Gentrifusion opens Jan 27

Award winning playwrights expose the truth behind the gentrification of New York

RED FERN THEATRE COMPANY

Proudly Presents the World Premiere of

GENTRIFUSION

photo by Dennis W. Ho

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT

JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 13, 2011

THE LABA THEATRE AT THE 14TH STREET Y

OPENING NIGHT IS SATURDAY, JANUARY 29 AT 8 P.M.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT REDFERNTHEATRE.ORG

RED FERN THEATRE COMPANY, Artistic Director, Melanie Moyer Williams, and Artistic Producers, Andrea Day and Kel Haney, are pleased to announce the world premiere production of GENTRIFUSION a series of short plays searching for the truth behind the gentrification of New York. GENTRIFUSION performs in a three-week limited engagement at the LABA Theatre at the 14^th Street Y (344 East 14th Street between First and Second Avenues). As per the mission of Red Fern Theatre Company, that each production is paired with a philanthropy whose work relates to the social themes of the play, GENTRIFUSION partnership will be announced. Performances begin Thursday, January 27 and continue through Sunday, February 13. Opening Night is Saturday, January 29 (8 p.m.).

PRESS PERFORMANCES: Friday, January 28 & Saturday January 29 (Press will be accommodated at all future performances.)

In GENTRIFUSION, playwrights Carla Ching, Joshua Conkel, Michael John Garcés, Jon Kern, Janine Nabers and Crystal Skillman, explore the different truths surrounding the gentrification of New York’s neighborhoods. The playwrights were charged with breaking down the cliched idea of "gentrification".  Their pieces dig deeper to address the ways that change both improves and diminishes a community.  All residents are given voice in this series, ultimately discovering that both long time residents and the new crop of gentrifiers benefit and suffer in different measures and different ways.

Directors include John Giameptro, Colette Robert, and Moritz von Stuelpnagel

The production features scenic and costume design by Katherine Akiko Day and lighting design by Marie Yokoyama. Michal V. Mendelson is the production stage manager and and projections have been created by photojournalist and documentary filmmaker, Dennis Ho (http://dwho.com/images.html).

GENTRIFUSION plays the following schedule through Sunday, February 13:

Thursdays at 8 p.m.

Fridays at 8 p.m.

Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Sundays at 3 p.m.  (Super Bowl Sunday, February 6 at 2pm)

            Additional performance on Monday, February 7 at 7pm.

Tickets are $25 and are now available online at www.theatermania.com or by calling 866.811.4111. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater box office ½ hour prior to the performance.

Running Time: 120 minutes (with intermission)

Website: www.redferntheatre.org

Location:                                 LABA Theatre at the 14^th Street Y

                                                344 East 14th Street between First and Second Avenues

                                                4/5/6/N/R/Q to Union Square; L to First Avenue

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Our 2010-2011 Season is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.

The Dramatist Guild Fund, The Josephine Foundation, and The Puffin Foundation, Ltd, have also made generous grants to make the 2010-2011 Season possible.

BIOGRAPHIES

 

THE RED FERN THEATRE COMPANY (RFTC), founded in March 2006, strives to provoke social awareness and change through its theatrical productions and outreach.  Each play produced by the Red Fern Theatre Company addresses social issues that range in scope from local to global.  Each production is paired with a philanthropy whose work relates to the social themes of the play.  We educate our audience on the philanthropy’s mission, and a portion of the ticket sales from each play produced is donated to the designated philanthropy. By forming this association, RFTC is able to respond directly to the people affected by the issues addressed in the play.  To date, Red Fern has produced the revivals of ten plays, one New York premiere, and the World premiere of a commissioned collection of short plays.  The RFTC is a 501(c)(3) organization.  All donations are tax exempt to the fullest extent of the law.  Please visit us at www.redferntheatre.org.

"Too Much Light" returns Jan 7 to the Kraine-

"A surreal exercise in channel-surfing"-Time Out New York

“An entertaining forum for discussing the issues”-the New Yorker

"Like the glory days of Saturday Night Live,
Too Much Light is not just funny but faintly surreal." -Backstage

2010 NY Innovative Theatre Caffe Cino Fellowship Award Winners

Recipients of The 2009 NY Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Ensemble

Best Performance Artists in New York -2009 Village Voice Reader's Poll

 photo by Anton Nickel

TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND RETURNS JAN 7
& LAIKA DOG IN SPACE HEADS TO CHICAGO FEB 5 –MAR 12

After a sold-out two weeks of Best Of 2010, the NEW YORK NEO-FUTURISTS are back in 2011 with their ongoing, award-winning show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind beginning Friday, January 7th at the Kraine Theater (85 East 4th St). Performances take place Fridays and Saturdays at 10:30pm.

Join Roberta Colindrez, Cara Francis, Ryan Good, Alicia Harding, Christopher Loar and Dan McCoy as they launch the New York Neo-Futurists sixth year of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, an ever-changing, lightening-paced attempt to perform 30 Plays in 60 Minutes.

Members of the 2011 New York Neo-Futurists ensemble are Jill Beckman, Christopher Borg, Alicia Chaisson, Roberta Colindrez, Jeffrey Cranor, Cara Francis, Ryan Good, Eevin Hartsough, Nicole Hill, Jacquelyn Landgraf, Erica Livingston, Christopher Loar, Dan McCoy, Rob Neill, Joey Rizzolo, Lauren Sharpe and Adam Smith.

Tickets are $11.00 plus the roll of a six-sided die ($12-$16) at the door. Advance tickets are $17.00 and can be purchased online at www.nyneofuturists.org, or by calling 212-352-3101.

The New York Neo-Futurists are also headed to Chicago with their 2009 acclaimed prime-time show Laika Dog in Space, created by Rob Neill, Eevin Hartsough  & Jill Beckman, under the direction of Phil Ridarelli, with music by Carl Riehl. Performances begin Friday, February 3^rd and continue through March 12^th, 2011 at The Neo-Futurarium (5153 N. Ashland, Chicago).

Drawing inspiration from the famed French children's story "The Little Prince," and the 1960's cult television show "The Prisoner", the New York Neo-Futurists interpreted the story of Laika, the first mammal in space, for the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator in 2009.  Now they are bringing their take on Laika's experience to the Neo-mothership.  Puppetry, dance, art installations, live music, and a serving of borscht shuttle audience members back to the mid-50's Soviet space program.  The local production fuses Chicago elements to the NY original through musicians, direction and appearances by Chicago Neos. 

Performances for Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind in New York City will continue during the run of Laika Dog in Space.

For more information visit www.neofuturists.org

THE NEW YORK NEO-FUTURISTS are an ensemble of dynamic writer/performer/directors who present the critically acclaimed, energetic show of original short plays, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind--a non-illusory collage of the comic and tragic, the political and personal, the visceral and experimental, while embracing chance, change, and chaos.  Developing out of the format that has been a success in Chicago since 1988, the New York Neo-Futurists have roots in NYC from the mid 90’s.  Since opening TML in New York, they have created over 2000 plays and continue to present new and vital work every weekend in the East Village. For more info: www.nynf.org

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 3^rd 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.

Have you seen Cymbeline? Only four performances remain to this acclaimed show!

Click HERE for tickets!!!

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.

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

QUICKEST WAY TO GET TO HARLEM

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

Tickets only $20 at http://www.nymf.org/show-1382.html

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.

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 46^th 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

Meet Connor

MTWorks Announces 2010-11 Season

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