Basil Twist, Kneehigh Theatre, et al. Set for 2009 Spoleto Festival

Spoleto Festival USA has announced programming for its 2009 season to be held in Charleston, South Carolina, May 22-June 7.

Theater-related events will include award-winning puppeteer Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi, which both revives and pays homage to the rarefied Japanese stage technique of the same name; director Jay Scheib and New York punk band World/Inferno Friendship Society’s punk cabaret operetta Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre’s 20th Century, about silver screen legend Peter Lorre; Britain’s Kneehigh Theatre’s U.S. premiere of Don John, inspired by Mozart’s Don Giovanni; Dutch theater ensemble Kassys’ Good Cop Bad Cop; and Welsh artist Hugh Hughes performing the winsome Story of a Rabbit.

Additional highlights will include a new production of Gustave Charpentier’s opera Louise, directed by Sam Helfrich with Ukrainian-American soprano Stefania Dovhan in the title role; Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in its 50th anniversary tour; a series of events honoring chamber music series artistic director Charles Wadsworth; jazz vocalist René Marie; Spain’s Noche Flamenca with lead dancer Soledad Barrio; and the Tierney Sutton Band.

For further information, and a complete line-up, visit www.spoletousa.org.