Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 W 37th St
646.731.3200
This event has passed.
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North Atlantic
- When
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Mar 10, 2010 – Apr 25, 2010
Tuesdays–Saturdays (8pm)
Sundays (4pm)
- Where
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- Price
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$45
- Links
“North Atlantic is experimental theater ensemble The Wooster Group’s decidedly downtown answer to the ever-lush musical South Pacific: think of a R-rated M*A*S*H with the (non)action transpiring at a fevered pitch that matches the startling rake of the stage. Originally written in 1982 by James Strahs, the group’s incarnation of this raunchy satire remains entirely timely, thanks to spot-on stereotypes of the military’s sexual and political ethos. American standards punctuate the scenes and, as for eye-opening innuendos, let’s just say Yankee Doodle Dandy will never be the same.”
Alyssa Alpine, Flavorpill
Baryshnikov Arts Center says:
The Wooster Group’s NORTH ATLANTIC takes a satiric look at the role of the military and the growing influence of technology in American culture during the late Cold War period, after Vietnam and before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The work follows an international peacekeeping force on an aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic, tracing the cultural and sexual dynamics that rise to the fore as they carry out their top-secret mission. Written expressly for the company by James Strahs in 1982, North Atlantic joined a series of Wooster Group works rooted in American themes and told in the rhythms of the American vernacular—works based on texts by Thornton Wilder, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill and Gertrude Stein. NORTH ATLANTIC plays with nostalgia for the analog (pre-digital) 1980s through slang, song and dance.
