Isabelle Kralj hasreceived five grants from the Slovenian government and the U.S. Embassy tocreate new works in Ljubljana, Slovenia, withdancers and composers from the European nation. In 2006, she created aperformance using the music of Vlado Kreslin, Slovenia’smost beloved singer/songwriter. Now, with her co-director in Theatre Gigante,Mark Anderson, and two esteemed Milwaukeedance artists, Janet Lilly and Simone Ferro, Kralj has made a newhybrid-theater piece to Kreslin’s music. Thanks to the Slovenian government,Kreslin is here to perform the score live with Seth Warren-Crow adding drums. Three Other Sisters premieres March11-13 at the Off-Broadway Theatre with shows at 8 p.m. In addition, Kreslinwill give a solo concert of his music and the Slovenian folk music thatinfluenced him 3 p.m. Sunday, March 14, also at Off-Broadway. It’s no small thing: The Slovenianconsul general is coming and Slovenia’spresident is famously a fan.
A new work by Kralj andAnderson is also no small thing, and their partnership with Lilly and Ferro isexciting. Three Other Sisters isbased on a Montenegrin tale, unrelated to Chekhov’s play, of three sisters inlove with a sailor who promised himself to each of them, unbeknownst to theothers, then went to sea, never to return. In a mansion on the coast, thesisters wait until death for their Godot.
Kreslin also stands infor the missing sailor. Fragments of text, movement and music are arranged likethe stanzas of an epic poem or ballad. Why choose this story? Kralj said,“Because we all deal with yearning.” The creators imagined all thepossibilities of the women’s experiences, suspicions, dreams. The spoken textscame from the dancers answering questions in character: What did you do afterone year of waiting? Ten years? Twenty?
