Needcompany Isabella's Room

"Theater of extraordinary vitality and imaginative power."
—New York Times

Brussels-based theater ensemble Needcompany appear in Columbus for the American premiere of this production. Part of the same wave of Flemish performers as Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Rosas and Wim Vandekeybus, Needcompany are considered peers of The Wooster Group and similarly respected as influential creators of new theatrical language.

Jan Lauwers, artistic director of Needcompany, was inspired to create Isabella's Room, the story of the fictional Isabella Morandi, by his inheritance of a collection of ethnological and archaeological objects from his father. Born blind, Isabella lives a withdrawn existence in a room in Paris. She becomes a participant in a scientific experiment in which a camera projects images of a collection of objects directly into her brain, and the objects become her obsession. A richly imagistic story of passion and love, Isabella's Room reflects the turbulence and accelerated pace of our culture as it amplifies the interior world of its principal character. Isabella is portrayed by Viviane De Muynck, renowned as one of the most accomplished actors of the European vanguard.


support credits

Theater season presented by Altria Group, Inc.

Major support for the performing arts season provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Additional season support provided by the Ohio Arts Council and the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation.