Baryshnikov Arts will continue its 20th Anniversary Spring Season with SISSY, a modern-day reimagining of Sisyphus written, choreographed, and directed by Celia Rowlson-Hall.
As previously announced, Marisa Tomei will lead the cast. The SISSY cast will also include Lucas Hedges and Zoë Winters with dancers Jesse Kovarsky, Nando Morland, Aliza Russell, Ida Saki, Jacob Thoman, and Jacob Warren. Christopher Abbott and Alia Shawkat, who were previously announced, had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts.
For four performances only, SISSY will play April 24– 26. An additional performance is being added for Saturday, April 26 at 3:00 PM as part of a new program called “An Afternoon Out.” SISSY is presented in partnership with PASTEL and WEIRD SISTER.
Tickets to the Saturday matinee, “An Afternoon Out,” of SISSY will include the option to drop children off with responsible, experienced teaching artists while parents/guardians go enjoy the show. Class, led by the teaching team, will include arts activities inspired by the performance. Ticket add-on is $20 for 1 child; $30 for 2 children; $40 for 3 children.
SISSY is a modern-day reimagining of Sisyphus, expressed through dance and explored from a female perspective, taking place between the worlds of a theater and a miles-long rock quarry. But this isn’t just any woman, and this isn’t just any rock—it is a rock by day, the moon by night, and a disco ball for special occasions. And each day Sissy must push it up the giant quarry which becomes deeper and more vast every time we extract more of the earth away. Not to mention, she’s pregnant. As Sissy’s belly grows, so does the story, and the dance weaves the imaginary world of SISSY into the real-life world of the theaters’ performers and its director, a new mother grappling with caring for her ill father and her baby boy. This piece beautifully and creatively explores the Sisyphean tasks and challenges of motherhood, being an artist, a performer, a daughter—and how our approach to them is the only thing within our control. With overlapping worlds where the imaginary and the real struggle for attention—SISSY is part dance, part theater, and part personal essay—it is a beautiful beast of its own making and expression. (Run time: approx. 70 minutes, no intermission.)
