CONVERGENCES THEATRE COLLECTIVE is pleased to announce the world premiere production of BABEL, co-created by WT McRae (Peter and the Wolf, Long Island Philharmonic; The True nature of Love, Oberon Theatre Ensemble) and co-created and directed by Jeremy Williams (Murrow, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble; West Side Story, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre). BABEL will play a limited engagement at The Theater at the 14th Street Y (344 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003). Performances begin Wednesday, January 18 and continue through Sunday, February 5. Opening Night is Sunday, January 22 (7:30 p.m.). Tickets range in price from $15-$70 and are available at http://www.14streety.org/babel.

BABEL is a physical spectacle that reinvents one of the oldest stories in the world: The Tower of Babel, told through Acrobatic Dance Theater.  It calls upon diverse perspectives of the story to reveal ambition, grief, and healing within the complexity of the human condition.

The company of 22 powerful dancers build the world of the play, a sculpture garden of bodies. Sitting in three quarter round, the audience is immersed in the tower where performers climb, fly and play--building it so high that it offends the gods. The tower is destroyed, the people divided, and given separate languages so that they cannot collaborate to build again. Conflict separates humanity--yet they persevere and continue to build together despite the challenges of communication and identity. BABEL embodies the human desire to create, to connect, and to collaborate to overcome adversity building ambitious towers again and again.    

The ensemble includes Leo Abel, Argelia Arreola, Casey Beauchamp, Bruce Brackett, Melissa Denize, Olney Edmondson, Michael Eisenstein,  Mark Ferrando, Brooke Ferris, Nora Gustuson, Jenna Hokanson, Eiko Kawashima, Sydney Ippolito, Charlie Kilgore, Zachary Koval, Ana Carolina Lima, Erica Lindegren, Melana Lloyd, Devin McDuffee, Rafa Reyes, Marisol Kimberly Rosa-Shapiro, Liz Stanton, and Juliana Suaide.

The production features music composed by Julie Zhu and Robert Fleitz (Juilliard Orchestra, The New Juilliard Ensemble, The Imperial Symphony Orchestra, Tampa Bay Symphony), costume design by Natalie Loveland (Up and Away - Lincoln Center), lighting design by Jay Ryan (Obie Award Recipient - Big Dance Theater; Eva Adamson Award for Excellence in Lighting Design; Phoebe Award Recipient), and design collaboration/photography  by Lloyd Mulvey.

Running Time: 75 Minutes

http://www.convergencescollective.org/babel.html