From acclaimed Canadian writer-director Robert Lepage comes the U.S. East Coast premiere of The Andersen Project, presented by the Kimmel Center at the Merriam Theater of the University of the Arts.

The boundary-pushing work is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's stories "The Dryad" and "The Shadow," as well as anecdotes drawn from the famed Danish author's Parisian travels. The one-man show, starring French-Canadian actor Yves Jacques, draws on some of Lepage's favorite themes: the juxtaposition of past and present, of Romanticism and Modernism, and of established and underground art forms. In this fascinating theater piece, Lepage also delves into more clandestine territories--sexual identity, unfulfilled fantasies and the thirst for recognition and fame--that derive from Andersen's life and writings, to serve as a filigree to the modern tale.