RAT Fw: NIGHT VISION World Premiere Previews TONIGHT at HERE (New York)

["Mitchell Gossett" <bottomsdream@linkline.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Ruthie1976@aol.com>
To: <Newdram@aol.com>; <RM41@yawp.com>
Cc: <escript@mala.bc.ca>; <margraff@mail.utexas.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2000 8:21 PM
Subject: NIGHT VISION World Premiere Previews TONIGHT at HERE (New York)



* * * * PRESS RELEASE FROM HERE PERFORMANCE CENTER* * * * *

                        Press contact:  Sam Rudy 212-221-8466


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FRED HO and RUTH MARGRAFF's
NEW AFRO-ASIAN JAZZ VAMPYRE OPERA
NIGHT VISION
World-Premiere production at HERE Arts Center
Previews TONIGHT Jan. 26-Feb. 2; opening night Feb. 2 through Feb. 19, 2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NIGHT VISION:  A New Third to First World Vampyre Opera - conceived and
composed by Fred Ho with libretto and lyrics by Ruth Margraff - tracks the
perverse power of a 2000-year old female vampyre celebrity who is blowing
away the global pop music industry at the turn of the new millennium.  But
nobody knows she sings with two hearts caught in her throat!....First world
heart to get the boys insatiable for her recordings!....Third world heart
for
vengeance!

Inspired by Hong Kong action cinema, Iraqi desert songs, Crusader art and
Times Square erotica, NIGHT VISION tells the story of a 2000-year old
superstar, "Ajlinna id-Dibayih", who has been pursued since the Roman Empire
by a heartless ghoul named Sunkist Dysney David who turned her into a
vampyre
the day after she was born!

NIGHT VISION will be given its world-premiere production by the HERE Arts
Center (145 Ave. of the Americas, one block south of Spring St.) in Soho,
with preview performances beginning Jan. 26 prior to the official press
opening Feb. 2.
Tim Maner directs.

NIGHT VISION is the first collaboration between Mr. Ho, the well-known
Chinese-American composer whose JOURNEY BEYOND THE WEST: THE NEW ADVENTURES
OF MONKEY was featured in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 1997 Next Wave
Festival and Ms. Margraff, a founding member of HERE's Opera Project and
author of THE ELEKTRA FUGUES, THE CRY PITCH CARROLLS VINYL PRESSINGS and
LOCKET ARIAS.

NIGHT VISION is a bloodcurdling transfusion of Fred Ho's operatic jazz and
Ruth Margraff's neo-biblical libretti and was presented to much acclaim in
concert as part of the 1999 Inaugural CooperArts Festival at Cooper Union's
Great Hall at Astor Place in October.

   Featured in the cast of NIGHT VISION are Ron Brice, Daphne Gaines,
Kimberly Gambino, Peter McCabe, Greg Purnhagen, Kaipo Schwab, Asa Somers and
the Iraqi bedouin desert songs of Dr. Sa'di Al-Hadithi.  Lighting design is
by Andrew J. Hill; costume design is by Nancy Brous; live processing and
digital audio by Joshua Fried; dramaturgy by Celise Kalke; video by Mario
Mamacho and Eugene Nazarov.

Director Tim Maner is a co-founder of Tiny Mythic Theatre and the Obie
Award-winning HERE Arts Center, and has directed CRY PITCH CARROLLS, LIZZIE
BORDEN: A ROCK N' ROLL ROAD SHOW, FRANKENSTEIN: THE MODERN PROMETHEUS,
ELEKTRA  FUGUES and contemporary adaptations of three Nathaniel Hawthorne
novels.

Fred Ho is a Chinese-American baritone saxophonist, composer, writer,
activist and producer who leads the Afro Asian Music Ensemble and the Monkey
Orchestra and their 10 recordings available on Koch International.  In
addition to his martial arts ballet ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINESE AMERICA
which
premiered at the 1999 JVC Jazz Festival and was presented to sold-out crowds
at the Guggenheim Museum in December, he just released his double c.d. opera
WARRIOR SISTERS: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF AFRICAN AND ASIAN WOMYN WARRIORS.
With co-editor Ron Salosky, he received the American Book Award for the
anthology SOUNDING OFF MUSIC AS SUBVERSION/ RESISTANCE/ REVOLUTION.

In addition to HERE, other venues where Ms. Margraff's work has been
presented include the Public Theatre, Lincoln Center's Bang-on-a-Can
Festival, the Kitchen, NYTW, Mabou Mines, Mac Wellman Festival and Salvage
Vanguard (Austin), Undermain (Dallas) Red Eye (Mpls), Bottoms Dream (LA),
etc. She has been the recipent of numerous awards including a Jerome
Fellowship, a McKnight Advancement grant and commissions from the
Rockefeller
Foundation, NYSCA Individual Artists and the NEA/TCG.  An excerpt from CRY
PITCH CARROLLS - which she wrote with composer Matthew Pierce - was
performed
as part of the 1999 Village Voice Obie Awards ceremony.

Since opening in 1993, the HERE Arts Center has been home to some of New
York's most daring and unique theatre, art, music and dance in its three
theatres, two art galleries and café. Previous work presented by HERE
include
Eve Ensler's VAGINA MONOLOGUES, Basil Twist's underwater sensation SYMPHONIE
FANTASTIQUE, Camryn Manheim's WAKE UP, I'M FAT, and original musical and
dance works created and directed by HERE directors Tim Maner and Kristin
Marting.

This production of NIGHT VISION is made possible with support from Big Red
Media, Inc. and with funding from: the Jerome Foundation, the Rockefeller
Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council
on the Arts.

The book of NIGHT VISION and double compact disc set recording will be
released during the HERE premiere as published by Autonomedia and Big Red
Media and recorded at Avatar Studios and may be ordred on-line at
info@autonom
edia.org or bigredmedia@hotmail.com

Scheduled through Feb. 19,  NIGHT VISION will perform Wednesdays through
Sundays at 9:00 p.m. with an added performance Feb. 15 at
9:00 p.m.  Tickets are $12 during previews and $15 starting Feb. 3.  and can
be reserved by calling the HERE box office at 212-647-0202, or by visiting
HERE's website: www.here.org.