Abrons Arts Center and Mark Dendy and Stephen Donovan present LABYRINTH, a new dance-play by Obie and Bessie Award-winning choreographer Mark Dendy.

A tragicomic, autobiographically inspired retelling of the Theseus myth, Dendy’s Labyrinth is set in present-day New York City and performed by a cast of four in multiple roles.

LABYRINTH premiered at ABRONS ARTS CENTER

October 9-26, 2014 - 2 hours with intermission

Written & Directed by Mark Dendy

Developed with Stephen Donovan

Original music by Heather Christian Lyrics by Mark Dendy

Choreography by Mark Dendy

Lighting Design by Jay Ryan
Performed by Heather Christian, Mark Dendy, Stephen Donovan, Matthew Hardy

Video, Set and Costume Design by Stephen Donovan

Dramaturge Tom Cole

Sound Designer Stowe Nelson

Technical Artist Dave Polato

Sound Engineer Erik Skovgaard
Fight Direction Bryce Bermingham

Media contact: Janet Stapleton

"Mark Dendy is on a quest—for truth in his art, for acceptance of his past, for an honest confrontation of the world’s ills. The choreographer, now fifty-three, has been presenting work for more than thirty years; often it’s had an autobiographical basis, and elements of political or social commentary. Not to mention humor. Dendy has a sharp wit, which frequently emerges from the characters he creates, indelibly limned. His newest piece, the dance-play “Labyrinth,” at Abrons Arts Center, is a maelstrom of text, music, movement, and memory, coalescing in the end into a portrait of the artist as a hesitant hero in his own history."

- Andrew Boynton, THE NEW YORKER

“I was intrigued when I recently read about Dendy's new dance-play, Labyrinth -- in particular, how it compared and contrasted to his earlier piece. Reading about it took me back to the brief time I spent with him, and I was eager to find out how his...”

- Scott Alexander Hess, THE HUFFINGTON POST

"Labyrinth isn't likely to go to Broadway, though it's probably better written and more compelling than most things there. In the best sense, this is a Downtown play that outrents Rent and leaves a bit of itself lodged in your brain."

- Quinn Batson OFFOFFOFF.COM

In Labyrinth, Dendy interweaves character portraiture, myth, autobiography, and fantasy. Set in New York City, with Theseus hailing from Athens, Georgia, and aided by a transgender Ariadne, the hero quest is given a picaresque spin. En route to choreograph a Rockettes number, an artistically conflicted Theseus washes down anti-anxiety pills with absinthe just as Super storm Sandy is approaching the city. His journey through the mythic labyrinth is peopled with a Jungian underworld of colorful, disenfranchised characters, and pits him against multiple forces including a mechanical bull at the Bellevue Psych Ward. With Dendy’s signature wit, intense physicality, and searing social commentary, Labyrinth explores a world of inner demons and, ultimately, redemption by way of midlife crisis. The play is performed by Mark Dendy, Heather Christian, Stephen Donovan, and Matthew Hardy, with sound, music, and video created live on stage by the performers amid an ever-changing set of found objects

Labyrinth was developed over the last two years at residencies and workshop performances in New York City at The Actors Fund Arts Center, DANCENOW at Joe's Pub, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, Dance From The Heart 2013: DRA at Cedar Lake Theatre, New Work/New York at Parkside Lounge, and at Barking Legs Dance Theater in Chattanooga, TN, Dance Place in Washington, D.C., and DANCENOW Silo in Bucks County, PA.

Labyrinth was made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

207 backers supported our KICKSTARTER campaign and without their support none of this would have been possible. THANK YOU.