Red Turnip Theater opens new season with musical play "33 Variations"

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Red Turnip Theater is back for another season! Their splashy debut season gave us the much talked about hits CLOSER and COCK, which was followed up with the critically-acclaimed sophomore season of RABBIT HOLE and last February’s TIME STANDS STILL.

All four productions have gone on to reap multiple awards and nominations from the Aliw and BroadwayWorld Philippine Awards, with COCK topping critics’ lists as the Best Play of 2014. True to form, this band of 5 actors (Ana Abad Santos, Topper Fabregas, Jenny Jamora, Cris Villonco, Rem Zamora) promises to push the envelope further as they show another facet to Red Turnip this year.

Opening the Third Season is 33 VARIATIONS by Moisés Kaufman. 

33 VARIATIONS tells the story of a renowned musicologist, Katherine Brandt, who is on a mission to discover why Beethoven composed the Diabelli variations, considered as one of his greatest masterpieces. Her daughter, Clara, is on a mission to find her place in her mother's world. Together, they maneuver through Beethoven's colorful life, their own challenging relationship, and somehow find their answers within his music. Shifting between periods and places, 33 VARIATIONS is the story of mothers and daughters and the legacies we long to leave behind.

33 VARIATIONS made its Broadway premiere in 2009, famously marking Jane Fonda’s return to the theater after a 46-year absence in the role of Katherine. It went on to garner several Tony Award nominations, including Best Play and Best Actress for Fonda. It had previously won the Edgerton New American Play Award in 2007 and the Steinberg American Theatre Critics Association Best New Play Award in 2008. 

Leading the Manila cast are theater icons Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino and Teroy Guzman. Fresh off her heralded turns in Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Juego de Peligro” and the CinemaOne Original indie “Lorna”, Shamaine steps into the role of Katherine. This is sure to add to her list of memorable performances that already include Queen Elizabeth (“Mary Stuart”), Elizabeth Proctor (“The Crucible”), Masha (“Three Sisters”) and Jocasta (“Oedipus Rex”) just to name a few. 

Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino

Teroy Guzman plays Ludwig Van Beethoven. He is most recently known for his King Lear in the PETA adaptation “Haring Lear”, Tiyoy Berning in Tanghalang Ateneo’s “Rite of Passage” and the title role in Anton Juan’s “Screen: Macbeth”. Notorious for shying away from the spotlight, Red Turnip is glad to give Guzman center stage in his return to the contemporary drama.

Teroy Guzman

Theater stalwarts Paolo O’ Hara, Rem Zamora and Roselyn Perez make up the supporting cast. O’Hara (“Hedda Gabler”, “Titus Andronicus”, “Tatlong Mariya”) and Zamora (“The 39 Steps”, “Skin Deep”, “Glorious”), complete the Beethoven flashback scenes as Anton Diabelli and Anton Schindler respectively. Perez (“Equus”, “Frozen”, “The Normal Heart”) is Gertrude Ladenburger, Katherine’s stern and loyal confidante.

Paolo O’ Hara

Rem Zamora

Roselyn Perez

Rounding out the cast are fresh faces Ina Fabregas and Franco Chan. Fabregas is Clara, Katherine’s estranged daughter who slowly starts to fall in love with her mother’s male nurse, Mike Clark, played by Chan.

Ina Fabregas 

Franco Chan

33 VARIATIONS also marks Red Turnip’s first show to incorporate live music: critical moments in the play are underscored by the Diabelli Variations themselves, played live and on stage by Ejay Yatco (“Sa Wakas”, “Dani Girl”, “The Boy in the Bathroom”).

Ejay Yatco

Although he is mostly known as a composer and musical director, the 24 year-old has also competed at the 2013 World Championship of Performing Arts under the Classical Piano category, where he made it to the final 3 instrumentalists of the world and took home one gold and three silver medals. Yatco will be playing the Variations on a baby grand piano, provided by LYRIC.

Jenny Jamora makes her directorial debut.

Jenny Jamora

“We had decided on this show almost two years ago, we knew it was what we had wanted to open the Third Season with. This play has been simmering in my head since then. ’33 Variations’ is such an elegant, intricate piece of work and I am excited by the challenge of bringing it to life. I’ve also surrounded myself with a powerhouse cast and a young, energetic production team. I cannot wait for everyone to see what they’ve all brought to the table. It’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen from Red Turnip so far.”

33 VARIATIONS opens July 24 and runs weekends until August 23 at Whitespace, Makati.

Tickets are available through TicketWorld (891-9999 or www.ticketworld.com.ph) or Red Turnip Theater (redturniptheater@gmail.com or https://www.facebook.com/RedTurnipTheater)

Lighting Design / Technical Direction: John Batalla

Set Design: Ed Lacson, Jr.

Costume Design: Raven Ong

Sound Design: Teresa Barrozo

Choreography: PJ Rebullida

Dramaturgy: Mahar Mangahas

33 VARIATIONS is presented in cooperation with Whitespace, Lyric, FILA, and PLDT.

‬

"COCK"

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WEEKEND THEATER TREATS 2014: " COCK " 

COCK is a comedy… with bite. No props, scenery or furniture. Just actors, sharp dialogue and some clever staging. All essential. Absolutely Red Turnip. 

Direction by Rem Zamora, technical direction and lighting design by John Batalla, set design by Denis Lagdameo and sound design by Jethro Joaquin.

What happens when a young gay man falls in love with a woman?

That’s the central conceit behind Red Turnip Theater’s second offering, COCK by Mike Bartlett. A sold-out hit when it first premiered in London in 2009 and subsequently during its off-Broadway run a year later, COCK revolves around a gay couple whose rocky relationship derails when one of them sleeps (and falls in love) with a woman. Debates over one’s sexual identity explode when all three decide to sit down and “duke it out” over dinner. Hilarity ensues when another unexpected guest turns up and loyalties are put to the test. As one character puts it, “It’s the ultimate bitch fight”.

The New York Times calls COCK “a terrific, tense little comedy” while The Huffington Post hails it as “a terrific contemporary play that puts much of other theatre to shame”. This critical darling is the perfect bookend to Red Turnip’s maiden season. 

Fresh off the success of their critically-acclaimed CLOSER last October at Whitespace, Red Turnip promises another unique, in your face theatrical experience with COCK. The vision of five established actors (Ana Abad Santos, Topper Fabregas, Jenny Jamora, Cris Villonco and Rem Zamora), Red Turnip aims to engage theatergoers with the sort of material that seems to be in short supply in the country—the straight play. 

Rem Zamora makes his directorial debut with COCK.“We’re excited to be back in Whitespace. A lot of people who came to CLOSER said they enjoyed the intimacy of the experience and the space. That was in Hall B. We’re going even more intimate this time in the smaller Hall A. COCK also plays in the round so it feels like you’re watching a fight in an arena—no frills: just words and pure conflict in the ring, and an intense involvement in the audience.”

Zamora has assembled a tight cast of theatrical heavyweights for COCK’s Manila premier: Topper Fabregas (Boeing Boeing, The Producers), Niccolo Manahan (Next Fall, Doubt), Jenny Jamora (Mind’s Eye, A Little Night Music), Audie Gemora (Sweeney Todd, Les Miserables)

Fabregas is John, a young man caught between his gay lover and his growing attraction to another woman- W, played by Jamora. 

Niccolo Manahan makes a theatrical comeback as M, John’s lover who isn’t about to let him go without a fight. “I feel ‘Cock’ will be a great experiment for me; an experiment in balancing my life with the things I enjoy doing, and an experiment in pushing my range. I don’t know where this experiment will lead but its an incredible opportunity that I’m thankful for.” 

Rounding off this impressive cast is theatre stalwart Audie Gemora as F, M’s well-meaning father whose sudden appearance at dinner throws everyone for a loop. “The birth of a theater group is always exciting and eventful with fresh artistic vision and passion. I am thrilled to be part of Red Turnips 2nd offering, ‘Cock’. This is Rem Zamora's directorial debut and my first time to be acting opposite brilliant young actors Niccolo Manahan and Jenny Jamora, while Topper Fabregas takes on his most complex character yet. Together we jump into a crackling cock fight of personalities, emotions and words.”

Cock is generously supported by FILA, Whitespace, Gung Ho Films Manila, Bose, National Book Store, Powerbooks, When In Manila, and Radio Republic. BusinessWorld, and HerWord.com. The food-and-drinks concession is provided by Speakeasy. Tickets to the Feb. 28 opening gala sponsored by FILA are available through Red Turnip Theater only.

Cock will be staged at Whitespace —
2314 Chino Roces Ave. Extension (formerly Pasong Tamo Extension), Makati —
March 7, 14, 21, 28 and April 4 (Friday, 9 p.m.); 
March 8, 15, 29 and April 5 (Saturday, 8 p.m.); 
April 5, Saturday at 4 p.m.; 
March 9, 16, 23 and April 6 (Sunday, 4 p.m.) 
and special closing gala on April 6, Sunday, 8 p.m.

Tickets are available through TicketWorld (891-9999 orwww.ticketworld.com.ph)

Or Red Turnip Theater (redturniptheater@gmail.com or 

https://www.facebook.com/RedTurnipTheater)

The Whitespace Market is back!

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The Whitespace Market is back! Come for regionally grown fruits and vegetables, artisanal cheeses, wines, coffee beans, natural health and beauty products, and handmade crafts.  Enjoy a hearty sampling of international fare by Margarita Fores' The Commissary and an exhibition of works at the adjacent Manila Contemporary Gallery.  Everyone is encouraged to bring reusable bags.  Time                  25 September, 2011   · 12:00 - 18:00 Location 2314 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati SEE YOU THERE!!!!