The Museum of Life and Death

February 16-19 2006
Show times 2/16, 2/17, and 2/18 at 8PM. 2/19 at 3PM.
Duderstadt Center, University of Michigan
http://www.dc.umich.edu/

Admission is FREE, but tickets are required as seating is limited. To reserve tickets in advance, send an email with your name, the date of the show, and the number of tickets you would like to tickets@theater-as-music.com. Tickets are also available at the door without reservation on a first come first served basis.

Andy Kirshner’s new multimedia music-theatre piece, The Museum of Life and Death, takes a long look backward at the mortal (and moral) predicament of 21st century humans – from the perspective of a Virtual God. Combining the “wow factor” of cutting-edge 3D animation and visual effects with the vitality of live theater and contemporary jazz, Kirshner has created a thought-provoking and deeply moving musical spectacle.

A radical reinterpretation of the familiar medieval morality play, Everyman, The Museum adapts a classic text about the “coming of Death” to the 26th century -- a time when advances in biotechnology and information science have made human suffering obsolete. In the ironic tradition of Aldous Huxley and Kurt Vonnegut, the Museum documents an illusory Brave New Future in order to explore essential questions of life, death, and our increasingly troubled human relationship to the rest of the biosphere.

The Museum will premiere at Milwaukee’s Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in February 2006, and stars performance artist Mark Anderson, as the synthespian Everyman. It features choreography by Milwaukee Dance Theatre founder Isabelle Kralj and a set by Rick Graham -- a futuristic Natural History museum made of solid steel, glittering chrome, and rays of projected light. Andy Kirshner wrote the text, composed the music, designed the animations, and directs the performance.

Andy Kirshner is Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design and School of Music, a music-theatre composer, writer, singer, and actor. Andy's website is www.theater-as-music.com

The Museum of Life and Death was developed with support from Artserve Michigan, The Institute for the Humanities, Kerrytown Concert House, Milwaukee Dance Theatre, and the Office for the Vice President of Research at the University of Michigan.

Performances made possible with the support of the Office for the Vice President of Research, the Rackham Graduate School, Artserve Michigan, the School of Music, The School of Art and Design, and the Duderstadt Center.

 

 

 


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Museum of Life and Death

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