The Walker Art Center and the Guthrie Theater present Robert Lepage's Theatrical Marvel 887
“This unostentatious, meticulously crafted two-hour performance is touching, intimate, powerful.” —The Guardian (UK)
“There are many technological marvels — a signature of Mr. Lepage’s work — but they’re humanely scaled and rarely deployed for their own sake. Raw emotional force builds from the accretion of slight moments of remembrance and discovery.” —The New York Times Critics’ Pick
The shabby apartment complex at 887 Murray Avenue, Quebec City, Canada, where renowned director Robert Lepage spent his youth becomes a cabinet of wonders in this tour-de-force solo work. Written, directed, and performed by Lepage, 887 presents a bewitching, high-tech dollhouse populated with miniature neighbors and family members as well as the stories embedded in the rooms and walls. As he revisits his childhood home and other brilliantly reconfigured spaces from his past and present—among them his current Quebec City flat and the front seat of his father’s taxi—he unearths a life’s worth of memories, sifting in the process through the things we can’t quite remember and the things we can’t forget.
Presented in the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater on Wednesday, April 4 – Saturday, April 7 at 8 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, April 7. Run time: 2 hours.
Meet Lepage
Join in for an opening night post-show reception and have a chance to meet the artist.
Co-presented with the Guthrie Theater.
Canadian performing artist, playwright and director Robert Lepage is known for his avant-garde and innovative work with drama and opera as one of theater’s most honored artists. His multidisciplinary company Ex Machina combines an array of actors, writers, video artists, musicians and more to create a theater that connects to its audiences in multimedia-rich presentations. Founded in 1994, his team has produced a number of plays such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1995) and The Seven Streams of the River Ota (1994). Lepage’s first interests were sparked in geography until later uncovering his interest in all forms of art. Transitioning from theater, to film, to opera and more, his work has won several awards such as the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and the Festival de l’Union des Theatres de l’Europe’s Prix Europe award.
The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, Artistic Director) was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963 and is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training, dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature and to cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Under Haj’s leadership, the Guthrie is guided by four core values: Artistic Excellence; Community; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and Fiscal Responsibility. The Guthrie produces a mix of classic and contemporary plays on three stages and continues to set a national standard for excellence in theatrical production and performance, serving nearly 400,000 patrons annually. In 2006, the Guthrie opened a new home, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, located on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Open to the public year-round, it houses three state-of-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms, full-service restaurants and dramatic public lobbies. guthrietheater.org