OFF-LEASH AREA PRESENTS

IVAN THE DRUNK AND HIS TERRIBLE TALE OF WOE

June 4-20 at Open Eye Figure Theater (click here for a map)
506 East 24th Street, Minneapolis.
All shows at 8 p.m.

For Reservations & Information Call: 612-724-7372
Thursdays: $12
Fridays & Saturdays: $18 / $15 (students/seniors)
Sundays: $16 / $13 (students/seniors)

For Group Sales, Program Ads, and Press contact:
Contact Jaime Kleiman at 612.747.1290, jaime@jaimekleiman.com

Ivan the Drunk is a tragicomic tale about a Russian WWI combat veteran who, at the moment of his death, travels back through twentieth century war-torn Russia in search of peace and absolution. Accompanying him on his journey is his ridiculous burden: a life-sized mannequin stuffed with the metaphoric wreckage of a cruel life. As the two drink and pratfall their way back through time, forgiveness eludes him until he finally breaks through a wall of defenses which reveals a window onto the heavens through which he might realize a final state of grace.

Ivan is performed with captivating movement and inventive sets for which Off-Leash Area's artistic team has earned numerous local accolades, including

Ivey Awards
Outstanding Production 2005
Outstanding Choreography 2006

City Pages'
Best Sets 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
Artists of the Year 2005 (for an entire season of original work)
Top Ten Productions 2002, 2000

Star Tribune
Celebratory Moments in Dance 2007

The play's cast includes many of the Twin Cities best movement performers, including Judith Howard, Karla Grotting, Kym Longhi, Jennifer Ilse, and Paul Herwig, and the interactive sets take their inspiration from Russian Orthodox gold leaf icons. Ivan the Drunk and His Terrible Tale of Woe is a timely production that entertains even as it plumbs the depths of its inviolable subject matter.

“While the show is presented as a fantastical fable, it is about a very real and relevant issue,” explains Herwig. “This show is about the choices people make during war, and about the confusion and conflict surrounding the meaning of patriotism. This is not a pro- or anti-war show, but rather a story about what a soldier endures and the price he pays for his devotion to his country, about how his trauma affects his own life and everyone around him, and the price a society pays for not attending to the consequences of that selfless duty.”

Ivan the Drunk and His Terrible Tale of Woe coincides with the 10th anniversary of Off-Leash Area, which has produced seventeen highly lauded original productions in the Twin Cities since 1999.

Cast
Paul Herwig as Ivan; Karla Grotting; Judith Howard; Jennifer Ilse; and Kym Longhi

Staff/Designers
Jennifer Ilse, Co-Director, Sears Eldredge Associate Director; Paul Herwig Set Designer; Ben Siems Composition and Sound Design, Max Sparber Text

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature, and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.