Four-Part, Eleven-Hour \'Life and Times\' To Be Part of Soho Rep Season

By FELICIA R. LEE

The American premiere of “Life and Times, Episodes 1-4,” an 11-hour opus from the celebrated experimental troupe Nature Theater of Oklahoma, will be part of Soho Rep's 2012-2013 season, the theater announced on Wednesday.

Based on 16 hours of recordings in which one woman tells her life story over the course of 10 telephone conversations, “Life and Times” has been produced widely in Europe, as well as in Japan, Canada and Singapore.

“The scale of it has definitely played a role in why it hasn't been seen here before,” Caleb Hammons, the producer at Soho Rep, said on Wednesday. It will take a collaborative effort: the Burgtheater in Vienna is a coproducer, and the production will be staged at the Public Theater as part of its annual Under the Radar Festival.

Nature Theater's “No Dice” was a hit at Soho Rep in 2007 and its riff on “Romeo and Juliet” played the Kitchen in 2009. Both have also b een done at theater festivals around the world.

“Life and Times” is drawn verbatim from a conversation with Kristin Worrall - “All the pauses, all the ‘likes' and ‘ands' will be included,” Mr. Hammons said - and features dramaturgy by Florian Malzacher, design by Peter Nigrini and original music by Robert M. Johanson, Julie LaMendola and Daniel Gower.

Episode one, which begins with the phone caller's birth and continues to age 8, was created in 2009. The last two completed episodes explore the high school years. Eventually, the project will run to 10 episodes, with upcoming segments taking the form of a book, a film and a radio play.

The show, which can be seen in installments or as a marathon, will run at the Public from January 16- February 2, 2013.

On Wednesday Soho Rep also announced the first production in its season, the New York premiere of “We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Sou th West Africa, from the German Sudwestafrika Between the Years 1884-1915” by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Eric Ting is the director.

The play - about a troupe of American actors putting on a play about genocide - will be staged at Soho Rep's Walker Street home from November 7 â€" Dec. 2.