Quantum Theatre

Cymbeline

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Karla Boos
July 31–August 24, 2008
Outdoors in Mellon Park

Is it a comedy, a tragedy, a romance?  Like Quantum, Shakespeare’s Cymbeline breaks the rules and doesn't care. At its heart is a journey of broken families and characters struggling through dense fog to emerge whole. Cymbeline is a tale about where we come from, who we are, and how we find our way home. Written late in Shakespeare’s life, this is a highly theatrical, no-holds Bard, with a cross-dressing heroine, Machiavellian villains, corrupt courts, regenerating countries, tyrannical kings, long-lost children, a wicked queen, star-crossed lovers ... and a Deus Ex Machina that resolves a plot with more ricochets than 'Desperate Housewives.'

Quantum’s 'Machina' comes with a special, local twist— a high-tech, outdoor design that includes collaboration by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University.

The Museum of Desire and Flowers in a Corner

From short stories by John Berger
Directed by Dan Jemmett, Devised by the company, 404 Strand
November 6–November 23, 2008
Frick Art & Historical Center

John Berger is an elder statesman of the art world—critic, painter, and Booker Prize-winning author. He entrusts his short stories The Museum of Desire and Flowers in a Corner to director Dan Jemmett for translation into a unique theatrical premiere. Quantum stages this multi-dimensional experience at the Frick Art & Historical Center, a setting that perfectly evokes desire. Jemmett’s devised production places viewers in the hands of a surreal museum guide, who seduces with a private collection of fantastical objects and a promise of immortality.

Yerma

By Federico Garcia Lorca
Directed by Melanie Dreyer
January 29–February 22, 2009
Location to be announced

Yerma is a deeply musical folktale, blending song and poetic text into a modern story of unbridled yearning for fulfillment in a world of predetermined roles. We feel the rhythm of the feet of many generations in this story about the power of a woman in a rural community, wielding the forces of the earth against a man-made fate.  Quantum unites this 20th century classic with the irrepressible art of flamenco from playwright Federico Garcia Lorca's native Andalusia. Carolina Loyola-Garcia, whose flamenco art enlivened Quantum's Red Shoes in 2007, collaborates with singers and dancers from Spain to bring us a story of an unrelenting passion for change and the tragedy of coming undone.

Mouth to Mouth

By Kevin Elyot
Starring Karla Boos
April 2–April 26, 2009
Location to be announced

The homecoming of a son. The reunion of two brothers. A friendship more powerful than a marriage. Frank has made a surrogate family of Laura’s, safe in the refuge of her domesticity. But when does intimacy become betrayal? What’s unforgivable among friends? This brilliantly acerbic tragic-comedy exposes the pretension and narcissism of ‘people like us’ with unerring and hilarious accuracy. Kevin Elyot is winner of Britain’s Evening Standard and Olivier Awards for Best Comedy. His plays Mouth to Mouth and acclaimed earlier work My Night With Reg premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

* Subject to change, rights pending