Peak Performances @ Montclair’s 2010/2011 season presents a revival of a classic avant-garde production that challenged audiences worldwide; and two world premieres, one that transforms Greek mythology and the second, a production that requires two spaces separated by more than 60 miles but viewed simultaneously. Welcome to the off-the-map imagination of Peak Performances@ Montclair 2010/2011.

JET LAG
September 23-26 & September 30-October 3
The Builders Association will present the revival of its 1999-2000 Obie-winning “JET LAG,” a 1998 collaboration between the Builders and the award-winning architecture team Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Based on two real-life stories in which technology made the impossible, possible, “JET LAG” uses the time-defying magic of multimedia to explore the uses and abuses of technology. The first story tells of an English sailor who tricked the world into believing that he sailed round the globe, and the second of a grandmother who died of jet lag by taking daily flights back and forth from New York to Amsterdam over the course of six months to prevent her grandson’s capture by his father. While originally seen in New York during a limited engagement at The Kitchen in 2000, the show has been performed in 13 cities across the globe. The revival was commissioned by Peak Performances.

PROMETHEUS-LANDSCAPE II
January 20–23 & 27-30
Belgian visual artist, theater director and choreographer Jan Fabre takes on the myth of Prometheus in the world premiere of “Prometheus- Landscape II,” a Peak commissioned work. While the work is based on Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy of Prometheus, the god who stole fire from Zeus to give to mortals, under Fabre’s direction the titan becomes the symbol of the artist, who ignores traditional law and works from his own inspired conviction. “Prometheus” will be performed by Fabre’s Antwerp-based company Troubleyn, which also contributed to the creation of the work.

PASSPORT
April 16 & 17
The world premiere of Robert Whitman’s “Passport,” also a Peak commission, will take place in two locations simultaneously—on the Montclair State University campus in Montclair, NJ and on the banks of the Hudson River near the Dia Art Foundation’s Dia: Beacon Art Center in Beacon, NY—with each calling upon the other to add meaning and resonance. It is an example of how Whitman, one of the fathers of technology in the arts, re-imagines our ability to be in two places at the same time—with Bell Labs’ fiber optic network serving as our passport. Fasten your virtual seat belts!

Performance Schedule:

“JET LAG,” The Builders Association
Sept. 23, 24, 30 & Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 25 & Oct. 2 at 8 p.m.
Sept. 26 & Oct. 3 at 3 p.m.

“Prometheus-Landscape II,” Troublelyn | Jan Fabre
Jan. 20, 21, 27 & 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 22 & 29 at 8 p.m.
Jan. 23 & 30 at 3 p.m.

“Passport,” Robert Whitman
Apr. 16 & 17 at 8 p.m.

Tickets are only $15 and may be purchased at the Alexander Kasser Theater box office, by phone at 973-655-5112, or on the Web at www.peakperfs.org. There is no charge for Montclair State University undergraduate students with Valid ID. Please arrive at least 30 minutes before curtain to claim your PAF ticket.

Peak Performances acknowledges the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Discover Jersey Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, The Jim Henson Foundation, Meet The Composer, Chamber Music America, The Honorable Mary Mochary and Alison and James T. Cirenza.

Released: July 27, 2010