Author: malinism

Bob Stromberg’s comic theatrical show That Wonder Boy is honored to be selected as a “Best of 10 Years” show for the 10th Anniversary season of the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City this October, performing at Theatre Row on October 5 at 2:00 p.m.

The show is a warm-hearted, laugh-out-loud exploration of life and art that begins with a flying baby and soars on a creative flight of laughter, joy and wonder through the eyes of a boy growing up in an artless environment, only to be blindsided by the beauty of art. Though his character’s story is unique, Stromberg has a way of evoking universal emotional moments that we all recognize.

Stromberg is a co-author and veteran performer of the international hit Triple Espresso—a highly caffeinated comedy and author of “The Wide-Eyed Creative” podcast. The Chicago Sun Times calls him “…a mesmerizing physical comedian” and the London Times, “…a genuinely funny man.”

That Wonder Boy is directed by Risa Brainin, an award-winning freelance director and Founder/Artistic Director of the groundbreaking new play development program LAUNCH PAD at UC Santa Barbara. Brainin formerly served on the artistic staff at the Guthrie Theater and has directed for numerous
theaters around the country. Music and soundscape are by composer/musical director Michael Pearce Donley, set and costumes by Nayna Ramey, lighting by Michael Klaers.

Performances at Theatre Row/Studio Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street (btw 9th & 10th Ave), NYC, NYSubways: A/C/E to 42nd Street. Tickets are $45.00 and are available at the Theatre Row Box Office or at http://unitedsolo.org/us/2019-thatwonderboy or by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200. Running time: 97 minutes

http://www.thatwonderboy.com

The stark drama of Farley’s stroke, and subsequent recovery, is woven into the fabric of a funny, fresh and musical cabaret. The unexpected journey she takes the audience on is a unique story, yet, full of universal truths. The realities and consequences of a stroke are realistically brought to life as Farley cracks her life open and inspects it with bravery, music, and humor.

Farley Cadena is a vivacious and beloved musical theatre actress, well known for her wickedly funny roles in The Producers, 42nd Street,Thoroughly Modern Millie, Urinetown, and many more, leaving her mark on regional Los Angeles stages. She shocked and stunned the theater community, in late 2017, when she experienced a sudden stroke. Ms. Cadena felt deeply lost, hopeless, frightened and helpless during her illness, bringing focus to simply returning to her ‘old self’, but her brain was just broken. Nonetheless, she dug deep into her recovery and gave herself the big crazy task of telling the tale of what transformed her life… out loud… with music… to an audience!
Now, theatergoers take a front row seat and get an inside view of her powerful, funny, and mixed up journey back to health, back to life and back to her voice.

Written & Performed by Farley Cadena
Directed by Kirsten Chandler
Music Direction by Anthony Zediker | Produced by Dion Mial Enterprises

Theatre Row/Studio Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10 Ave), NYC, NY 10036. Subways: A/C/E/ to 42nd Street, Tickets are $45 and available at http://unitedsolo.org/us/2019-strokeofluck/ or by calling Telecharge 212-239-6200. Running time: 90 minutes

After a successful run at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Allison is excited to stage the show in New York. Step Mama Drama! is based on true stories and personal experiences; stepmonsters and loving friends are included in this journey exploring the role of the stepmother. This new work looks at
the many facets of being a stepparent or stepchild. Allison hopes that you will enjoy the joys and the dramas found in Step Mama Drama!

This solo show is collection of monologues and song that reflects on the sometimes stressful, fun, odd, and exhausting role of the stepmother. Allison shares many of her own ups, downs, and discoveries through her experience as well as other perspectives that she has gathered through interviews. This journey is sometimes humorous as well as troubling and this solo show works to strike a balance of the extremes found in the role of being a stepmom. If you are, a stepparent or a mature stepchild this show is must see for you at the 2019 United Solo!

Allison is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama, and has performed in NYC at the East to Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the International Theatre Festival of Sibiu, Romania, Switzerland, and at ancient theatres in Greece.

TICKETS ($45 plus a $2.25 Theatre Restoration Charge) are available at the Theatre Row/Studio Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street (btw 9th & 10th Ave), NYC, NY 10036. Subways: A/C/E to 42nd Street. Tickets are available at the Theatre Row Box Office or at http://unitedsolo.org/us/2019-stepmamadrama/ or
by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200. Running time: 48 minutes.

Breakout Canadian playwright/actor, Melanie Teichroeb, brings her solo show to United Solo’s Tenth Anniversary season on October 31, 2019 at 7:30pm. Travel back to tenth century Sweden for a Norse RED Talk. Think TED Talks with a Viking twist. Viking warrior, Ingrid, worked hard to get where she is.
But it’s lonely at the top. She’s looking for the courageous and honourable to join her. You know, folks who know how to have fun and don’t mind the notion of a little death. This warrior is battle hardened but cracks in her emotional armour reveal a struggle with forces beyond her control. Rage, Sexuality, equality, grief and trauma are addressed with humour and compassion. Modern women can learn from Ingrid.

SHIELD MAIDEN is a clarion call that empowers everyone, especially women, to find their inner warrior. It also
invites men to be allies in the battle for equality. This fiery and funny feminist play is a response to #MeToo and #TimesUp. This play sells out festivals. Don’t miss out!

Shield Maiden Play

Finland Magician Robert Jägerhorn has been performing for the last two decades with notable performances at the legendary Magic Castle in Hollywood, Monday Night Magic in New York (off-Broadway), as well as performing his one-man show “Waiting for Hitchcock” in London, Stockholm, Edinburgh, Warsaw and New York. He is the recipient of numerous awards including The Magician of the Year (awarded by The Finnish Magic Circle) and Entertainer of the Year (awarded by The
Finnish Artist Association). Robert has been a full-time professional magician since 1997 with more than 1000 corporate clients. He has a Master’s degree in Theatre and Drama from The Theatre Academy of Finland.

This is a one man´s stand-alone stand-up pop-up show with magic!

A one man´s WHAT?! Robert Jägerhorn is a magician who brings onto the stage an intimate and personal show full of surprises. Robert throws himself into situations where objects are not what they seem to be, things appear from nowhere and he changes from one character to another. The atmosphere is tense but free, funny but touching, true but unreal. What is this? Come along and try to figure out for yourself!

Written and performed by Robert Jägerhorn, directed by Markus Zink. Photo: Henrik Schütt.

Theatre Row/Studio Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street (btw9th & 10th Ave), NYC, NY 10036.
Subways: A/C/E to 42nd Street. Tickets are of $45.00 and are available at the Theatre Row Box Office or at http://unitedsolo.org/us/2019-justforfun/- or by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200. Running time: 45 minutes. Recommended for all audiences.

Artist website: https://www.jagerhorn.net/en/
Short bio and CV: https://www.jagerhorn.net/en/achievements/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertjagerhorn/

Don Carlos: Prince of Asturias
Theatre Row | New York City | October 25th, 2019 | 7:30PM

The World Premiere of Don Carlos: Prince of Asturias, written and performed by Oscar Emmanuel Fabela, is headed the largest Solo Performance Festival in the world: The United Solo Festival in New York City, celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Set at the peak of the Spanish Inquisition, Don Carlos: Prince of Asturias takes us to 16th Century Madrid: a world led by misogynistic patriarchy in which the one-sided view of religion and state ruled the world with fear tactics in attempts to cleanse the population.

Don Carlos was future king of Spain after the most powerful king of Spain, King Phillip II, but his physical deformities and personality anomalies deemed him unfit to rule in a Patriotic and Puritan Spaniard’s eye. Among the deformities, were weak hands, a light step, outrageous temper, and sexual deviancy. Don Carlos was seen as different and therefore immoral, thus the Royal Court would stop at nothing to ensure that Don Carlos never ruled the mighty, clean, and pure kingdom of Spain. Even his father, King Phillip II, would go to extremes including
marrying Carlos’ promised wife-to-be, Isabel of Valois. Will Don Carlos fight for his right to live, or succumb to erasure?

Don Carlos: Prince of Asturias will have its World Premiere on October 25th, 2019 at 7:30pm at Theatre Row / Studio Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St. New York, NY 10036. Subways A/C/E to 42nd St. Tickets are $40 and are available at http://www.unitedsolo.org/us/2019-doncarlos/ or by calling Ticketmaster at 212-239-6200. This production is Directed by Sylvia Cervantes Blush with Stage Management and Lighting Design by Rachel Zimmerman. instagram.com/doncarlosprinceofasturias/ | facebook.com/DonCarlosPOA | http://www.oscarfabela.com

Oscar Emmanuel Fabela (Writer/Performer) is a Mexican-American Actor and Writer raised in South Texas, and a
proud Scholar of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. A recent Graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television, and The British American Drama Academy at University of Oxford, he was awarded the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globes Acting Fellowship. After working with Francis Ford Coppola on his latest project Distant Vision, Oscar has served as an Actor and/or Writer for theater companies such as The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, A Noise Within Theater in Pasadena, and the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland.

Sylvia Cervantes Blush (Director) is a Mexican-American theater artist from Bell Gardens, CA and a first gen Master of Fine Arts, Director of Theater. Her artistic journey began as a dancer, doubled as an actor, and now uses those two passions to inform her creative visions as a director. With the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she has directed a staged reading of The Refugee Hotel by Carmen Aguirre for the Latinx Play Project and was assistant
director to Marcela Lorca on The Count of Monte Cristo. As a Mellon Fellow she served her residency during the 2014 Encuentro Festival at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. She was an assistant director and choreographer on El Largo Camino de Hoy/The Long Road Today: a play inspired by and for the residents of Santa Ana for South Coast Repertory. In 2017, she spearheaded the Latinx Theater Comunión at UCLA, a student run organization exploring the works by classical and contemporary Latinx writers. Directing credits include: Medea, Tanya Saracho’s Mala Hierba, Electricidad by Luis Alfaro, The Vagina Monologues, Cowboy Mouth, Bill’s Shorts One and Two, Grease and Once Upon A Mattress. Last summer she co-directed Women and Servants by Lope de Vega for LA Escena: Los
Angeles Hispanic Classical Theater Festival. Sylvia is an Associate Member with the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

“Jeannette’s passion for suicide prevention is amazing; her drive and determination are unrelenting. The only way to stop
suicide is to talk about suicide. We are happy and honored to continue to support her in our joint effort to bring suicide
out of the shadows.” – Wendy Brant, President, Friends of the Crisis Center

Born to a nun and a monk in the small town of Alachua, Florida, Jeannette was always a standout kid…and also one who stood alone. Until she met her best friend Katie, who, tragically, at the age of 16, took her own life.

Blindsided is a raw personal journey filled with humor and insight that focuses on how Rizzi – at the age of 17 – sees her life dive into a tailspin after the suicide of her best friend. Rizzi struggles to find her spiritual and emotional compass, while facing off against her debilitating anxiety and depression. Thus, began Jeannette’s battle to sink or swim, or – in her case – live or die.

For tickets and more info, please go to http://www.unitedsolo.org/us/2019-blindsided. Short videos of the show can be viewed at http://www.jeannetterizzi.com/videos. High res photos and captions available at http://www.imgur.com/a/XZIkvUU. Running time: 80 minutes.

JEANNETTE RIZZI (writer/performer) found her calling in comedy at the age of 23, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream. Inspired by the likes of Ellen DeGeneres, Whoopi Goldberg and yes, even Cher, Jeannette started hitting comedy stages in earnest, eventually finding success beyond LA. She snagged accolades at Florida’s Funniest Comedian competition, the Time Warner On Demand Comedy Contest, the Cleveland Comedy Festival, the Tickled Pink Comedy Contest, and more.
Jeannette was also a featured comedian at the Laughing Devil Comedy Festival, and earned the honor of hosting the Ovarian Cancer Circle’s Happily Ever Laughter event. http://www.JeannetteRizzi.com, http://www.twitter.com/jeannetterizzi – http://www.facebook.com/blindsidedgainesville – http://www.instagram.com/jeannetterizzi

NEW YORK, NY—Award-winning actor Tim McDonough meditates on his life and ever-approaching death in his dead serious comedy about mortality, a bunch of different ways i’d like to die. The production makes its New York premiere at the United Solo Festival on Friday, Oct. 18 at 9 p.m.

McDonough takes audiences through various vividly imagined scenarios of his own demise, ranging from the comedically absurd to the deeply poignant. While the end of life is inevitable and inescapable for all mortals, this show provides a space in which audiences can wonder and grieve and laugh about the hard-to-grasp fact that one day they will no longer exist. The production, which is written, performed, directed and designed by McDonough, comes to New York following successful performances in Atlanta.

It is fitting that McDonough has chosen to rehearse his death on the stage. His career of performing, directing, and writing for the theater spans decades. “I’ve lived much the best part of my life onstage, in imaginary circumstances, dealing with fictional characters and events,” says McDonough. “I’ve realized that I’d much prefer to die in my imagination than in reality, and that’s one rationale for this performance.”

Performances take place at Theatre Row/Studio Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street (btw 9th & 10th Ave), NYC, NY

Subways: A/C/E to 42nd Street. Tickets are of $45.00 and are available at the Theatre Row Box Office or at http://unitedsolo.org/us/2019-abunch/ or by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200. Running time: 90 mins.

More info available at: http://www.timmcdonough.net – http://www.facebook.com/timmcdonoughactor

Tim McDonough began his acting career in Boston’s small theaters, where he collaborated on the development of many new works. In 1980 he co-founded Theater Works, for which he performed, directed and wrote. In 1982 the Boston Theater Critics Circle named him Best Actor, and in 1983 he received a New England Theater Conference Citation for Career Contributions. Regional theater: American Repertory Theatre,
Sacramento Theater Company,Shakespeare festivals in California and Idaho. Atlanta: Alliance Theatre, Theatre
in the Square, Horizon Theatre, Theatre Gael, Theater Emory (Associate Artist). In 1998 Creative Loafing named him Critic’s Choice for Best Actor. He received the 2009 Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding eatured Actor; in 2010 he was nominated for Best Lead Actor. He taught acting at Emory University for 28
years and is the author of Acting Narrative Speeches: The Actor as Storyteller.