Theater Latté Da's award-winning docu-musical ALL IS CALM to be filmed for national broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
The cast of ALL IS CALM, 2018, Photo credit Dan Norman.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office
THEATER LATTÉ DA‘S AWARD-WINNING DOCU-MUSICAL
ALL IS CALM TO BE FILMED FOR NATIONAL BROADCAST
BY PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE (PBS)
New York Public Media, with grant funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will film Theater Latté Da’s original music-theatre piece for national broadcast in the 2020 holiday season.
(MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL) Theater Latté Da announces today ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914, the poignant music-theatre work about the World War I Christmas truce, will be filmed for national broadcast on PBS in the 2020 season. ALL IS CALM was identified as a compelling work for PBS broadcast during it’s highly lauded Off-Broadway run produced by Laura Little Theatricals in 2018 at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture. The production was awarded a New York Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. A grant awarded by the Corporation for Public Broadcast will fund the film production. Over a three-day period mid-December, New York Public Media (WNET) will send a film crew to the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis to film four performances of the company’s original docu-musical. The film production of ALL IS CALM will be available for all national public television affiliates for broadcast in 2020.
Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, attended the Off-Broadway run of ALL IS CALM last season and felt the work should be shared nationally through public television. "ALL IS CALM reminds us through words, music and beautifully choreographed storytelling that when all is chaotic and it appears “the center will not hold,” it is still possible to find a connection to our shared humanity," shares Harrison.
Created by Theater Latte Da's Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, the production combines period songs and firsthand accounts of this remarkable event and has become an annual holiday classic. Since its premiere in 2007, the a capella production is brought to life by a cast of 10 actor/singers and beautifully blends iconic WWI patriotic tunes, trench songs, medieval ballads and Christmas carols from England, Wales, France, Belgium and Germany with musical arrangements and vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach with texts written by more than 30 World War I figures. This moving ode to peace is directed by Rothstein with music direction by Lichte. The production will feature the talents of the Minneapolis-based cast, the majority of whom starred in the highly-lauded Off-Broadway run. ALL IS CALM premiered in a live radio broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio on December 21, 2007.
ALL IS CALM recalls an astounding moment in history when Allied and German soldiers met in “No Man’s Land” and laid down their arms to celebrate the holiday together by trading carols, sharing food and drink, playing soccer and burying the dead. In some places the truce lasted only a night, in others it endured until New Year’s Day. Rothstein believes that music, an important part of life in the trenches, helped create a context that made the truce possible.
“Music was the common language, and as winter set in, the men began to hold impromptu concerts, singing to each other across the battle fields, creating trust and a camaraderie,” says Rothstein.
Rothstein conducted research for two years to develop ALL IS CALM. “I wanted to tell the story in their own words, I created the drama by stringing together letters, war documents, autobiographies, World War I poetry, gravestone inscriptions, even an old radio broadcast,” says Rothstein. “For decades, the truce was considered a romantic fable, fiction, and I wanted to give legitimate voice to this remarkable moment that had somehow been denied its rightful place in history. I cannot express how gratifying it has been to share the story of these heroic men, in their own words, across the country and around the globe.”
Since ALL IS CALM had its world premiere in a live broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio in 2007, the show has enjoyed global success with broadcasts on five continents through American Public Media and the European Broadcasting Union. The work has won many awards including the Gold World Medal at the 2010 New York Festivals and the 2010 Gabriel Award, which honors works of excellence in broadcasting that serve audiences through the positive, creative treatment of concerns to humankind.
ALL IS CALM has toured the United States for ten seasons, reaching more than 50 cities playing prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Cal Performances (Berkeley, CA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). The work has also been licensed and performed by theater companies, opera companies, and choruses in 30 different states, Canada, and Australia.
Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artists, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater. www.latteda.org
FACT SHEET
ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914
Written by Peter Rothstein
Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach
Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Erick Lichte
Costume Design by Trevor Bowen
Lighting Design by Marcus Dilliard
Sound Design by Nicholas Tranby
Starring Sasha Andreev, Paul Coate, Benjamin Dutcher, Andrew Hey, Ben Johnson, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, James Ramlet, Andrew Wilkowske, and Evan Tyler Wilson.
The Western Front, Christmas, 1914. Out of the violence comes a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into No Man's Land singing "Stille Nacht." Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, peace. A remarkable true story, told in the words and songs of the men who lived it.
Venue: Ritz Theater (345 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413)
Dates: Nov 27-Dec 29, 2019
Tickets: Tickets start at $33 and are on sale now at Latteda.org or by calling the Box Office at 612-339-3003
Performance Dates and Times
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 7:30pm (Opening night)
Friday, November 29, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 1, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 7:30pm
Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 6, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7:30pm
Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 7:30pm (ASL/AD Performance)
Friday, December 13, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Tuesday, December 17, 2019 at 2:00pm
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 7:30pm
Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 20, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 21, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 21, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 22, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Thursday, December 26, 2019 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 27, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 28, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 28, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 29, 2019 at 2:00pm