Arlington’s movement-based Synetic Theater, firmly rooted in their South Bell Street digs, will be conjuring up playing surfaces on the Moon, on Prospero’s wind-tossed island, in the forests of Athens, the palaces and drinking halls of Europe, and on the streets of modern-day America in next year’s 5-play season, the company announced yesterday.
Synetic will also mark out new territory artistically, using a non-company member – Natsu Onoda Power, the playwright for Studio’s Astro Boy and the God of Comics – to direct A Trip to the Moon, which will run from December 6 until January 6, 2013. The plot, derived from a 1902 silent movie by Georges Méliès, involves six astronauts in a capsule who are catapulted by a cannon to the Earth’s satellite, where the meet a Moon Goddess and the insectoid Selenites. (Fans of the 3-D movie “Hugo” will remember Méliès as the character played by Ben Kingsley.)
The 2012-2013 season will begin for Synetic with an update of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The company says that it will be transmuting the story from Victorian London to contemporary America. The production will run from September 20 to October 21 of this year.
Synetic will perform two more productions in its “Silent Shakespeare” series. It will open The Tempest, its ninth such production, on February 24, 2013 and run it until March 24. The company promises “stunning set design complete with a water extravaganza, larger-than-life visuals, acrobatics and the remarkably visceral experience Synetic is known for.” The company will also reprise its Helen Hayes Award-winning production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream between July 24 and August 4 of next year.
Finally, Synetic will produce its version of The Three Musketeers next spring. This one will feature plenty of swordplay, crafted by fight choreographer Ben Cunis. The Three Musketeers will run from May 9 to June 9, 2013.
All shows will run from Wednesdays to Sundays at the company’s Bell Street location, and except for A Trip to the Moon will be directed by Artistic Director Paata Tsikurishvili and choreographed by multiple Helen-Hayes winner Irini Tsikurishvili.
Tickets to the 2012-2013 Synetic season are not on sale at this time.
