Tzveta Kassabova
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Murakami by the Sea


Murakami by the Sea is a full evening length devised work inspired by novels and short stories by Haruki Murakami. Placed within a constantly evolving environment of cardboard and broken tires the production bridges the gap between the genres of visual art, music, theater, and movement. The created world and soundscape of tangible memories, innocent gestures, poignant observations, and emotional interactions washes over the audience and takes them all the way to the serenity of the bottom of the ocean. What real geography is surrounding us and what landscape do we imagine in our stories? How much do we know and care about the world we live in? How do we connect to each other? How does our relationship to other human beings, animals, objects, and the environment shape? What does solitude mean and how can we build a community? How can we remember what is precious to us and how can forgetting make heal our wounds? The work is directed by Tzveta Kassabova with the cast and is shaped by the dramaturge Teresa Kovacs.

“And then I realized that the deep darkness inside me had vanished. Suddenly. As suddenly as it has come. I raised myself from the sand and, without bothering either to take off my shoes or roll up my cuffs, walked into the surf to let the waves lap at my ankles.”

you can see the full show Here
 
Murakami by the Black Sea has been selected for participation at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania 2020. The piece was envisioned to be restaged in two languages English and Bulgarian and performed by students from both University of Michigan and New Bulgarian University and taken on a tour in Bulgaria.  Unfortunately, both of these opportunities are currently postponed due to COVID-19, but the invitation is still standing and I hope we get a chance to perform there soon.


Murakami by the Sea


Director: Tzveta Kassabova

Performers: Anna De Marinis, Sam Dubin, Aaron Klein,
​          Adam Ortega, Will Pratt, Emerson Smith, Emma Steiner
Dramaturg: Teresa Kovacs
Costume Designer: Katherine Shrader
Original Music: Sylvan Talavera
Music samples: Michael Wall, AABA
Scenic Designer and Performer: Nicole White
Lighting Design: Grace Linzner
Stage Manager: Alaina Galasso
Assistant Stage Manager: Emily Elrich
Assistant Director: Milo Miller

Texts by:
Haruki Murakami (Dabchick, Hear the Wind Sing, Kafka on the Shore, Man-eating cats, Samsa in Love, Scherazade, The Ice Man, The Kidney-Shaped Stone that Moves Every Day, The Mirror, Seventh Man)
William S. Burroughs (Pistol Poem Number 2)
T.S. Eliot (The Hollow Man)
John Hollander (Kitty and the Bug)
Alastair Reid (Curiosity)

photography David Forsee
Murakami by the Sea premiered on April 25-27 at the Newman Studio, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI