New York City's Target Margin Theater at UNL April 23-24

            The Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium at the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln celebrates its fourth season this spring with an exploration of "The Ancient World Seen Through Modern Eyes." The season examines how the performing arts have returned consistently to classical antiquity and ancient mythologies to make sense of the contemporary.

            IAS will present New York City's award-winning Target Margin Theater live at the Lied Center for Performing Arts' Johnny Carson Theater at 7 p.m. April 23 and 24 in a double-bill performances of "The Argument" and "Dinner Party." The productions are updated (and sometimes irreverent) interpretations of classic works by Aristotle and Plato.

            "I am thrilled to bring David Greenspan and his company to Lincoln for the first time ever this month. They enjoy an international reputation for updating classic works. TMT will delight and intrigue audiences," said Rhonda Garelick, founder and artistic director of IAS.

            "The Argument" is written and performed by Greenspan, fresh from his Obie award-winning performance as Mephisto in last season's "Faust," his latest collaboration with Target Margin. Based on both Aristotle's "Poetics" and the essays of Gerald F. Else, "The Argument" is a passionate student's love letter and farewell to his teacher -- a reminder of the personal pathos that binds us to the Greeks.

            An artful and loose adaptation of Plato's "Symposium," "Dinner Party" takes on love from every angle, delving into the original text with gusto to bring out the philosophy and lust, language and appetite, and the abstract challenges to our dearly held prejudices.

            Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for students and free to UNL students, staff and faculty. Tickets are available through the Lied Center Ticket Office, 301 N. 12th St., online at http://www.liedcenter.org or at 402-472-4747. UNL students can see the performance free of charge by reserving a ticket at http://marketplace.unl.edu/liedcenter. The entrance to the Johnny Carson Theater is one-half block north of 12th and Q streets.

            Target Margin Theater was founded in 1991 by David Herskovits on the principle that works of art return us to real truths more powerfully by their divergence from a strict illustration of reality. Through classic and contemporary texts, the company seeks to continuously expand its conception of what can take place in a theater, creating aggressively re-imagined versions of classics and new creations inspired by existing sources.

            Recent Target Margin directing credits for David Herskovits, founder and artistic director of TMT, include "Second Language" and "A Family of Perhaps Three" at The Chocolate Factory; "The Really Big Once" at The Ontological; "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real" and "As Yet Thou Art Young and Rash" at The Ohio Theatre; "Old Comedy" at Classic Stage Co.; and "The Argument" and "Dinner Party" at The Kitchen. He also directed the company's production of Goethe's "Faust," Parts I and II, which opened to wide acclaim at Classic Stage Co. in 2006 after three years of development. His 1998 production of "Mamba's Daughters" by Dorothy and DuBose Heyward won an Obie for the TMT.

            The Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium is devoted to bringing new and exciting work to UNL and Lincoln, and to fostering appreciation and understanding of the performing arts. IAS is sponsored by a generous grant from the Hixson-Lied Endowment, and presented, in part, with the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Information on all IAS 2013 events can be found at http://www.unl.edu/ias.

Writer: Shannon McClure