Francis (canonized in 1228, two years after his death, in Assisi). Onstage at La MaMaвЂ™s Ellen Stewart Theatre through July 2, ClarkeвЂ™s latest piece is brilliantly executed and yet bewildering, especially to us poor Jews raised without much exposure to the texts and legends of St. Her more recent projects have included the powerful Angel Reapers, inspired by the Shakers and mounted at the Joyce and Signature theaters. The collaborative habits they developed in New Hampshire have served Clarke well over the decades, as she composed and mounted such landmark productions as Garden of Earthly Delights and Vienna: Lusthaus, and the ill-starred 1990 Endangered Species, which featured live animals and garnered hostile reviews. Member Alison Chase was at the time teaching at the college, Clarke was the wife of a resident artist at the then all-male campus, and the other four members of the original group were students. Francis of Assisi, unites two major forces in the New York theater community: La MaMa, the venerable East Village institution now celebrating its 61st year as an essential resource for experimental and international arts workers, and director Clarke, whoвЂ™s been changing the temperature of performing arts in this country for more than 50 years.Д¬larke, initially a Juilliard-trained dancer, emerged in 1972 as a founding member of the groundbreaking dance-theater troupe Pilobolus, which originated at Dartmouth. GodвЂ™s Fool, Martha ClarkeвЂ™s 70-minute encomium to St. A boar, a ram, a bear, a cardinal, a crow-all bear silent witness to the lost, starving, searching human figures in their midst.

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