Virus Theater is hosting a performance by Santa Fe’s Theater Grottesco at El Sol Theater June 23 & 24. Performances are at 7pm. Tickets are available at the door, $10 adults, $5 students.

CONSIDER THIS… is a solo 45-60 minute romp through the pre-history of American theater, from Greek Tragedy to Commedia dell’Arte, Clown, Buffoon, masks and more. One of America’s most creative theatrical ensembles shares the philosophy and the many theatrical styles that make up their fantastically imaginative original plays. Featuring Theater Grottesco founder and artistic director John Flax. Audience comments from past performances include the following: 

"Timeless and inspiring." 

"A beautiful demonstration of (physical theatre)." 

"The potential of how incredible acting can really be." 

“A truly amazing experience…he was able to open up an entirely new form of acting for me.” 

Theater Grottesco is an anomaly in American theater. The Grottesco artists create their own plays collectively. The choice of Realism, generic comedy or musicals, is replaced with a broad range of historical, modern, and as yet unnamed ‘theatrical styles’ or combinations of styles– distinctly ‘unrealistic’– and most often pushing the artists into unknown territory. Instead of intellectual arguments and emotion conveyed through a script, the company uses imagery, movement, and stillness to move audiences. The artists prefer to ask questions rather than provide answers. And instead of 3-6 weeks of rehearsals, the company spends years

developing a piece. In many ways, Theater Grottesco is closer to dance, music and the fine arts than it is to conventional theater. 

About Theater Grottesco: Founded in 1983 in Paris, France, Theater Grottesco creates a new kind of performance that is visual, explosive and full of surprise. This highly trained ensemble of artists rekindles interest in live performance by juxtaposing classical theatrical styles with a daring, poetic research of culture and imagination, taking audiences to the brink of emotional wonder and soulful reflection. 

Grottesco has created 18 full-length original plays and over 50 shorter works ranging in style from Tragic Buffonery to Performance Poetry, Expressionistic Melodrama, and Gesture-Based Dance. The company has received 15 NEA Professional Theatre Awards, and national grants from the Rockefeller MAP Fund, MetLife, Doris Duke, Andrew Mellon, Theater Communications Group ,The Network of Ensemble Theaters and a prestigious 2017 National Theatre Project Award. Grottesco moved to the United States in 1985, basing out of New York and Detroit before settling in Santa Fe in 1996. Theater Grottesco toured nationally for 15 years performing in 8 countries, 30 states, most major U.S. cities and dozens of smaller communities. It performed Off-Broadway in 1999 with a production that will be permanently archived in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.