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RAT Resa Seattle performances

Hey, Seattle Rats, 

This lurker wanted to let you know about the upcoming
performances of one of LA's most curious and infamous
productions.

Best wishes too to all the artists at the Seattle
Fringe.  We're looking forward to trekking north.

Catherine Fletcher
The Ghost Road Company




PRESS RELEASE

Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk to play Seattle Fringe
Controversial production flees Los Angeles!

LOS ANGELES, FEBRUARY 15, 2001: Two Los Angeles
theater companies, Burglars of Hamm and The Ghost Road
Company, will bring their critically acclaimed
controversial world-premiere production of Resa
Fantastiskt Mystisk to the 2001 Seattle Fringe
Festival.  

Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk is a recently unearthed
masterwork by 19th century Swedish
playwright/provocateur Lars Mattsun.  Mattsun, a
contemporary of somewhat better-known Swedish
dramatist August Strindberg, was until this recent
discovery perhaps best known for his meditative
reflection on gardening, Day of Trees. Lars Mattsun's
handwritten manuscript of Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk was
procured by translator/director Todd Merrill in 1998. 
"Upon hearing that Mattsun's last living descendant,
Annika Mattsun-Fjornjord, was on her deathbed, I flew
to Sweden to sit at her side.  She had been drifting
in and out of consciousness one evening, when she
suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, turned to me and
shrieked, "Is that you, Long John Silver?  Go ye
scallawag and take what ye came for from the attic!"
Taking it as a sign from above, and being pelted with
whatever the dear hallucinating Ms. Fjornjord could
get her hands on, I hastily retreated to the
aforementioned attic to see what I could find. Pirates
plunder indeed!  I emerged two days later, covered
with soot but with the precious manuscript in hand.
Ironically, it was only after I arrived back in the
states that I learned Ms. Fjornjord had passed during
my visit." 

Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk follows the journey of
Philip, a tortured artist who must choose between his
passion and his duty.  His exploration takes him on a
supernatural journey, plunging him deeper and deeper
into a netherworld of sexuality and madness. 

This world-premiere production of Resa Fantastiskt
Mystisk received a Production of the Year nomination
from LA Weekly ("…clever, erudite, and often
laugh-out-loud funny."), two BackStage West  Garland
Awards ("Lars Mattsun has finally had his day in the
sun…(Resa) may change the face of theatre as we know
it…an earth-shattering theatrical epiphany."), and was
a Best Bet! in the Los Angeles Times ("Don't miss this
opportunity to see the glory that is Mattsun.".) 

Unfortunately, despite the acclaim, controversy has
dogged this production since its inception.  The
Mattsun Society, an organization founded in 1974 to
"Put Lars Mattsun on Every Stage in America!" was
shocked by Merrill’s groundbreaking and overtly sexual
interpretation, and subsequently organized a boycott. 
Boycott notwithstanding, the production recently
completed a successful return engagement at Los
Angeles’ Actors Gang Theatre.  "I have proven that my
production can withstand the shouts of intellectual
pygmies who didn’t understand my interpretation," says
Merrill, "Still, my victory seems empty without the
camaraderie of the Mattsun Mafia, as we used to call
ourselves.  So now I bring my heavy heart to you. 
Hoping that Seattle, with its large Scandinavian
community, will embrace me.  Being able to warm myself
at your hearth is going to be a Space Needle sized
treat!"

The original cast, which will be performing in
Seattle, is Carolyn Almos, Jon Beauregard, Katharine
Noon, Victor Ortado, Laura Otis, Selina Smith &
Michael Taylor.  Several of the cast members are
Washington natives -- Ortado from Wenatchee, Noon from
Grandview and a graduate of UPS and Almos from
Ellensburg and a graduate of Whitman College. 

About Burglars of Hamm
Burglars of Hamm, a Los Angeles theater company,
formed in 1997, is Carolyn Almos, Matt Almos, Jon
Beauregard, Todd Merrill, Victor Ortado and Selina
Smith.  The Burglars previous productions include Flee
Circus (1998), which KCLA  called, "Irresistible!" 
and Hot City (2000) which BackStage West  called,
"Hilarious…a guilty pleasure."  The Burglars create
all their shows through collaboration and attempt
above all to entertain.

About The Ghost Road Company
The Ghost Road Company, founded in 1993, is headed by
Artistic Director Katharine Noon.  The company, which
produces world-premieres and adaptations of classics,
is perhaps best known for its irreverent adaptation of
Sophocles' Elecktra, entitled Elektra La La.  In
addition to a successful LA run, Elektra La La was
"Best At The Fringe" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Ghost Road's most recent Los
Angeles production was the critically acclaimed
world-premiere of Cody Henderson's Carrots for Hare.

Following this run at the Seattle Fringe, Resa
Fantastiskt Mystisk  will travel to Scotland to
perform at the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

RESA FANTASTISKT MYSTISK
Presented by The Ghost Road Company & Burglars of Hamm
Performing as part of the Seattle Fringe Festival at
The Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Avenue (between Pine and Denny)
Tickets: $12
Central Box Office: 206-322-2018
Running Time: 80 minutes with no intermission
Performance schedule:
Saturday, March 10th @ 10:25 p.m. 
Sunday, March 11th @ 8:25 p.m.
Monday, March 12th @ 6 p.m.
Tuesday, March 13th @ 9:45 p.m.
Thursday, March 15th @ 7:45 p.m.
Saturday, March 17th @ Noon
www.burglarsofhamm.com


 

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