ST. ANN’S WAREHOUSE & BETH MORRISON PROJECTS present

In Association with PROTOTYPE & Trinity Church of Wall Street

Huang Ruo, Composer & Librettist
Basil Twist, Director & Designer

Featuring The Choir of Trinity Wall Street
Conducted by Huang Ruo

MARCH 15–20

ST. ANN’S WAREHOUSE HEALTH & SAFETY
To reach full capacity, masks and proof of full vaccination will be required at the time of entry into the theater. Booster shots and N95/KN95 masks are recommended. Read our full health and safety policies HERE.

A daring new work by composer Huang Ruo and puppeteer/designer/director Basil Twist, Book of Mountains and Seas is a modern take on ancient Chinese creation myths, first transcribed in the 4th Century BC, yet strikingly relevant to our current struggle with climate change. An ensemble of massive puppets, as fanciful as they are terrifying, and the chorus of Ars Nova Copenhagen challenge us through music and stunning visual tableaux to consider the power of the natural world and our vital, yet tenuous, relationship to it.

Basil Twist is a third-generation puppeteer and object theater artist, renowned globally for his visionary adaptations of opera, dance, and theater. Chinese-born American composer Huang Ruo has been called “one of the world’s leading young composers” and was formerly Composer in Residence at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Runtime: 75 minutes, no intermission

POST-SHOW CONVERSATION: THURSDAY, MARCH 17

Join us Thursday, March 17 following the 7:30pm performance for a talkback with Composer/Libbretist Huang Ruo and Director/Production Designer Basil Twist, moderated by Beth Morrison.

Press

Book of Mountains & Seas was commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, Ars Nova (Copenhagen), Moss Arts Center/ Virginia Tech, Soundstreams, Koorbiennale, and Hong Kong New Vision Festival, and Linda & Stuart Nelson.

Book of Mountains & Seas is made possible by the Jim Henson Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Additional commissioning support provided by the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts.

Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, J.L. Greene Arts Access Fund in The New York Community Trust, The JKW Foundation, The NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund in The New York Community Trust, The Shubert Foundation, Booth Ferris Foundation, The Tow Foundation, SHS Foundation.

This season is supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts.

St. Ann’s Warehouse is deeply grateful for Senator Charles E. Schumer’s visionary leadership of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.