As its first theater production in its new facility, The Institute of Contemporary Art will present the world premiere of "This Place is a Desert," conceived and directed by international theater and opera director and MIT Theatre Associate Professor Jay Scheib in collaboration with media artist Leah Gelpe.  Performances are set for March 22 - 25.  The Institute of Contemporary Art is located at 100 Northern Avenue in Boston's Seaport District.

Inspired by the work of Italian modernist filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, Jay Scheib creates theater for a generation raised in the language of cinema. In "This Place is a Desert," the audience views a portrait of human love gone increasingly wrong in fragments -- through windows, reflected in mirrors and through partially-drawn curtains.  A lone cinematographer moves through the set providing a sensually charged, live cinema study of four lovers destroying each other in an attempt to defy their impenetrable loneliness.  The action is projected live onto a wide screen above the stage architecture. 

Scheib commented, "The goal of situating the action within these partial-view rooms is, on one hand, a practical consideration -- we use cameras to see up close, to see around corners, and to mediate our experience of Reality amplifying an erotics of the partial view. With the camera we differentiate between Reality and Realistic. I am using an Italian filmmaker to understand something unique about American life. Either we are ugly people and we deserve the world that we live in, or something is wrong in us, and the world in which we live is merely symptomatic of a deeper anxiety. 'This Place is a Desert' is a motion-portrait; it's a tool for understanding Reality -- and this reality, thanks to technology, is always partially seen and partially screened."

"This Place is a Desert " began as a workshop with the Kretakor Ensemble in Budapest.  The current production was developed in residence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and given an open studio showing as part of the Prelude Festival in New York in 2005. 

Scheib is currently Associate Professor of Theatre at MIT, and a regular guest professor at the Mozarteum Institute für Schauspiel und Regie, in Salzburg, Austria. He holds an MFA from Columbia University.
 
His recent works include: the critically acclaimed "Women Dreamt Horses" at PS122 in New York; a multimedia adaptation of Tolstoy's "The Power of Darkness" at Trafo in Budapest; a live art installation "All Good Everything Good" at Raum Space, Bologna Italy; and the world premier of Irena Popovic's opera "Mozart Luster Lustik" at the Sava Center in Belgrade.

Other credits include: "The Medea"at La Mama in New York with subsequent performances in Turkey; "The Demolition Downtown" by Tennessee Williams at MIT; Musset's "Lorenzaccio" at the Loeb Drama Center; Koltès' "West Pier" at the Ohio Theatre; "Falling and Waving," at St. Ann's in Brooklyn.

Leah Gelpe has collaborated with Scheib on 15 productions since 1996, including "The Power of Darkness," "The Medea," "West Pier" and "Falling and Waving." She was video designer for "Brittanicus" and "Island of Slaves" at the ART, and sound designer for David Rabe's "The Black Monk" at Yale Rep, "The Lady from the Sea" at the Intiman Theatre, "Saved" at Theatre for a New Audience, and "Godard (distant & right)" at the Ohio Theatre in New York and Theatre des Amandiers, Nanterre, Paris. She holds an MFA in film from Columbia University.
 
Producer Shoshana Polanco has been creating, producing and performing original work since 1997. Her latest ventures have been "La Perla" in her native Buenos Aires, "committed" in New York and "Pedestrian: A Walking Tour for Multiple Voices and Portable Phones" in New York.  She was Creative Producer of BAiT - Buenos Aires in Translation, a festival of 4 English-Language World Premieres at PS122 in New York.

Tickets are available at the box office during museum hours, by calling 617-478-3103 or visiting www.icaboston.org.
 
The Institute of Contemporary Art is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m - 9 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m - 5 p.m..  Museum admission is $12 for adults, $10 for college students and seniors, and free for members and children 17 and under.

-- OnStage Boston