“Delightfully daft . . . their lovable-loser shtick as well as their nifty skills help turn Elephant Room into one of the coolest places in town.”—New York Times

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College presents the sublime comedy, Elephant Room. Three magicians. One show. Zero boring stuff. Sub-zero intelligence. It’s time to make it all add up in the Elephant Room. The show, starring Dennis Diamond, Marcus Pocus, and Daryl Hannah, is written by Steve Cuiffo, Trey Lyford, and Geoff Sobelle in collaboration with the magicians; directed by Paul Lazar. Elephant Room will be performed at the Fisher Center’s LUMA Theater on Friday, December 13 at 7:30 p.m. (with a post-performance discussion with the cast and Gideon Lester, director of theater programs); Saturday, December 14 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, December 15 at 2 p.m. The program is suitable for children 6 and older. Tickets are $25 and are available at the Fisher Center box office at fishercenter.bard.edu or by calling 845-758-7900.

Filled with off-the-wall magic and sublime comedy, Elephant Room examines the childlike wonder of three deluded illusionists who choose to live their off-center lives by sleight of hand. Diamond, Pocus, and Hannah invite you to a place of secrets, of mystery. Let’s pretend it’s a room—a real room. And you’re really here, in the Elephant Room.

On Saturday, December 14, at 2 p.m., the creators of Elephant Room will hold a 90-minute master class on the performance of magic. In “Unleash Your Inner Idiot” participants will be encouraged to submit to the goofball within. No prior experience necessary. Admission is free and reservations are required via the box office at 845-758-7928. Limit two tickets per order.

Live Arts Bard (LAB) is Bard College’s residency and commissioning program for the performing arts. LAB) is a laboratory where professional artists in theater, dance, and performance test ideas and develop new projects. Each year, LAB will invite a number of leading artists and companies from the United States and abroad to Bard’s campus to develop and present new and recent works. This fall’s resident artists include writer-performers Nilaja Sun and Geoff Sobelle, presenting acclaimed theater works while in residence. 

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Elephant Room was commissioned by Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, and copremiered between Arena Stage Washington, D.C. (Molly Smith, artistic director and Edgar Dobie, managing director) and the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. Elephant Room is funded in part by the Creative Capital Foundation, Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, and New England Foundation for the Arts National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support is provided by Hunter College Department of Theatre and the Live Arts Brewery programs, which are supported by the Kresge Foundation, Independence Foundation, and PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive.

This presentation of Elephant Room is made possible by the generous support of the Live Arts Bard Creative Council and is funded in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by the Heinz Endowments; William Penn Foundation; Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

November 22, 2013