PlayMakers Presents AND GOD CREATED GREAT WHALES, Now thru Jan 13

PlayMakers Repertory Company presents actor-playwright-composer Rinde Eckert's award-winning "And God Created Great Whales" tonight, Jan. 9-13.

"And God Created Great Whales" is a haunting musical adventure into the psyche of a composer trying to create an opera based on the classic novel "Moby Dick." Desperately fighting a degenerative disease eating away at his mind, each day the artist must rely on a tape recorder hung around his neck and a muse born of his imagination to instruct him on his work.

The production is part of the theater's innovative PRC 2 Second Stage series. The performance piece with music was created, written and composed by Eckert and will be performed by original cast members Eckert and Nora Cole.

"Grammy Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rinde Eckert displays his full creative force in this frenzied, funny and moving play," said Joseph Haj, PlayMakers' producing artistic director.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. nightly through Saturday, Jan. 12 with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Jan. 13. Tickets are available as part of the theater's 2012-2013 season subscription packages. Individual tickets are $25-$40. For more information, call the PlayMakers box office at (919) 962-PLAY (7529) or visit www.playmakersrep.org. PRC² shows are presented in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road.

Eckert's work has been produced off-Broadway and at major venues and festivals throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Off-Broadway shows include "Orpheus X" (2007 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama), "Horizon" (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations), "An Idiot Divine" and "Romeo Sierra Tango." Regional theater credits include "Ravenshead" and "Highway Ulysses" (Eliot Norton Award).

Earlier this year, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation named Eckert as one of 21 inaugural Doris Duke Artists. His other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Marc Blitzstein Award and the Alpert Award in the Arts for Theatre.

Cole plays the Muse /Olivia Walsh. She also originated the role of The Bride in Eckert's "Highway Ulysses." Other credits include "Caroline, or Change" (Royal National Theatre), "Jelly's Last Jam" (Broadway opposite Gregory Hines/national tour opposite Maurice Hines), "On the Town" (Broadway), "Your Arms Too Short to Box With God" (Broadway, national and European tours) and "When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Skate" (Kennedy Center).

David Schweizer has directed "Great Whales" in all its incarnations since its premiere. His collaboration with Eckert also includes "Horizon" (off-Broadway and on tour). He has directed new theater, performance and opera for forty years, both nationally and internationally, including work for solo artists such as Ann Magnuson and world premieres for many playwrights.

This is the sixth season for PlayMakers' PRC2 series, where each presentation combines an intriguing, topical production coupled with engaging post-show discussions with the creative artists and expert panelists. The 2012-2013 series concludes with "Spring Training," a world premiere specially commissioned by PlayMakers and Carolina Performing Arts, written and performed by acclaimed musical/spoken word ensemble Universes (April 24-28).

PlayMakers' main-stage season also continues with Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" performed in rotating repertory with 2012 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner "Clybourne Park" (Jan. 26-March 3) and the musical "Cabaret" (April 3-21). Single tickets and season subscription packages are available.

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