December 6, 2008 at 5 PM there is the Czech premiere of David Mamet´s play EDMOND, performed at the Theatre on the Balustrade, Eliade´s Library, Anenské náměstí in Prague 1. The running time is 60 minutes, the production is in English. This play is produced by BLACK SNOW, a company dedicated to bringing quality English language theater to multinational audiences.

The Play: A discontented man leaves his Manhattan firm on Friday evening. On his way home, he spontaneously stops at a fortune teller's for a Tarot reading. Her words to him are “You are not where you belong.” This divination sends him on a whirlwind of change. He quits his marriage and takes to the streets of New York. Violence, disappointment, and musings entwine as Edmond loses his moorings while believing he's found them. Where does he belong?

Why do this play now, and in Prague? Edmond leaves the comfort of life with his wife and looks for adventure in the wild streets of the big city. But the adventure turns into a whirlwind of bewildering experiences as it dawns on him that everyone is a hustler – everyone is out to get something from someone. Faustian bargains are at the heart of contemporary life, wherever we live.

We are all partly Edmond, all caught up in the wit and drama of the rush of big city life, looking for somewhere to belong in a world of hustlers.

The Playwright: David Mamet is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and two-time Oscar nominee, director, and novelist. He has been a force in American theater since 1976, when his first staged plays immediately won Obie and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards. His play Glengarry Glen Ross received four Tony Awards and was made into a major motion picture in 1992. His other plays include Edmond and The Cryptogram, both Obie Award winners, as well as The Water Engine, A Life in the Theatre, Lakeboat, Speed the Plow and The Old Neighborhood, Boston Marriage, Dr. Faustus, and Romance. David Mamet is best known for his poetic use of American vernacular, through which he explores the relationship between language and behavior.

The Company:

Mission Statement

Black Snow Prague English language theater’s mission is to create international quality English language theater for a multi-cultural audience. Founding MembersBlack Snow is a company comprised of international theater artists.

David Peimer
is a director and playwright from South Africa whose plays have been staged in South Africa, the UK and Germany and has directed many classical and contemporary plays. He has taught at universities in Johannesburg, London, Oxford and NYU in Prague. He is the two time winner of the South African National Playwriting Award. His latest play Armed Response will be published in New York and London in February 2009. 

Nicole Grisco
who has acted in numerous plays in New York and is a graduate of New York’s famed Tisch School

Set and costumes: Mel Rada

Sound: Jeff Fritz

Actors: Peter Hoskins, Dinah Geiger, Logan Miller, Abbey Martin, Stephanie Kronenberg, Matthew Blood-Smyth, Michael Perakovich, Josef Guruncz, Mel Rada. 

We also aim to bring the community into our program with work and study opportunities and help nurture the growing multi-culture reality of Prague.
AssociationsWe work in cooperation with New York University Prague, The International Graduate Program at DAMU and theaters such as the renowned Divadlo Na Zabradli.We are continually open to expanding our educational program to other schools.

Show Dates:
Performance December 6th at 5pm
Performance December 13th at 5pm
Performance December 14th at 5pm and 8pm
Performance December 17th at 7pm

This production is in English. Running time is 60 mins.

Tickets:

190 Kc / 150 Kc (students and seniors)

available at the venue, by calling 222 868 867 or emailing pokladna@nazabradli.cz.

Tickets are also available at the Globe Bookstore, Pštrossova 6, Prague 1.

Phone:

222 868 867 (Divadlo Na zábradlí) or David at 607 542 625

Email:  Blacksnow.elt@gmail.com

More info: http://prague.tv/events/info/edmond