,
she has created many original interdisciplinary performances, performed nationally and internationally. Works include: A Potable Joyce: A Watered- down Ulysses The Story of James Joyce and His Manuscript, Under the Hat: The Life and Works of Marianne Moore, Currently Franklin: The Story of a Paper Boy, Sea of Birds, Paris Wheels and The Ready –Maids, and ARKhive. Works have been commissioned and/or presented by: The Rosenbach Museum and Library, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, The University of Pennsylvania, The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, The
Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, Lan- tern Theater Company, The Arden Theatre, PA Ballet, Franklin and Mar- shall College, Keene State University, Vermont Performance Lab, Marlboro College, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts, Baltimore Theater Company, The Ministry of Arts and Culture, Ireland. Mundheim has collaborated in the works of other artists including: Whit McLaughlin, New Paradise Laboratories, Kate Watson-Wallace, Anonymous Bodies, Thaddeus Phillips, Lucidity Suitcase, and Stan Heleva, Walking Fish Theatre, and
Hua-Hua Zhang. Mundheim’s work has been supported by the Dolfinger McMahon Foundation, Lenfest Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trust, including Philadelphia Theatre Initiative and Dance Advance, Pennsylvania Performing Artists on Tour, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and numerous commissioning organizations. Mundheim has studied puppetry at the O’Neill Center, Sandglass Puppetry Institute, and
with Hua Hua Zhang. In 2010 she received a Philadelphia Theatre Initiative support to study with the Hand Spring Puppet Company in South Africa.
In 2011 she was a finalist for the Pew Fellowship in the Arts. In 2013 she received an Independence Foundation Fellowship. She received two Barrymore awards in 2012 for Outstanding Design and Best Ensemble. Mundheim received her EdM from Harvard in 2000.
