Rachel Rosenthal is an interdisciplinary artist who developed a revolutionary performance technique that integrates text, movement, voice, choreography, improvisation and inventive costuming into an unforgettable ‘total theater’ experience. In the last 25 years of her performance career, she has presented over 35 full-scale pieces nationally and internationally. Critics have deemed her "a monument and a marvel."
After a lifetime of awards for her work in the theater all over the globe, she now heads an ensemble with a hand-picked group of artists who act, compose music, design sets, make costumes and do everything else in order to put their projects on the stage. Their latest is Instant Fairy Tales: The Longest Winter, and they have used their multi-level disciplines to produce a first-class play for children, with marvelous and creative costumes, masks, dance and shadow-puppet theater (Doug Hammett). Like the best of children’s theater this is a treat for adults too.
The fairy tale centers on a caged bird (Outi Harmi) that brings spring and summer, but when the bird escapes, the country is clothed in snow and ice. Adventures follow when the king (Craig Ng) sets out to capture the bird and bring back the good weather.
Working in a tiny space (seating not more than 35) and without a stage, the troupe manage to conjure up an innovative and magical world. The excellent original music was composed by Amy Knoles.
