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Villa Theater Lab presents a visceral and poetic retelling of the myth of the minotaur

ext in the Getty’s Villa Theater Lab series is Asterion, a work-in-progress performance presented by The Ghost Road Company, one of Los Angeles’ most ambitious experimental theater ensembles. Inspired by the Greek myth of the Minotaur, Asterion explores the life of one man who has seen the dark side of his nature and fights to regain his humanity.

Returning from a sort of exile, battle weary Asterion faces a strange homecoming full of veiled intentions and twisted familial bonds. In this world of shadows, he must face his demons as those closest to him fan the flames of his monstrousness.

Asterion is a visceral, physical, and poetic retelling, conceived by Katharine Noon, artistic director of The Ghost Road Company, and reflects the recent work of the ensemble with the Polish theater company Teatr ZAR. The work also includes two of its performers, Tomasz Wierzbowski and Aleksandra Kotecka. After traveling to Wroclaw, Poland to collaborate with Teatr ZAR in July, Ghost Road has returned to Los Angeles to present this new work that now incorporates new musical elements and polyphonic singing throughout the performance.

About The Ghost Road Company
The Ghost Road Company is one of Los Angeles's premiere theater ensembles dedicated to the creation of new work for the stage. In its own words: The ensemble scavenges the current social landscape for objects, language and images that are, in turn, informed by the ensemble's individual experiences of the world, creating something surprising and unexpected. The world of the piece is the piece itself, in which the "everyday" transforms into unexpected realizations and epiphanies about the nature of truth and possibility in the world at large.

The focus of Ghost Road's work is on dynamic re-imaginings of classic plays, myths and works of literature as well as the creation of wholly original pieces. Their work is created and premiered in Los Angeles then frequently toured nationally and internationally. In addition, the company hosts other U.S. and international ensembles, helping them share their methods of new work development and, when possible, collaborating with these artists in the creation of new work.

About Katharine Noon
Katharine Noon is the artistic director of The Ghost Road Company. A partial list of her work includes the 2016 workshop presentation of Asterion at Atwater Village Theatre. In 2015 a commission from the Polish Consulate in Los Angeles and the Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw to direct A Couple of Poor Polish-Speaking Romanians by Dorota Maslowska that opened at the Lillian Theatre in Los Angeles. The Bargain and the Butterfly (conceiver/director) that performed at South Coast Repertory Theatre in 2014, Kommuna Warsawa in Warsaw in 2013 and premiered in Los Angeles at Artworks in 2013. Pantofelnik’s Suitcase (director) by Malgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk was staged at Atwater Village Theatre in 2011 and toured to the Korczak Festival in Warsaw in 2013. Stranger Things (collaborator/performer) premiered at the Ko Festival in Amherst and AVT in Los Angeles in 2011. Also in 2011 Katharine and the company were in residency with Studium Teatralne in Warsaw to develop The Bargain and the Butterfly. Home Siege Home, an adaptation of the Oresteia in 3 parts (conceiver/director) performed at NaCl (New York), Arcata Playhouse, Getty Villa and [Inside] the Ford in 2008/2009. Other work includes Orestes Remembered: The Fury Project (conceiver, director), Powerhouse Theatre and Fury Factory Festival in San Francisco, The Dark Ages by Laurel Ollstein for Playwrights Arena and The Car Plays for Moving Arts. Katharine is also the recipient of the Lee Melville Award for contribution to Los Angeles Theatre and is a Professor in the Theatre Department at Loyola Marymount University.

Asterion contains brief nudity and is recommended for ages 15 and over. Performances take place in the Auditorium at the Getty Villa. Tickets are $7 and available by calling 310-440-7300 or at http://www.getty.edu/museum/programs/performances/theater_lab.html