The Girl who Waters the Basil

Review in the City Paper!

2009-07-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

TGwWtB recieved a nice little write up in the City Paper after the premiere on Thursday; remember that there is still one more chance to see the show, on Friday the 24th at 6pm, at the Apothecary, right around the corner from Fort Fringe on 7th St.

OPENING NIGHT!

2009-07-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

Come and enjoy! Bring a friend!

The show starts at 6p at the Apothecary

1013 7th ST NW.

Details of all THREE performances

2009-07-08T05:35:00.000-07:00

A new comic opera based on the play by Federico Garcia Lorca.
Music by Douglas Boyce
Libretto by Jodi Kanter
Design by Natsu Onada

Three performances at the Capital Fringe Festival:
Thursday, July 16 @ 6p
Sunday, July 19 @ 4:45p
Friday, July 24 @ 6p

all performances at
'The Apothecary at the Trading Post'
1013 7th Street NW, Gallery Place Metro

Tickets are $15 per show with a one-time Fringe admission button cost of $5. Both
can be bought online at capitalfringe.org

Robert Baker (The Prince)

2009-07-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

A central figure in the Washington-area classical music scene, The Washington National Opera has featured him in numerous roles totaling more than 250 performances. He has also sung ten roles with the Washington Concert Opera.

Recent career highlights include the role of Ishmael in the world premiere of Peter Westergaard’s Moby Dick at Princeton University (recorded for Albany Records), his Metropolitan Opera debut in Prokfiev's War and Peace, which he also recorded during The Spoleto Festival’s production, released on the Chandos label.

With the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, Mr. Baker was soloist on the 1996 Grammy Award-Winning recording Of Rage and Rembrance by John Corigliano (BMI: 1996) and last season sang Triquet in the NSO’s presentation of Eugene Onegin.

This season Mr. Baker has been seen in Peter Grimes and Turandot with the Washington National Opera, Carmina Burana with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Handel’s Messiah with the Apollo Chorus in Chicago. He also has premiered over 15 major works in his career, and is a frequent collaborator with DC composer Douglas Boyce.

Mr. Baker is proud to have sung with all the major choral organizations in Washington, DC, starting with the Paul Hill Chorale in 1979, and continuing with Norman Scribner, Reilly Lewis, Robert Shafer, Donald McCullough, Gisele Becker and Tom Beveridge.

The Director of Performance Studies at The George Washington University, Mr. Baker and his wife live in Washington, DC with their daughter, Madeline, a member of the Children’s Chorus of Washington.

Biography :: Jodi Kanter

2009-06-29T13:18:00.000-07:00

Jodi Kanter is a theater artist whose work focuses on strengthening communities through performance. To this end, she has created theater in a wide variety of settings, including professional theaters, hospices, prisons, cultural centers, libraries, galleries, schools and other public spaces. She is an associate professor of theater at George Washington University, where she teaches acting and directing. Her book, Performing Loss: Rebuilding Community Through Theatre and Writing (Southern Illinois University Press, 2007) explores how communities can use performance to respond to shared experiences of grief. Jodi’s next directing project is “From Prison to Stage,” an evening of plays written by prisoners across the country to be performed at The Kennedy Center on September 5.

Basic Information

2009-06-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

The Girl Who Waters the Basil is the deceptively quaint tale of a poor shoemaker's daughter and a lovesick inquisitive prince. Hints of the author’s dark history peek through the rollicking tone of this little play; Federico Garcia Lorca, lover of the famous painter, Salvador Dali, was murdered by the Nationalist militia at the start of the Spanish Civil War and thrown into an unmarked grave. But this comic tale is (almost) all spring and love and marriage, with penniless fathers, dimwitted royalty and elegant, if vain, little maidens.

The creative team for this 'pocket-opera' consists of composer Douglas Boyce, librettist, director and dramaturge Jodi Kanter, set and costume designer Natsu Onada Power, and musical ombudsman Robert Baker, who will also be singing the role of the Prince. Our performers will include Rebecca Ocampo (soprano), James Shaffran (baritone), David Jones (clarinet), Richard O'Meara (percussion) and Molly Orlando Palmiero (piano).

As we move closer to premiere date we'll be posting more about the development process, biographies of members of the troupe, as well as pictures, links, and maybe some rehearsal tape 'sneak previews.'