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March 9, 2010
Lensic Presents TERRY ALLEN: Ghost Ship Rodez Starring Jo Harvey Allen, April 9 & 10, 8PM

The Lensic Performing Arts Center
In association with SITE Santa Fe
Presents

TERRY ALLEN: Ghost Ship Rodez
Starring Jo Harvey Allen

April 9 and 10, 8 p.m. at The Lensic

“Sunsets are beautiful because of all they make us lose”
- Antonin Artaud

Santa Fe, New Mexico – With every innovative work he creates, visual artist and songwriter Terry Allen tells a story. At The Lensic Performing Arts Center, Allen will stage his multimedia theater piece, Ghost Ship Rodez, a narrative investigation inspired by a horrific episode in the life of French theater visionary Antonin Artaud after a disastrous trip to Ireland in 1937. The Lensic, in association with SITE Santa Fe, is pleased to present Ghost Ship Rodez, starring Jo Harvey Allen, a multi-dimensional, multimedia exhibition and theater piece April 9 and 10 at The Lensic. The theater piece is complimented by an ongoing exhibition by Allen at SITE Santa Fe.

Artaud suffered from clinical depression and severe emotional illness and spent much of his life in and out of various mental institutions, one being Rodez. He was addicted to opiates, including heroin, which were prescribed to him to lessen the headaches caused by a severe case of meningitis as a child. Despite his illnesses, Artaud maintained a passion and curiosity for literature and culture.

He later became a poet, artist and actor who subsidized his radical theater ideas by appearing in numerous films, including Abel Gance’s 1927 masterpiece Napoleon and Carl Dryer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc. His theories for a “Theater of Cruelty,” an essay in his book, The Theater and Its Double, which advocated a revolutionary theater of total unsettling, pushing and shocking audiences to experience the world in new ways, have had major impact on contemporary artists such as Julian Beck and Judith Malina of The Living Theater, Peter Brook, Nancy Spiro, Patti Smith, Sam Shepard, and many others.

In 1937, Artaud traveled to Ireland to return what he believed to be the staff of St. George (and formerly of Jesus Christ) to the Irish people. In Ireland, delusional and in deep heroin withdrawal, Artaud had a violent altercation with Dublin police and was jailed and deported. Because of his rapidly deteriorating mental state, he was put in a straightjacket and chained to a cot in the dark hold of the freighter Washington for the 17-day journey back to France. What may have happened in Artuad’s mind during this voyage inspired Allen’s fictional investigation, Ghost Ship Rodez.

Artaud regarded all of the important women in his life as his “Daughters of the Heart to be Born.” Acclaimed actress, writer and performance artist, Jo Harvey Allen, plays ‘Daughter of the Heart,’ a clairvoyant chameleon and multi-narrator, whose shifting personas bring alive the stories from the Ghost Ship. The production features live music composed by Terry Allen and performed by Allen and his band.

The environments that form the core of Allen’s one man show as part of the exhibition, “One on One” at SITE Santa Fe (February 6, 2010 - May 9, 2010) developed out of ideas and sets for the theater piece Ghost Ship Rodez. The theater piece was first commissioned in 2005 by Les Subsistances International Creative Research Laboratory in Lyon, France and the Texas-French Alliance in Houston and further developed at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).

Ghost Ship Rodez continues Allen’s long interest as a visual artist, writer and musician in the cross-investigations of history, memory, fiction, and how stories are told. These concerns also informed Dugout (2000-2004), Allen’s critically acclaimed multi-venue exhibition/theatre project which explored the life of his parents and the stories of his West Texas childhood. Dugout was part of The Lensic’s presentation series, Under Construction, which showcases professional writers and actors in theater pieces under development.

Terry Allen’s works have been shown throughout the United States and internationally and are included in major private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Los Angles County Museum of Art. Terry Allen lives and works in Santa Fe, NM with his wife, actress and writer Jo Harvey Allen.

Terry Allen is a recipient of this year's United States Artists Fellowship, a distinction given to just fifty U.S. artists a year.

For more information on Terry Allen’s work go to: http://www.terryallenartmusic.com.

Event Details:
The Lensic Performing Arts Center, in association with SITE Santa Fe presents Terry Allen: Ghost Ship Rodez, April 9 and 10 at 8 p.m.

Ticket Info: $15-$35; Lensic members receive a 25% discount. Tickets are available through the Tickets Santa Fe box office located at The Lensic at 211 San Francisco Street in Santa Fe, open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m. The box office is open on Sundays from 12 p.m. until show time and is closed if there is no show. Tickets can be charged by phone by calling Tickets Santa Fe at The Lensic at 505.988.1234 or purchased online at www.TicketsSantaFe.org.

Press Information: Please contact Emily Crawford, Director of PR & Marketing, to arrange for interviews and photos at 505-988-7050 ext. 211.

About The Lensic Artistic Presentations
Since 2001, the nonprofit Lensic Performing Arts Center has presented and produced artistic performances in the renovated and historic Lensic Theater. The Lensic’s year-round programming is integral to fulfilling the organizational mission to present local, national and international artists in diversified, cross-cultural performances. Since its opening, The Lensic has increased its independent production and presentation schedule, which includes the Lensic Presents Series, a year-round effort to present diverse programming that showcases national talent.