Hundred Days runs through April 6, 2014 at Z Space in San Francisco. Dan Meyer Shaun Bengson, Abigail Bengson, Jeff Augustin, Joshua Kahan Brody, Billy Eugene Jones, Chris Myers From: Photos: Go Inside Opening Night of WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE SEA at Manhattan Theatre Club | The change in the Off-Broadway theatre's guidelines was tweeted yesterday. This special evening with the award-winning singer/songwriter couple begins at 6 pm on Saturday, July 30 (rain date July 31 at 6 pm), and features a live ASL interpreter. In a quieter, more reserved performance, Shaun Bengson is played by the talented Alec Phan, with Royen Kent alternating in the role on weekends. Huge News for Theater Couple with Dayton Roots! | Dayton937 Wearing a black leather biker jacket over a slinky white dress, the long dark haired Ms. Bengson has an alluring presence, a powerful voice and plays drums. Some have come to see it. // Define the CSS rule for the .my-paragraph class BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos from the red carpet here! Marc J. Franklin St. Anns Warehouse will reopen its doors this spring with a pair of concerts from The Bengsons, performing their new work-in-progress The Broken Ear Setlist: Songs from Ohio. See who is performing and learn how to purchase tickets! By Some of those tapes, she said, have been to prison and back cassettes on which her budding-songwriter self set down in music the fraught emotions she couldnt speak. Their video for, has been viewed over 4 million times. When new work is offered, it streams online, often created by the artists themselves. Manhattan Theatre Club has announced full casting and performance dates for Where the Mountain Meets the Sea, written by AUDELCO Award nominee Jeff Augustin (The New Englanders, The Morning Show) and directed by Princess Grace Award winner Joshua Kahan Brody, with music by The Bengsons (Hundred Days, The Lucky Ones). The long-running favorite returns to the Orpheum Theatre. And the sound of Ms. Bengson wailing like a banshee as she considers the mangling trap that is love will echo in your ears for days to come. Photo by Paul de Luna. The Joaquina Kalukango-led production has been on hiatus since April 7. Here's What to Know, Nathan Fletcher's Accuser Speaks Publicly for First Time Since Filing Lawsuit, Escondido Middle School Teachers Sue Over District's Transgender Pronoun Policy, Hundreds of Migrants Arrive at San Ysidro Port of Entry as Title 42 End Looms. "It's not easy, it's not easy, but it's the way I want to live," Abigail said. Stay informed with one email every other weekright to your inbox. | Log in. | The musical, starring Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone, was originally slated to open March 22, 2020composer Stephen Sondheims 90th birthday. Bethany Rickwald Running time: Twenty-seven minutes, followed by a 15 minute discussion between The Bengsons and Molly Smith. Were interested in this great loss that weve all been moving through that has many names and is communal, but is also specific and particular to each person. Know Theatre Favorite Indie-Folk Acting Duo The Bengsons Produce the Three weeks later, the couple got married. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Shaun's contributions include a deft melodic touch, technological prowess and musical ear that allows the inclusion of drums, guitar, accordion, and all manner of other instruments as well as. Allen Willner's shifting lights accentuate that live-gig atmosphere, bathing the stage in one color or another when it's time to really rock out. Performances are set for April 15 and 16 with indoor and virtual audiences. May 10, 2021. To wit: Whether by choice, chance or ultimately and unavoidably death, you will be separated from the person you love most. January 18, 2022, By By The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical also features Rhys Whitfield as Raoul. He became a music teacher in NYC. First he attended college at Indiana University (studied Ethnomusicology & Traditional Indiana Fiddling), then after graduation Shaun moved to New York City as a part of the city's teaching fellows program. Its conversational, sometimes it seems like a music video or a dance party, sometimes it seems like youre going for a walk with us, Shaun said. The first two months of performances take place with social distancing. The story looks at embracing uncertainty, taking a leap, and loving as if you only had a hundred days to live. The Bengsons' Hundred Days to Release Cast Recording Primarily for ethical reasons, Ms. Bengson said, they did not contact relatives of the person who was killed. In 2001 he began to explore beyond the Miami Valley. The Bengsons performing in The Lucky Ones, which is the second part of a trilogy. | The Rob McClure-led musical has been facing breakthrough COVID cases among its cast. | Their theater work includes. SHUCKED, SOME LIKE IT HOT Lead Nominations for 2023 Drama Desk Awards, Ars Nova Original Off-Broadway Production, 2018. When not writing, Keith can be found playing with his daughters, Jordan and Cassidy. | Care about whats happening in Bay Area arts? The previously announced Boy Falls from the Sky, Room, and more have new dates. November 21, 2022, By Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 will present NEXT@LCT3, a concert series of performances at the Claire Tow Theater. Ms. Bengson says that she and her husband are both profoundly introverted, but you wouldnt know it from talking with them. And I can't imagine wanting it any other way. Dan Meyer But accompanied by a wonderfully droll quartet of singing musicians Colette Alexander, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham and Reggie D. White the Bengsons are stirring, and surprisingly witty, company. The first, "My Joy is Heavy!" Almost exactly five years ago, Abigail and Shaun Bengson performed Hundred Days at Know Theatre. Sometimes there are wounds so deep that they never all the way heal, he said. | Their first rehearsal turned into their first date, and three weeks later, they were married! May 25, 2022, By | Im like, here I am, sending tapes to them, 20 years later.. Eleven years ago, Abigail and Shaun Bengson met. With creator Sara Bareilles back in the lead role, the musical grossed more in single-day ticket sales than any other show in the history of the Barrymore. Part of that was an awareness, new to Mr. Bengson, of what a fragile thing a family can be. // Get the
element with the my-paragraph class Andrew Gans (function () { Their music has been featured several times on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX). | But three weeks is a long time in the newly discovered country of young love. | By A large-scale show with a chorus, its intended as the second part of a trilogy that will continue with a musical about Mr. Bengsons early life. This is the person, no longer institutionalized, whose life Ms. Bengson is most fearful of harming with The Lucky Ones, an ensemble piece in which a cascade of events results in the dissolution of her family, including her parents marriage. Eleven years ago, Abigail and Shaun Bengson met. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. And with those words, Mr. Bengson and his wife, Abigail the other half of the folk-rock duo the Bengsons, the indie-theater darlings who created the show for Ars Nova attempt to draw a cloak of privacy around themselves and the people they love. The storied venue will next present The Tap Dance Kid as part of its Encores! To their amusingly and typically chaotic pandemic era home - with instruments, toys, food, books and art strewn all about - they quietly deal with chronic pain (hers) and depression (his). No doubt "My Joy is Heavy!" By | Louie, their blond-ringleted toddler, is a year and a half old, and Ms. Bengson throws up her hands at the challenge of not swearing in front of him. We filmed it at my moms, in the house I grew up in, which is where we have been staying for the past six months, Abigail said. Ryan McPhee Eliots work. A while later, this cameo struck Ms. Bengson as curious. The story, which is reminiscent of the more fully-realized Broadway musical, "Once," unfolds through short dialogues that are alternately pithy, poignant and playful. Three of their singles have been featured on "So You Think You Can Dance" (FOX). April 9, 2021. Talaura Harms Not all the songs are like that, certainly; there's a lot of stylistic variety while maintaining a distinctive unified sound. The Bengsons. // Append the CSS rule to the style element Abigail and Shaun Bengson performing in "My Joy Is Heavy!" (Arena Stage) Gift Article It feels something like a privilege to be given access to the melodic intimacies of "My Joy Is Heavy!," a. The album is produced by The Bengsons, Ian Kagey, and Kurt . This poignant 90-minute show, which opened on Monday night at the New York Theater Workshop, is a response to one ineradicable and devastating fact of life. | | A cross-country road trip that occupied the shows center 11 months ago has been jettisoned. Dan Meyer Arriving at this realization has been the seed for all sorts of lyric reflections, be it from ancient Greek odists, Renaissance sonneteers or pop balladeers. They have appeared at venues across the country and around the world. The concept of 'Hundred Days,' however, has stayed the same, The Bengsons said. Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo based in NYC and VT who have performed across the country and around the world. The Bengsons | Actors Theatre At least at the start, they also nursed the nave wish to repair what had been broken in Ms. Bengsons adolescence to Parent Trap the family, as Mr. Bengson put it. Track-by-Track Breakdown: The Bengsons on Crafting Their - Playbill As you may gather from the fact that they are now married and performing together, the Bengsons got over their crisis of faith long enough to commit to a relationship that, life being what it is, will never be a sure thing. July 27, 2021. Abigail Bengson and Shaun Bengson Emilio Madrid-Kuser "In our new work, the idea is that loss is the mechanism by which God comes close," says Abigail Bengson. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Their theater work includes Hundred Days (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, Know Theater, Z Space, US Tour), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), Sundown, Yellow Moon (Ars Nova/WP), Anything That Gives Off Light (Edinburgh Theatre Festival, US Tour), Youll Still Call Me By Name (New York Live Arts, Jacob's Pillow). Ryan McPhee From left, Jo Lampert, Ms. Bengson and Mr. Bengson in this poignant 90-minute show at New York Theater Workshop. The task, I think, of storytelling, she said, is the reintegration of the dark and the light going back and saying, Yes, this darkness is here and its true. And, There was light on us once, and there will be again.. That was 13 years ago, and today, the dynamic duo composes and performs together around the world. Abigail said in a phone interview. Shaun Bengson: Credits, Bio, News & More | Broadway World By sleeknoteScriptTag.charset = 'utf-8'; Andrew Gans The one possible relevance that the period has (besides possible medical advances since then) is how easy it is for Sarah and Will to seclude themselves in their home and remove themselves from any indication of what day or decade it really is. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Their video for The Keep Going Song has been viewed over 4 million times. October 20, 2020. OHIO, Part of the Storytelling (r)Evolution Lab Arena Stage debuts the Bengsons' musical 'My Joy Is Heavy!' - The The Broadway revival, on hold due to the pandemic, will now begin previews March 9, 2022. July 29, 2021. You have entered an incorrect email address! And maybe hurt us so badly that we will hurt other people.. September 1, 2021. Then, in one cataclysmic season, it all falls apart, beginning with a killing that might have been prevented if only the parents hadnt been so committed to a you-choose-your-feelings worldview that they dismissed the signs of mental illness in one of the kids. The more the piece evolved and the more collaborators got involved, the more the couple moved toward an honest and real portrayal of their feelings, fears and everything in between. July 27, 2021. La Jolla Playhouse | Sovereignty Hymns | La Jolla Playhouse Abigail and Shaun Bengson's THE KEEP GOING SONG to be Streamed on "So letting love win in the battle between love and fear, something we all experience every day. The production began previews at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane in August. But The Bengsons find catharsis and direction through music and convey a triumphant humanity no matter what the obstacle. paragraph.style.width = '0px'; In reality, though, the person in her clan who killed someone was not a blood relative but rather a person she had been raised to consider an older sibling someone she loved and admired, who wrote strange and beautiful music, who claimed to hear voices and did as they instructed. Often, they jump and dance in their own kitchen, an intimacy that can't quite be replicated on stage. So Will and Sarah decide to shut themselves away from the world and live their last 100 days together as if they were 60 years, celebrating all the birthdays and anniversaries and other cherished memories they would have if they grew old together. | Her older sibling, so-called, would respond with feedback on her craftsmanship that helped to shape her as an artist. At first, we were thinking about one thingliving with chronic pain and mental illness, and how that affects the ability to cultivate pleasure and joy. Most of the cast will return to the roles they were playing when previews began prior to the pandemic. The Harold Pinter classic opens October 21 as part of the theatre companys Welcome Back season. July 8, 2021. May 26, 2021. A trio of the indie-folk duos songs have also been featured on So You Think You Can Dance, and one of their most recent singles, The Keep Going Song, has been viewed more than 4 million times on social media. Marc J. Franklin And she has a deep affection for the Bengsons. Ars Nova, which also co-produced Sundown, Yellow Moon, a Rachel Bonds play with music by the Bengsons, has an estimable record with nontraditional musicals that includes birthing Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. It was the company that matched Ms. Gancher with the Bengsons several years ago. I dont know. Ryan McPhee La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for Hundred Days, book by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, music and lyrics by The Bengsons, directed by Anne Kauffman, with movement direction by Sonya Tayeh. Would just being grateful and happy during the same period be a better approach? Andrew Gans As we enter the second year of pandemic, theater companies have largely shifted from live performance spaces to film and video producers. | By April 15, 2021. | Use this COVID-19 protocols checklist before heading But those three weeks in between meeting and tying the knot, the pair told NBC 7 San Diego, was the start of something beautiful: a project that would later be titled "Hundred Days," a theatrical piece on the border between a live concert and musical experience. But their self-portrait of a show, which was written in collaboration with Ms. Gancher, spends most of its time in the light-devouring shadows of doubt. })(); Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo based in NYC and VT who have performed across the country and around the world. Id be like, Hey, its Friday, talking about nothing, and then Id sing this heavy piece of music, talking about everything, she said, and she realized thats not so different from what shes doing with the show itself. There'd be much more unplugging to be done today. That doesnt mean Broadway productions will reopen this monthbut they do have the state government go-ahead now. Visually, the piece is as bright as The Bengsons' surroundings (and outlook). Anyone can read what you share. Can they make it through the term without the worry? But I cant stop. Just by being so real and powerful, and serving as kind of an emotional catharsis for our own time of global trauma, "My Joy is Heavy!" Hundred Days (the title refers to packing a whole lifes experience into that period of time) was performed in an earlier version in January at the Under the Radar Festival of experimental theater. I'm A Celebrity star Shaun Ryder's health woes: Alopecia, thyroid | Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Logan Culwell-Block Unexplained rise in life-threatening brain infections in children The blessed news comes with some worry; they've suffered a miscarriage once before and had complications with the birth of their son. can be accessed on the Arena Stage YouTube channel. Talaura Harms Such music is a natural vehicle for the torturous ambivalence of falling in love as young, brooding artists steeped in mortal thoughts. The stage managers are Amanda Spooner and Christopher Kee Anaya-Gorman. It was from Robert Fleming, a gay Black man who is executive artistic director of Actors Theatre in . They begin awkwardly and self-consciously, as if reluctant to commit even to performing. Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo based in NYC and VT who have performed across the country and around the world. Quirky true love songs - Chicago Reader | Shaun's contributions include a deft melodic touch, technological prowess and musical ear that allows the inclusion of drums, guitar, accordion, and all manner of other instruments as well as harmony vocals often on backing tapes to give the duo an added grandeur. To whatever degree The Lucky Ones is fictionalized, she finds it really lovely to be working on a true story., I spend so much of my life making up characters or brainstorming situations or coming up with scenarios, Ms. Gancher said. The Bengsons' "The Keep Going Song" is my favorite song of 2020 As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In the 27-minute piece, the Bengsons present an intimate portrait of celebrating joy during difficult times, which for the couple included dealing with chronic pain and suffering a miscarriage during the COVID-19 lockdown. He seems gentle, diffident but steely underneath, while theres a sparkle to her, and a healthy dash of punk spicing her earth-mother serenity. The piece is based on the couple's real-life story of how they got together and fell in love. We and our partners share information on your use of this website to help improve your experience. Leah Putnam Hello friends!Here's our official Tiny Desk Contest 2020 submission!THE BENGSONSAbigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo who have. Three of their singles have been featured on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX). It's a show that forces both Abigail and Shaun to look at their life and what is terrifying them before they step on stage -- and then face it. Hundred Days now takes place entirely in New York City (mostly in Astoria, Queens), with lots of internal detours into the twisty corridors of each partners mind. The production runs 90 minutes and has no intermission. The musical, starring Caroline Bowman and Caroline Innerbichler, plays Sheas Buffalo Theatre through September 24. Roger Catlin, a member of the American Theatre Critics Association,is a Washington D.C.-based arts writer whose work appears regularly in SmithsonianMagazine.com. Abigail and Shaun Bengson in Hundred Days; photo: Mark Leialoha. Other "Arena Riffs" are "The Freewheeling Insurgents" by Psalmayene 'Psalm" 24, which begins March 31 at 7 p.m. and "A More Perfect Union" by Rona Siddiqui April 14 at 7 p.m. Information can be found here. A young couple meets, falls in love and gets married right away, only to find out that one of them has a terminal illness and not long left to live. The bearded Shaun, with his sweet smile, was home- schooled in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in a family of pastors and church organists. A half-hour into an emotionally delicate interview, there was a soft knock on the front door: Ms. Gancher, bringing over some eggs in the shell. Ryan McPhee, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/theater/bengsons-the-lucky-ones-ars-nova.html, Abigail and Shaun Bengson, a married pair of singer-songwriters whove turned their personal stories into theater, most recently in The Lucky Ones.. Is it possible to tell the truth kindly? Ms. Bengson said. July 6, 2021. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Anns created the Urban Canvas public art platform on their facade, presented a series of pop-up concerts, and streamed a number of international works. Colette Alexander, Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham, and Reggie D. White, By July 1, 2021. March 16, 2022, By The Bengsons display the pleasures, joys and the emotional tolls of the events of the past year and how they managed to cultivate and hold onto happiness even during these dark, difficult times. April 12, 2022, By This is a true story, Shaun Bengson tells the audience from the stage of the Connelly Theater in the East Village. Its been incredible that weve gotten to work through the year, and how this song has gone viral, Shaun said. The letters pile up outside, but if they unplug the radio and the phone, they're disconnected. styleElement.styleSheet.cssText = cssRule; PULLS OUT by The Bengsons (Tiny Desk Contest 2020 Entry!) A couple's intimate portrait of celebrating joy during difficult times. January 10, 2022, By Even days afterward, having heard the songs only once, I get a surge of visceral pleasure every time one of them runs through my head. Three weeks later, the couple got married. La Jolla Playhouse's 'Hundred Days' a musical memoir born from passion Review: Waltzing With Love and Death in Hundred Days, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/theater/hundred-days-review-shaun-abigail-bengson.html. The one-day-only event, starring Olivier nominees Rachel Tucker and Rachel John, played the West End October 11 following a digital production earlier this summer. The result is a raw and personal expression, wrapped in splendid music and honesty. Otherwise manning a DJ set that includes an old-fashioned gramophone, Jo Lampert gives an achingly resonant performance as Will's best friend Max, a boisterous and bawdy dude whose devotion to his friend is absolute and tinged with (seemingly platonic) yearning. They also star in the show, with a full band and chorus who . | 100 Days created by Abigail and Shaun Bengson with collaborators Anne Kauffman and Sarah Gancher will be at The Public Theater in a limited engagement until Sunday January 15. styleElement.appendChild(document.createTextNode(cssRule)); Sovereignty Hymns features a series of original songs exploring questions about reproductive liberty. | | Our memoir pieces need to reflect whats going on in our own hearts and bodies as we process the world, Abigail said. The Bengsons Pack a Lifetime of Joy into Indie Rock Opera - KQED And each of the songs are terrific; one an apology for how a bad pandemic era had gotten worse, another about light in the darkness, and one that recalls heartbreak but commits to happiness. More upcoming/ in development: Ohio (piece by piece productions). Logan Culwell-Block | (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, US Tour). By "My Joy is Heavy!" La Jolla Playhouse has announced the presentation of Sovereignty Hymns, a commissioned work that features a video series of original songs exploring questions about reproductive liberty. April 14, 2022, By October 8, 2020. Their first rehearsal turned into their first date, and three weeks later, they were married! | Abigail Bengson says that she. Theyre people with a lot of pain and a lot of damage, she said, but also a lot of strength and a lot of magic., They are also so intertwined, personally and professionally, that they share a bio in the program for The Lucky Ones., Is that gross? Ms. Bengson asked recently, in the tone of someone checking to make sure she doesnt have lipstick on her teeth. Then, they dreamed bigger: a Broadway musical! The show smoothly segues from the informality of a tale told in a concert setting to more fully staged scenes. Sovereignty Hymns. Andrew Gans By By The shift in focus from outside to inside clarifies and intensifies what was already an affecting piece. For the first time since the pandemic shutdown, Actors' Theatre in Grand Rapids, Michigan is returning to its home stage at Spectrum Theater on the Grand Rapids Community College campus. You can read more of his theater writing. Yet the acceptability of drawing bystanders into ones own art is one of the great ethical debates in any kind of autobiography. Hundred Days - New York Theatre Workshop - Abigail and Shaun Bengson (ATLs Humana Festival; Manhattan Theatre Club), (New York Live Arts, Jacob's Pillow), and, (piece by piece productions). Raven Brunner The Off-Broadway company recently canceled its Under the Radar Festival due to rising case numbers. More than a dozen shows are part of the promotion, including Hamilton, Hadestown, and more. The Daniel Craig-led production is back after cases of COVID within the company put a pause on performances. At the same time, though, there's not a clunker in the whole set. Dan Meyer wait for it. Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's docu-play, with music by Steve Earle, had its 2020 Public Theater run cut short by COVID. February 3, 2022, By The one-day-only event, starring Olivier nominees Rachel Tucker and Rachel John, arrives to the West End October 11 following a digital production earlier this summer. | In the new show, an extended family runs a school together, raising their children Abigail, her sisters and their cousins in a kind of hippie idyll. They've learned the best from indie music videos and are able to convey the beauty and reality of Vermont winter while eking out metaphors in its landscape. styleElement.type = 'text/css'; In a dynamic staging by director Anne Kauffman, the show has the look and feel of a rock concert, complete (at least on opening night) with a roaring crowd. And Ms. Bengson, in particular, finds herself opening baggage from her past that would seem to make happiness with someone else impossible.
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