NYU Skirball’s 2018-19 season will open at midnight on September 8, 2018 with two New York premieres from Forced Entertainment, one of the U.K.’s most exciting experimental theater companies: And on the Thousandth Night…an overnight fairytale of epic proportions. It will be followed by Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare, a six-night retelling of the entire Shakespearean canon – with everyday household objects standing in for the heroes and heroines, running from September 11 – September 16.

AND ON THE THOUSANDTH NIGHT …

Saturday, September 8, midnight – 6 am

This may be the longest all-night bedtime story ever told. Inspired by the classic story, “One Thousand and One Nights,” Tales of the Arabian Nights, the storytelling begins at midnight and continues until dawn, with never-ending tales that explore the relationship between a story, its storyteller, and its audience.

A story is told, made up live, dragged from memory by a line of performers who compete, interrupting, exaggerating, taking over each other’s narratives and incorporating stolen bits into their own tales. It is a long, mutating and endlessly self-cancelling story. It’s a story that shifts register and genre – from folk tale to parable, from pub anecdote to half-remembered film plot, from raucous joke to ghost story, kids story or philosophical fable. Video Clip: And on the Thousandth Night

Audiences are free to come and go over the course of the six-hour performance.

About the Company

Forced Entertainment, based in Sheffield, U.K., was founded in 1984 by six theater artists who have sustained a unique collaborative practice for more than thirty years, confirming their position as trailblazers in contemporary theater. Touring and presenting their ground-breaking provocative performances across the UK, mainland Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and further afield, the group produces work that explores and often explodes the conventions of genre, narrative and theater itself, drawing influence not just from drama but from dance, performance art, music culture and popular forms such as cabaret and stand-up.

The company’s substantial canon of work reflects an interest in the mechanics of performance, the role of the audience and the machinations of contemporary urban life. Its trademark collaborative process – devising work as a group through improvisation, experimentation and debate – has made them pioneers of British avant-garde theater and earned them an unparalleled international reputation. www.forcedentertainment.com/

TICKETS

And on the Thousandth Night…: Saturday, September 8 at midnight. Tickets are $15.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.nyuskirball.org, by phone at 212.998.4941, or in person at the Box Office, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square: Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00–6:00 P.M. NYU Skirball is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square, New York, New York 10012. www.nyuskirball.org

About NYU Skirball

NYU Skirball, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, is one of New York City’s major presenters of international work, and has been the premier venue for cultural and performing arts events in lower Manhattan since 2003. The 800-seat theater, led by Director Jay Wegman, provides a home for internationally renowned artists, innovators and thinkers. NYU Skirball hosts over 300 events annually, from re-inventions of the classics to cutting-edge premieres, in genres ranging from dance, theater and performance arts to comedy, music and film.

NYU Skirball’s unique partnership with New York University enables it to draw on the University’s intellectual riches and resources to enhance its programming with dialogues, public forums and conversations with artists, philosophers, scientists, Nobel Laureates and journalists.

Jay Wegman is the Director of NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Prior to Skirball, he served as Director of the Abrons Art Center for ten years. During his tenure, Abrons was awarded various honors, including a 2014 OBIE Award for Innovative Excellence and a 2015 Bessie Award for Best Production. He was also a Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and for over a decade served as the first Canon for Liturgy and the Arts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He is the recipient of the 2015 FRANKY award for “making a long-term, extraordinary impact on contemporary theatre and performance in New York City.” While not a performer, he has appeared in Brian Roger’s film “Screamers” (2018), Sibyl Kempson’s “12 Shouts to the Ten Forgotten Heavens” (2017), and “Romper Room” (1969). Jay is a graduate of Yale University. www.nyuskirball.org.

Subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, M to West 4th St.; R & W to 8th Street; 6 to Astor Place.
Programs, artists and ticket prices are subject to change.

Video: Credit – Hugo Glendinning
Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare