Saunders is the founding artistic director of Wilderness, which creates immersive, experiential, and interdisciplinary theatrical events, and Wolff is the co-founder of Tilted Field Productions, which is a theatrical lab for telling stories in bold new ways. Together they are known for creating intimate physical theater performances.
The Antigone Project imagines unspoken parts of the iconic Antigone story and examines the unique qualities of the sibling bond. Antigone is the daughter/sister of Oedipus and his mother, Jocasta. After her father Oedipus is exiled from the kingdom of Thebes, her brothers Eteocles and Polynices agree to share the kingdom jointly by alternating rule each year. However, Eteocles decides not to give up his power when his tenure expires, forcing Polynices to gather an army and attack the city of Thebes in a battle that kills both brothers. King Creon (Jocasta’s brother), who ascends to the throne of Thebes after the death of the brothers, decrees that Polynices is not to be buried or even mourned since he had attacked the city. In the story by Sophocles, Antigone defies orders given by her uncle King Creon and secures a respectable burial for her brother Polynices, but is caught. King Creon locks her away in a tomb, where she hangs herself.
The new work provides an intimate and human exploration of the heroine Antigone and the brother she buries. Inspired by current events, the Wild West, Ancient Greece, and the artists’ own childhood living rooms; The Antigone Project takes a fresh and personal look at the legacy of Oedipus, offering insight into how the themes in the Antigone story are alive in our culture both privately and publicly today.
Performances will take place in the Villa Auditorium on Friday, February 19, at 8:00pm, Saturday, February 20, at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sunday, February 21, at 3:00pm. An advanced ticket is required. Tickets are $7 and can be reserved by calling 310–440–7300.
Annie Saunders, Wilderness (Co-Creator, Performer) is an experimental theater-maker, performer, and founding artistic director of Wilderness, which presented its site-responsive, immersive, physical-theater performance The Day Shall Declare It in a disused warehouse in the downtown Los Angeles Arts District with Los Angeles Performance Practice and in London with Theatre Delicatessen in the former BBC Studios and the Bush Theatre. The company also presented Leaves of Grass, a work-in-progress about the look-alike phenomenon in couples, in the REDCAT Studio Series and is currently developing that project to tour. Wilderness also offers workshops and masterclasses in devising with text and movement and has recently taught these classes in Moscow, London, and Los Angeles. In addition to her work with Wilderness, Saunders is a core collaborator and performer with Lars Jan’s Early Morning Opera, for which she has appeared in Holoscenes, The Institute of Memory (TIMe), and Abacus, and has devised and performed original work in the UK with Neil Bettles (Frantic Assembly, Thickskin) and Gemma Fairlie (RSC). She holds a BA and MA in literature and cultural studies from the University of London, and has trained at the Sanford Meisner Center for the Arts, the American Conservatory Theater, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Becca Wolff, Tilted Field (Co-Creator, Director) is a cross-media director committed to developing new forms and attracting new audiences to the theater. She is co-founder of Tilted Field Productions, named “Best Avant-Garde Rock Musical Theater Company” by the LA Weekly in 2013. Work with Tilted Field includes The Last Days of Mary Stuart, an electro-opera Wolff wrote with members of the band TONY and the world premiere of Alex Knox’s one-man show No Static At All, which was named Best Solo Performance at the 2014 New York International and 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festivals. Other work includes the world premiere of Lauren Yee’s Hookman (Z Space/Encore), nominated for Theatre Bay Area’s 2015 award for Best Production of a Play. Recent premieres include Sarah Gubbins’s The Kid Thing (New Conservatory Theater), Rocked by Women (Sarah Bush Dance Project) and Dan LeFranc’s Sixty Miles to Silverlake (IAMA Theater Company). She has worked at The Public Theater (NYC), Trinity Repertory Theatre (RI), Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and Yale Repertory Theatre, among others. Wolff is on faculty at Berkeley City College and Pixar University. She is a graduate of The New School in New York and holds an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama.
Cast & Crew
- Becca Wolff—Co-Creator, Director
- Annie Saunders—Co-Creator, Performer
- Max Hersey—Performer
- John Zalewski—Sound Designer (Ovation Award Winner, The Day Shall Declare It)
- Melissa Trn—Costume Designer (Yale)
- Chu-Hsuan Chang—Lighting Designer (CalArts, recently The Institute of Memory at REDCAT and Under the Radar at the Public Theater, New York)
- Nina Caussa—Scenic Designer (CalArts, recently The Day Shall Declare It)
- Ash Nichols—Production Manager (Cornerstone Theater Co core member, recently Hopscotch)
- Christian Cagigal—Magic/Illusion Consultant (S.F., Theatre Bay Area Award Winner)
- James Ard—Live Recording/Playback Designer (S.F.)