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LA City Beat: "Mesmerizing... seductive… a gripping invocation of birth, death, and those in-between instances… the ritualized movement here is staged with penetrating clarity as well as fully committed passion… yet another eye-opener from the Unknown."
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Los Angeles Times -- CRITICS CHOICE: "Peer too intently at this arresting take on Jean-Claude van Itallie's experimental landmark and you'll merely see a selfless ensemble seizing ritual space with absolute control. Sit back and let it wash over you, and director Chris Covics' intimate vision could infiltrate your dreams."
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BackStage West -- CRITICS PICK: "Eloquent and nearly divine...Chris Covics helms the project with visionary style and emotional intensity; Dan Oliverio serves as assistant director. They not only dazzle us with their theatrical passion but also have placed us inside it...The ensemble is superb. Its dedication to storytelling is mesmerizing. The temptation of Eve seems hauntingly real, and that of Adam, even more so. The discovery of the word "kill" and its meaning is heartbreaking as witnessed by the memorable portrayal of Cain and Abel. The costumes, the sound, the set décor — all perfectly fulfill a uniform vision."
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LA Weekly -- GO: "AFFECTING… a renewed pertinence to our times… [The Serpent] really does take us back to the Garden of Eden, and a reinvigorated meditation on what, exactly, has happened to us… a barefoot ensemble of 12… stand, move and even breathe as a singular organism. Covics shoots narrow beams of light across the black sand, like rays streaming through a cathedral’s stained glass. A riveting… often moving service."
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Beverly Press: "Director/designer Chris Covics has once again achieved memorable stylizations for you to take home with you in his storytelling. His visuals are mesmerizing and chilling, his renderings of text profound. (PDF coming soon)"
About The Serpent
In a passionate ceremony twelve ensemble members bring you on a journey of movement, sound, and unforgettable poetry. It is a ritual designed to give the actors and audience an opportunity to challenge and honor the beliefs and ideas that define them. Originally created by the Open Theatre in 1967, The Serpent is realized again through the synthesis of 1960s improvisational physical theater and Unknown Theater’s own audacious and evocative style.
Opening with a rigorous examination of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the ceremony turns to the Book of Genesis, to search for meaning, resonance, and the roots of this enduring presence of violence and fear. It is within these communal stories from our beginning that The Serpent simultaneously embraces and struggles with the consequences of antecedent decisions we cannot change and the possibilities still left for us to choose. No longer in the beginning and unknowing of the end, it is in these ancient stories we now find hope. Re-imagining the stage at Unknown Theater, Chris Covics has constructed a modern day arena filled with 3,000 lbs of dirt. Performer and audience alike sit within the ritualized ring, surrounded by a 14’ tall scrim cylinder of projected images and light. A cacophony of alluring sights and sounds, The Serpent is a wildly theatrical experience that you will never forget.
There will be no Sunday evening performance on March 18, 2007.
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