Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Final week of the New York Neo-Futurists (un)afraid

"Newcomers and those familiar with the Neo-Futurism aesthetic alike will be struck by the raw honesty of the performers, and the lengths to which they are willing to confront their own fears." -...Ology.com

"(un)afraid is a bold stab at all that scares."  - nytheatre.com
 
"(un)afraid is entertaining, challenging, strange and smart. I say go, brave the front seats, and accept the whiskey."  -OffOffOnline

Ricardo Gamboa & Daniel McCoy


This horror show and fear experiment from the New York Neo-Futurists celebrates and examines the concept, causes, and consequences of fear, both in our society and in ourselves.

Final Performances:

Wednesday, November 3rd at 7:30 pm
Thursday, November 4th at 7:30 pm
Friday, November 5th at 7:30 pm & 10:00 pm
Saturday, November 6th at 7:30 pm & 10:00 pm

Tickets are $18.00 ($12 Student rush with valid I.D.) Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.nynf.org, or by calling 212-352-3101. Tickets may also be purchased at the theatre’s box office half hour before curtain.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

CRITICAL MASS Premieres at Off-Broadway's Lion Theatre, Oct 22nd -NYC

Heiress Productions is pleased to present the world premiere of CRITICAL MASS, by Joanne Sydney Lessner, directed by Donald Brenner (December Fools, A Tale of Two Cities). CRITICAL MASS will play a 3-week limited engagement at The Lion @ Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Performances begin Friday, October 22nd through Sunday, November 7th. Proceeds from CRITICAL MASS will benefit The Lustgarten Foundation, dedicated to funding pancreatic cancer research.

Press are cordially invited Friday, October 22nd  at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, October 23rd at 8:00 pm & Sunday, October 24th  at 3:00 p.m.
(Unofficial press dates will be accommodated, upon request.)

In Joanne Sydney Lessner’s new hilarious revenge comedy, a pair of married opera critics are forced to reexamine their priorities when the tenor whose career they ruined moves in with them.

Carrie Greenlea is an opera critic who enjoys skewering singers for everything from bad high notes to bad nose jobs. Her husband and fellow critic, Norman, prefers to equivocate rather than hurt anyone’s feelings. When Stefano Donato, a mediocre Italian tenor whose career they have jointly ruined, moves in with them, he proceeds to exact revenge. Events reach critical mass when their household is further invaded by their Bette Davis-impersonating editor; a marginally talented, but resourceful soprano; and Stefano’s desperate wife. For Critical Mass, playwright Joanne Sydney Lessner drew on her own experience reviewing recordings and performances for Opera News over the past decade.

“Writing Critical Mass was my way of working through what I consider to be a solemn responsibility,” says Lessner. “To find the comedy, I took one of my fears as a critic – finding myself face to face with someone whose performance I didn’t like – and drew it out to the extreme. There are moments when the play borders on farce, and there’s a fair helping of operatic excess, but it does explore, quite seriously, the nature and purpose of arts criticism. I think critics can lose sight of the fact that they have the power not just to derail a single career, but also to squelch a vulnerable art form. But because I’m still also an active performer, I can appreciate both sides of the equation.”

Featuring Aaron Davis*, Laura Faith, Marc Geller*, Zac Hoogendyk*, Shorey Walker*, and Leigh Williams*.

Mary Willis White and Laura Faith are the producing directors. Set design by Chris Minard, costume design by Ashley Rose Horton, lighting design by Melissa Mizell, and sound design by Hidenori Nakajo. The production stage manager is Taylor Crampton.

CRITICAL MASS
plays the following schedule through Sunday, November 7th:

Wednesdays through Fridays at 8pm
Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm (there will be no Saturday matinee on 10/23)
Sundays at 3pm

Tickets are $18 and are now available online at www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Row Box Office, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Running time: 2 hours including one intermission

For more information visit www.heiressproductions.org
Photos available at http://picasaweb.google.com/kampfirefilms/CriticalMass#


*Appearing Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
Equity Approved Showcase.

Monday, October 04, 2010

QUICKEST WAY TO GET TO HARLEM -- Show Business Weekly

Travlin’ Score by J.C. Johnson and Friends, Book by Gary Holmes and Allan Shapiro
Directed and Choreographed by Paul Stancato

It might still be to take the A train, as the old song goes, but you’ll want to head for midtown — West 36th Street, to be exact — for the new musical Trav’lin, which follows the romantic travails of three couples, in their 50s, 30s and 20s, learning about love in 1930s-era Harlem, which opens October 11 at the TBG Theatre as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. With a tuneful, jazzy period score, Trav’lin aims to rediscover the music of Harlem Renaissance songwriter J.C. Johnson, a friend and colleague of such musical icons as Fats Waller, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, and features such New York musical theater vets as Brenda Braxton, Randy Donaldson, Michael Jean Dozier, Doug Eskew, Karla Mosley and Soara-Joye Ross. Paul Stancato directs and choreographs. Visit www.travlinthemusical.com. (INSIDE INK By John Rowell, Show Business Weekly)

Monday, Oct 11th, 2010 at 8:00 pm 
Tuesday, Oct 12th, 2010 at 1:00 pm 
Wednesday, Oct 13th, 2010 at 8:00 pm 
Friday, Oct 15th, 2010 at 4:30 pm 
Saturday, Oct 16th, 2010 at 1:00 pm 
Sunday, Oct 17th, 2010 at 4:30 pm 

TBG Theatre, 312 West 36th Street

Friday, September 10, 2010

Interview: Dominic D'Andrea, Curator of the New York One-Minute Play Fes...


THE NEW YORK ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL and ASTORIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER are pleased to announce THE 4TH ANNUAL NEW YORK ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL. September 25 and September26 at 8:00pm, at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church (30-44 Crescent St, Astoria, NY 11102. Entrance on 30th Road.)

It's theater boiled down to its essence. Sixty Seconds from lights up to lights down. The much-anticipated short-form theatre festival returns for its fourth year in partnership with the red-hot Astoria Performing Arts Center! Curated by Dominic D'Andrea, the program will present over 80 plays – each under sixty seconds- by some of the most exciting emerging and established writers in American Theatre.

The 2010 One-Minute Play Festival Playwrights include David Simpatico, Daniel McCoy, Michael Golmaco, Meghan Sass, Joshua Conkel, Matt Gunn Park, Corina Copp, Laurel Haines, Erica Saleh, Bekah Brunstetter, Janine Nabers, Alexis Clements, Eric Bland, Peter Gil-Sheraton, Jen Silverman, Mallery Avidon, Anna Moench, Eric Winick, Maya Macdonald, Paul Thureen & Hannah Bos, James Carter, Tanya Saracho, Micah Bucey, Tom X. Chao, Rose Martula, Andrea Ciannavei, Enrique Urueta, Ben Cikanek, Liz Duffy Adams, Michael Bradford, Robert Saietta, Tommy Smith, Alejandro Morales, Avi Glickstein, Webb Wilcoxen, and more!

Participating Alumni Playwrights are Matthew Paul Olmos, Michael John Garces, Adam Szymkowicz, Callie Kimball, Sibyl Kempson, Caridad Svich, Christine Evans, Clay McLeod Chapman, Anton Dudley, Qui Nguyen, & Saviana Stanescu.

The Directors will be Robert Ross Parker (Co-Artistic Director of the Obie Award winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company), Scott Ebersold (Co-Artistic Director, Packawallop Productions), Jordana Williams (Gideon Productions), Dominic D'Andrea (Festival Curator), Morgan Gould (Associate Director, Young Jean Lee's Theatre Company), Melanie Williams (Artistic Director, Red Fern Theatre Company), & Tom Wojtinik (Artistic Director of APAC).


The 4th Annual New York-One Minute Play Festival will play:

Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 8pm
Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 8pm

Tickets are $18, available online at www.apacny.org or by calling 212-352-3101. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Box Office, 30 minutes prior to the performance.

Directions to the theatre: Take the N or Q Subway to 30th Avenue. Walk down 30th Ave. to Crescent St. (Mount Sinai Hospital is on the corner.) Turn left on Crescent Street, then turn right on 30th Road. The entrance is the second set of red doors on your left.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

The Great Unknown


The New York Musical Theatre Festival, Patricia Miller and DiStar Productions/Diana Glazer are pleased to announce the world premiere production of  William Hauptman and Jimm Wann’s THE GREAT UNKNOWN, choreographed by Liza Gennaro and directed by Don Stephenson. THE GREAT UNKNOWN will play a limited engagement at the Theater at St. Clement’s (423 West 46th Street, NYC). Performances begin Tuesday, October 5 and continue through Saturday, October 16.

The Great Unknown is a jubilant Americana musical about big dreams and even bigger risks.

Hoping to inspire and revive a fractured nation, one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell leads a daring expedition of veterans down the Colorado River to the Grand Canyon, in the spring of 1869. Aware of the physical dangers, Major Powell barely anticipates the emotional and spiritual challenges of the trip, leading back to the War. 

The guide of the expedition is Somers, who escaped from slavery and embraced the new world of the West.  Major Powell’s wife Emma Dean, a noted environmentalist of the day, is present in the minds and hearts of both Major Powell and his brother Walter, a survivor of Andersonville prison; as they are in hers.

With a contemporary folk/musical theatre score enhanced by environmental elements, The Great Unknown is an American musical adventure.

The production stars Tom Hewitt (Broadway: title role in Dracula, The Musical; Frank ‘N’ Furter in The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), The Boys From Syracuse, Scar in The Lion King, The Sisters Rosenzweig) as Powell, Dan Amboyer (Play About the Naked Guy) as his brother Walter, Kristin Maloney (NYMF Alum War Brides and Liberty Smith) as his wife Emma and Bobby Daye (Broadway: Shrek, The Color Purple, The Lion King, and Smokey Joe’s Café) as Somers.

The production features scenic/props design by Edward K. Ross, costume design by Martin T. Lopez, and lighting design by Christopher E. Edwards. The sound designer is Daryl Bornstein.

Ritt Henn (Associate Music Director) will lead an onstage band of musicians composed of Liz Queler, Spiff Wiegand and Robin Daniels.

The Great Unknown plays the following schedule:

Tuesday, Oct 5th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Wednesday, Oct 6th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Sunday, Oct 10th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Wednesday, Oct 13th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Friday, Oct 15th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Saturday, Oct 16th, 2010 at 1:00 pm

Tickets are $20 and are available online at http://www.nymf.org/show-1393.html

Running Time: 95 minutes

Website: www.greatunknownmusical.com

Monday, August 30, 2010

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

MTWorks Announces 2010-11 Season


A Home Across The Ocean

Winner of three Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Awards, Maieutic Theatre Works (MTWorks) is pleased to announce their 2010-2011 Season beginning September 16th, 2010.

The season will feature two world premieres, A Home Across The Ocean by Louisiana native and LGBTQ journalist Cody Daigle (Providence, Life/Play), and The Family Shakespeare by Georgia native and MTWorks' Artistic Director, David Stallings (Barrier Island, Anaïs Nin Goes To Hell). Directors Dev Bondarin (Gallery Players, Prospect Theatre Company) and Nicole A. Watson (Urban Stages, 52nd Street Project) are slated to direct.

"This has been an exciting year for MTWorks" - shares Artistic Director David Stallings - "we are proudly moving into our fifth season with two plays vastly different in style, yet centered around family. A Home Across the Ocean is a poignant story that plays with the struggles that emerge when forming a gay family, exploring themes that are riddling today's papers. On the other hand, The Family Shakespeare is a play set in the eighteenth century exploring a fictionalized life of four siblings who in reality censored the complete works of William Shakespeare."

The season will also include the company's annual reading series, The National NewBorn Festival; their director development program, Variations (this year showcasing Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca); and their annual benefit featuring Broadway understudies, Underworld, along with additional workshops, talkbacks and special events.

This marks MTWorks' fourth year developing new plays inspired by playwrights and regions outside of New York.

Dates are confirmed for A Home Across The Ocean, playing from September 16th through October 2nd at Off-Broadway's Theatre Row Complex (410 W 42nd St), with performances on Tuesdays at 7pm, and Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm. Tickets are on sale at www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. Tickets are also available at Theatre Row's box office open from 12pm - 8pm.

For more information visit www.MTWorks.org







For press inquiries contact Antonio [at] KampfireFilmsPR [dot] com

30 Half-Nekkid Plays In 60 Half-Nekkid Minutes


Recently nominated for two New York Innovative Theatre Awards, NEW YORK NEO-FUTURISTS are pleased to present their 2nd Annual Half-Nekkid special edition of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND: 30 HALF-NEKKID PLAYS IN 60 HALF-NEKKID MINUTES will be presented at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003) on Friday, August 20th and Saturday, August 21st at 10:30pm.

Press is cordially invited to all performances.

The event that needs little introduction (and even less clothing) is here. A special half-naked version of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind will be performed the weekend of August 20th-21st. See the New York Neo-Futurists perform their award-winning blend of personal, political, hilarious and absurd short plays...in their short pants.

But that’s not all!

Immediately after the first performance (Friday, August 20th), you can join the Neos as they half-streak New York City on a midnight run from the East River to the Hudson on 14th Street.

Audience members who join in on the half-nakedness receive a discount at the door.

Featuring fearless Neo-Futurists Christopher Borg, Cara Francis, Ryan Good, Nicole Hill, Rob Neill, Joey Rizzolo and Lauren Sharpe.

Tickets are $10.00 plus the roll of a six-sided die ($11-$16) at the door. Advance tickets are $16.00 and can be purchased online at www.nyneofuturists.org, or by calling 212-352-3101.

For more information visit http://www.nyneofuturists.org  

For press inquiries contact Antonio [at] KampfireFilmsPR [dot] com