OSLO ELSEWHERE, THE UNBOUND THEATRE and SPRING THEATREWORKS

will present the U.S. premiere of Norwegian playwright

JON FOSSE’S

“NIGHT SINGS ITS SONGS”

DIRECTED AND TRANSLATED BY SARAH CAMERON SUNDE

PRODUCTION WILL MARK THIS PREEMINENT EUROPEAN PLAYWRIGHT’S U.S.A. DEBUT

PERFORMANCES BEGIN JUNE 5 at 45 BLEECKER THEATER

Oslo Elsewhere, The Unbound Theatre and Spring Theatreworks will present the U.S. debut of Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse (pronounced Yoon Foss-a) and the U.S.A. premiere of his contemporary drama “NIGHT SINGS ITS SONGS.”  The production, directed and translated by Sarah Cameron Sunde, will be presented downtown in NoHo at the 45 Bleecker Theater: 45 Below (at Lafayette) with performances beginning on Saturday, June 5 and the official opening night set for Monday, June 7 at 8:00 pm.

“NIGHT SINGS ITS SONGS” is a modern day urban tragedy that touches on universal human behavior.  A blocked, unpublished writer and an ambitious young woman have been together since high school.  The pressures of a new baby, his lack of success, and their lack of family support, have pushed them to the extreme.  “NIGHT SINGS ITS SONGS,” tells the story of one monumental night, when they face each other head-on, as they desperately reexamine their relationship and attempt to resolve their problems.

        Jon Fosse is a playwright, author and lyric poet, internationally considered to be an heir to Beckett and Pinter.  He was born in 1959 on the west coast of Norway, now resides in Bergen, and is one of the world’s most provocative, celebrated, and produced playwrights coming out of Europe today.  He is the author of some thirty books and twenty plays that have been translated into over 35 languages.  His novels include Red, Black, Closed Guitar, The Boathouse, T. Bottle collector, and Melancholia I-II, and his volumes of poetry, include Angel with Water in its Eyes and Dog and Angel.  Since 1993, Fosse has focused primarily on playwriting.  His rise to international recognition as a playwright was rapid after Claude Régy (Pinter’s primary French director) came out of retirement to direct Fosse’s play Someone is Going to Come at which point Le Monde dubbed him “The Beckett of the 21st Century.”   His other plays include And We’ll Never Be Parted, Someone is Going to Come, The Guitar Man, Dream of Autumn, and Death Variations; they have been produced on the major stages of every country in Europe, as well as around the world in countries as far-reaching as Japan, Australia, and Chile.  Norwegian National Television (NRK) calls Fosse “Norway’s biggest cultural export since Ibsen.”  He is the recipient of numerous international awards and honors.  He was named Best Foreign Playwright by Theater Heute (the leading theatrical magazine for German speaking countries); crowned a Chevalier by the French government; and most recently, he became the youngest person ever to win Norway’s highest cultural honor, the Norsk Kulterråd Ærespris (Norwegian Culture Honorary Prize).

 Sarah Cameron Sunde is the Artistic Associate/Managing Director of New Georges, the OBIE-winning theater company now in its 12th season.  In 1997, she co-founded Spindrift Theatre Makers in southwest England, where she created and directed a variety of work, including Sleep With Us, which won critical acclaim at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  In New York, she has directed new work by playwrights such as Carson Kreitzer, Steven Gridley, Kerry McGuire, Christy Hutchcraft, Alexandra Tolk and Christopher Dunkley for New Georges, HERE Arts Center, The Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source, Spring Theatreworks, Altered Stages, and The John Houseman Studio Theatre.  She is a member of The Lincoln Center Directors Lab and The Women’s Project Directors Forum.  In preparation for this production, director/translator Sunde has spent extensive time in conversation with Mr. Fosse.  She traveled to Oslo in January 2004 for a reading of her translation under the auspices of the playwright.  The reading featured some of Norway’s most prominent actors, and was covered extensively in the Norwegian press.

Louis Cancelmi and Anna Guttormsgaard will head the five-member cast.  Cancelmi was most recently seen in the West End production of Vincent in Brixton and has appeared as a guest star on NBC-TV’s “Third Watch.”  Guttormsgaard is a well-known actress in Norway having worked with Stein Winge and many other leading Scandinavian directors.  Rounding out the cast are Diane Ciesla, Peter Davies and George Hannah.  The set design will be by Lauren Helpern (represented earlier this season by Bug and Three Seconds in the Key); the costume design by Maline Casta, and the lighting design by Roma Flowers.  Christopher Tin will compose music for the production.  The production dramaturg is Marie-Louise Miller.

Oslo Elsewhere is a theatrical producing entity dedicated to translating the best of today’s Norwegian theatre into the American idiom, and vice versa.  The Unbound Theatre, now in its 2nd season, is an ensemble-based company.  Their most recent production was a revival of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milkwood directed by Moni Yakim.  Spring Theatreworks (Jeffrey Horne, Artistic Director/www.springtheatreworks.com) now in its 4th season is focused on challenging the limits of modern theater through productions of new work and established modern texts.  This production is also sponsored, in part, by The Royal Norwegian Consulate General.

         The complete performance schedule for “NIGHT SINGS ITS SONGS” (June 5 through 26) will be:  Thursdays through Mondays at 8:00 pm with the Opening Night performance set for Monday, June 7 at 8 pm.  There will be one additional performance on Sunday, June 6 at 3:00 p.m (and there will be no evening performance on Sunday, June 6).  All tickets will be $15.00.  TDF vouchers will be accepted.  Special events, also at 45 Bleecker, will include a translation symposium on June 15 at 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. (curated by Marie-Louise Miller and Paul Walsh, dramaturge at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco) and a reading of the play in Norwegian on June 22 at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets for the play and special events can be purchased at 212-352-0255 or www.theatermania.com.