Sossy Mechanics September 24, 2005

Sossy Mechanics will present their award-winning show, titled ?Trick Boxing,? on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. at the Carleton College Arena Theater. The event is free and open to the public and reservations are not required.

Sossy Mechanics combines the talents of Brian Sostek, Carleton class of 1990, and Megan McClellan. Beginning in 2000, Sossy Mechanics has developed a devoted public following and garnered international critical acclaim for creating storytelling dances that recall Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

?Trick Boxing? premiered in Minneapolis in 2002 and has been performed in London and New York as well as a number of fringe festivals. It has won numerous awards including Audience Favorite and Artistic Pick at the 2003 Seattle Fringe Festival and a Critic?s Choice and Spirit of the Fringe at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A reviewer in The Scotsman wrote, ?[The show] is a uniquely lovely blending of genres and dramatic tones that make a wonderful, touching, spine-tingling captivating piece of storytelling, which doesn't merely warm the cockles of your heart, it flambés them.?

The story involves a young man, Danny, indebted to a street tough who saved his life. Danny reluctantly becomes a boxer to repay the man. While training, he meets a dancer named Bella who teaches him a few moves of her own. However, there are questions about Danny?s meteoric rise to the boxing championships. The story of true love is told through physical comedy, rapid-fire dialogue, high-energy dance numbers, puppetry and?of course?boxing.

McClellan's first professional dance job was portraying a "water molecule" at a sewage treatment facility for site-specific choreographer Marylee Hardenbergh. Seen on three continents, her performance range includes pounding out percussive dance with Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum, performing the contemporary repertoire of Shapiro & Smith Dance, cheerleading for Miss Richfield 1981 and performing a tango in a Los Angeles night club.

Since joining forces with Sostek in 2000, she has added writing, acting and choreography to her repertoire. Together they have created works for several theater companies in Minneapolis and Saint Paul and have toured their own shows at theaters and festivals across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. In 2003, McClellan was awarded a McKnight Artist Fellowship in Dance administered by the Southern Theater and funded by the McKnight Foundation.

Sostek's performance exploits have ranged from acting in some of Hollywood's most quickly cancelled sitcoms to touring internationally with Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum. Over the past fifteen years, he has parlayed his background in various dance forms, his life-long experience with comedy and his fascination with verbal and physical play into a successful career in the arts. From the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to the Sundance Channel, his award-winning work has earned him a reputation as a "brilliantly versatile" actor, dancer, choreographer and writer. Sostek, who grew up in Northfield, is the son of Ed Sostek, Carleton professor emeritus, and the late Toni Sostek.

The Carleton Committee for the Study of the Arts is sponsoring the event. The Arena Theater has limited disability accessibility. For more information or disability accommodations, call the Arena Theater office at (507) 646-4471.