Open Gate Theatre will be hosting "Sweet & Sour Love" on February 11 2007, an evening of collaboration amongst the company's talented performers and creators. An experimental video by Pip Abrigo entitled "The Black Rose," will also be featured. Read below for more info.
The Open Gate Ensemble is characterized by long term collaborations, with creative interactions happening over many years and many projects. It is also characterized by creative artists coming from a variety of disciplines. Instrumentalists, clowns, singers, a puppet/mask makers, dancers, and actors are all among the long time collaborators, as are writers, composers, choreographers, and visual artists. This set of collaborations has produced Operas (“Orestia”, “Orpheus”, “Atsumori”), musical plays (“Noman’s Return”, “Dionysus in Hell”, “Saul and David”, “Pinocchio”), dance dramas (“ Hecuba”, “Petros”, “Jacob”), extended dance pieces (“Night Spirit”, “Lightbreaking”, “Awakening”) and numerous other shorter works.

Open Gate has emphasized creating work over the business side. We have become adept at low budget/high ambition productions and avoided being stopped by funding variables. As a result we have been able to create, develop, and perform a great deal of work. We have also presented many concerts of other peoples work in music, dance, and drama. For over nine years we have produced Sunday Evening Music Series, a monthly concert series. In total we have presented more two hundred and fifty concerts; most in the Pasadena/Eagle Rock area.

“The Black Rose” is Pip Abrigo’s newest multimedia piece using still and moving images as well as motion footage. This experimental video is the newest collaboration piece with Aarin Richard, an accomplished music composer and sound designer/engineer, in more than a decade.

Featuring Christina Linhardt and Pyper Abrigo (Yes, Pip’s daughter), the piece is Pip’s first experimental approach to surreal story telling of true experiences of human lives. Using the current technology and technique in graphic, still animation/effects, and video editing, Pip is venturing the path to a new art and multimedia convergence.

The story is a depiction of the bride’s painful vigil after her groom’s tragic death. Showing a series of surreal images, the bride, played by Christina Linhardt, is found in her mental state of shock, anger and denial. Her eventual acceptance of her fate is realized with the help of a little girl (Pyper Abrigo).

This piece is dedicated to all who has experienced the lost of someone you loved.


Original works include
Pinocchio - ( Aug 2005) a children's musical based on Collodi
Hecuba - ( Oct. 2003) a dance drama based on Euripedes play, featuring the Javanese dancer Nanik Wenten as Hecuba.
Dionysus in Hell - (May 2003) a metaphysical musical comedy about theatre created from “The Frogs” by Aristophanes with clowning, unicycles, opera, and puppets.
Saul and David - (April 2001) a Biblical Masque based on the Bible text with Puppets, dance, and Actors.
Orphic Ritual - (April 1995 ; major revision August 2000) a Dance/Opera for percussion and singer/dancer based on the myth of Orpheus and Orphic Hymns
Agamemnon - (written 1999 -yet to be premiered ) a full length Opera based on Aeschylus; for a large cast, including instrumentalists, actors, singers, and dancers.
Orestia - (October 1993) a three section Opera based on Aeschylus; for a large cast, including instrumentalists, actors, singers, and dancers who all workshopped it’s creation
Jacob - (April 1992) based on the Biblical story - for Actor/musician/dancers.
Nomans Return - (May 1991, major revision 1999) a musical play based on the story of Odysseus told loosely from the suitors view
Awakening - (Jan 1991) a full evening dance work based on Betty Gonzales Nash own family, the Mexican flag, and the story of the Minotaur.
Light Breaking - (1990) a full evening dance work about birth
Heartbeaten - (1987) a performance art solo directed by Scott Kelman.
Petros - (Jan 1986 ) a dance piece based on the Peter and his relationship to Christ. For dancer, percussion, and a brass trio.
Night Spirit - (1979 revised Feb. 1989) a full length work for solo dancer and percussionist (Alex Cline) parallels the Shamans journey- with images pulled from cave paintings.

We have also done as several productions of collections of shorter works including “Fragments”, “Manzanito’s Cabaret”, “Archetypes and other Delights”, and “Night Scenes”.