Author: malinism

Malini is a native New Yorker who has been involved in the arts for her entire life. She's served the theatre in many aspects of which she's very proud – actress, director, producer, stage manager, costume designer, prop designer, theatre reviewer, publicist and most recently writer/monologist. She received her BA in Theatre Arts and English Literature from Baruch College and her MFA in Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School. In 2003, Malini and her husband, Ian, created Black Henna Productions with a handful of innovative artists. Every member of the company collaborates on every piece, either writing, acting, directing, designing, or filling any other role that fit their own personal skills with a commitment to bring new, exciting, and challenging theatre to the world. She is an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women. Malini received the Woman of Distinction Award for her contribution to Media, Arts and Culture from the City of New York in 2008. She is also a Person of Godspell which ran at Circle in the Square on Broadway from 2011-2012.

New Drama by Bekah Brunstetter: PUBLIC SERVANT

Theater Breaking Through Barriers (Samuel D. Hunter’s The Healing) kicks off its 40thAnniversary with the World Premiere of PUBLIC SERVANT by Bekah Brunstetter (NBC’s Emmy-winning drama This Is Us and the just announced Oklahoma TV series). Directed by Geordie Broadwater, the production stars Chris Henry Coffey (Broadway’s Bronx Bombers, David Schwimmer’s Trust opposite Clive Owen and Viola Davis), Christine Bruno (Jose Rivera’s adaption of The Maids, Bekah Brunstetter’s Forgotten Corners… with TBTB) and newcomer Anna Lentz in her Off-Broadway debut. The play is the second part of a trilogy of plays by Brunstetter that kicked off with The Cake in February at Manhattan Theatre Club. Currently in previews at Theatre Row’s Clurman Theatre, opening night is set for Thursday, June 6.

In PUBLIC SERVANT, Ed has been newly elected as County Commissioner. Ed is one of the good ones. With his daughter Hannah by his side, he is going to change the world — or at least his little corner of it. Meanwhile, all world-weary Miriam needs is to sell her late Mother’s house. Disillusioned with the system but desperate, she turns to Ed for help with what should be a simple request. But in the world of politics, is anything ever simple?

The production team for PUBLIC SERVANT includes Edward T. Morris (set), Courtney Butt (costumes), Alejandro Fajardo (lighting), Sam Crawford (sound), Jeremy Ping (production manager), Michal Mendelson (stage manager), Emily Ballou (assistant stage manager) and Melanie Portsche (house manager).

Bekah Brunstetter‘s plays include The Cake (Ojai Playwrights Conference), Going to a Place where you already are (South Coast Repertory), The Oregon Trail (Portland Center Stage Fall 2016, O’Neill Playwrights Conference; Flying V), Cutie and Bear (Roundabout commission), A Long and Happy Life (Naked Angels commission), Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova, Collaboraction, The Old Globe), Oohrah! (The Atlantic Theater, Steppenwolf Garage, Finborough Theater / London), Nothing is the end of the World (except for the end of the world) (Waterwell), House of Home (Williamstown Theater Festival) and Miss Lilly Gets Boned (Ice Factory Festival). She is an alumnus of the CTG Writers Group, Primary Stages Writes, Ars Nova Play Group, The Playwright’s Realm, and Women’s Project Lab. She is currently a member of the Echo Theater’s Playwright’s group. She has previously written for MTV (Underemployed; I Just Want My Pants Back), ABC Family’s Switched at Birth, and Starz’s American Gods. She is currently a co-producer and writer on NBC’s This Is Us and will co-write a new TV series based on the musical Oklahoma.

Geordie Broadwater is a New York City-based director and writer. Geordie’s previous experience directing Bekah’s work include The Oregon Trail at Fault Line Theater in 2017 and You May Go Now at 45th Street Theater in 2009. He has also directed world premieres of The Insomnia Play by Jess Brickman, Pilgrims by Jamie Carmichael, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Hale, and Big John and Little Ben by Sam Marks. Geordie was the founder and Artistic Director of the Babel Theater Project, a New York City company devoted to the development and production of new plays. With Babel Theatre Project, he directed A Great Place to Be From by Norman Lasca, Brack’s Last Bachelor Party by Sam Marks, and Christmas is Miles Away by Chloe Moss. Geordie holds a BA in English from Harvard University and an MFA in Directing from the Brown/Trinity Consortium.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), under the Artistic Direction of Nicholas Viselli, is a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway company integrating able-bodied actors with artists with disabilities. Founded in 1979 by Ike Schambelan as Theater by the Blind, the company’s mission is to change the image of people with disabilities from one of dependence to independence, to fight stereotypes and misperceptions associated with disability, and to show how vibrant, fluid and exuberant the work of artists with disabilities can be. The company has premiered works by Bekah Brunstetter, Bruce Graham, John Guare, A.R. Gurney, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Neil LaBute, Kate Moira Ryan and Diana Son, among others. For additional information, visit www.tbtb.org.

PUBLIC SERVANT runs through June 29 at Theatre Row’s Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues). Performances are Tuesday – Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday – Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3pm & 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $58, available at 212-239-6200 or visit www.telecharge.com. For additional information, visit www.tbtb.org.

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Hip to Hip Theatre Company Announces Summer Productions for 2019 Season Tour of Free Shakespeare in the Parks @hiptohiptheatre

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Hip to Hip Theatre Company Announces Summer Productions for 2019 Season Tour of Free Shakespeare in the Parks

A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard III

Running in Repertory July 24th – August 25th in Parks in all Five Boroughs as well as New Jersey and Long Island

Hip to Hip Theatre Company is pleased to announce that they will showcase two of Shakespeare’s classic plays during their 2019 Free Shakespeare in the Parks summer tour. Audiences will have a chance to enjoy the romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (directed by S.C. Lucier), and the historic tragedy Richard III (directed by David Mold), under the stars. Their season will culminate with an indoor winter production of Troilus and Cressida (directed by Jason Marr).

The two productions will perform in rotating repertory from July 24 to August 25, at fourteen parks throughout Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Performances will also take place in Jersey City and Southampton. Hip to Hip’s popular children’s workshop “Kids & the Classics,” will be offered thirty minutes before each performance. 

Audience members are encouraged to bring a blanket or low chair, picnic fare and enjoy a Shakespeare play in the open air. No tickets are necessary. Tour schedule will be announced in mid-June. 

Artistic Director Jason Marr, discussed this season’s play selection, “If you’re going to produce something as dark and bloody as Richard III, you need something as light and fluffy as A Midsummer Night’s Dream to balance the season.”

Marr went on to share, “Both as a producer and as an actor, Richard III has hovered near the top of my “yet-to-do list” for years. It’s never made the cut, because on some level the play doesn’t quite sing for me. After thirteen years with Hip to Hip, and with my “yet-to-do list” getting shorter and shorter, it seemed time to take another look at Richard III.” He went on to say, “I came across the fascinating documentary, “The King in the Car Park,” which tracks the exhumation and reburial of the remains of Richard III, which culminated in 2012.  With the discovery of Richard III’s remains, we now know that Shakespeare’s portrait of Richard’s deformity is grossly exaggerated. The exhumed skeleton reveals Richard had severe scoliosis, but it bears no suggestion that he was a hunchback with a withered arm and unequally sized legs. Hip to Hip’s new radical adaptation of Richard III attempts to bridge the divide between the real man and the caricature the Tudors, aided and abetted by Shakespeare, perpetuated.”

The repertory cast includes Leah Alfieri, Kendall Devin Bell, Katie Fanning*, Rebecca Wei Hsieh, Kurt Kingsley*, Tristan Land, Jason Marr*, Joy Marr*, Josh Miccio, Austin Nguyen, Anuj Parikh, Sophia Parola and Colin Wulff*.
*appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Four young lovers escape the tyranny of the court to find love in a magical forest. On the same night and in the same forest, the king and queen of the fairies declare war on each other and a company of amateur actors meet to rehearse a play. See what happens when a mischievous sprite called Puck weaves their three stories into one.

Richard III
After a long civil war, England enjoys a period of peace under King Edward. But Edward’s younger brother Richard, who helped him to the throne, grows restless in the shadows. Shakespeare’s searing drama chronicles the bloody rise and fall of the last English king to die on the battlefield.

Troilus and Cressida
Seven years into the Trojan War, would-be lovers Troilus and Cressida pine for each other, encouraged by the hilarious Pandarus. Meanwhile, Paris, Hector and Achilles fight over the fate of Helen of Troy. A rare opportunity to see Shakespeare’s funny, insightful and cynical take on the heroes of the Iliad.

Kids & the Classics
“Kids & the Classics” is the companion piece to Hip to Hip’s program of “Free Shakespeare in the Parks.” This free interactive workshop is offered 30 minutes before every performance, and is designed for children ages 4 to 12. It gives children a chance to interact with the text by previewing the characters and situations and creating links between the text and their own lives.

About Hip to Hip Theatre Company
Hip to Hip, now in its 13th year, is dedicated to stimulating and developing interest in the theatre arts in underserved communities by providing free, family-friendly, professional productions of popular classics, and free theatre workshops for children, in public spaces. 

www.hiptohip.org

www.facebook.com/HiptoHipTheatre

www.twitter.com/HiptoHipTheatr

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Peculiar Works Presents Site-specific Performance Tour at the Historic 222 Bowery @pwpny

Afterparty: The Rothko Studio

One Week Only, Thursday, June 27 – Sunday, June 30

The OBIE and New York Innovative Theatre Award-winning Peculiar Works Project, under the co-artistic direction of Ralph Lewis, Catherine Porter, and Barry Rowell, is pleased to announce Afterparty: The Rothko Studio, a site-specific immersive performance in and around the former studio of legendary painter Mark Rothko.

Afterparty: The Rothko Studio runs Thursday through Sunday, June 27-30, with performances on Thursday – Saturday at 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm, and Sunday at 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm. Performances take place at 222 Bowery (between Prince & Spring Streets), NYC. Due to limited seating, advanced tickets are required. 

Tickets are $50 (table seating includes lite fare), $25 (balcony standing includes a beverage), $40/$20 (seniors & students), and $100 (VIP seating includes a themed gift), and go on sale June 3rd at www.peculiarworks.org. Running time: 75 minutes.

Built in 1884 for the YMCA as the Young Men’s Institute, 222 Bowery is renowned for the many now-famous artists who lived, worked, and played in this landmarked gem. The building’s former gymnasium is significant for having been Rothko’s studio, where he painted the infamous “Seagram Murals” commissioned by The Four Seasons Restaurant in 1957. Afterparty will explore this pivotal moment for downtown artists, peeling back their stories to reveal multiple layers of NYC history before the former studio is converted into commercial space later this summer.

Peculiar Works Project’s creative team is designing an intimate, promenade journey through the historic architecture and artistic legacy of the building. Along the way, multi-disciplinary performances will reinterpret the legendary art parties attended by artworld luminaries—Jasper Johns, John Giorno, William S. Burroughs, Eve Hesse, Jonas Mekas, Roy Lichtenstein, LeRoi Jones, Diane DiPrima, Sol LeWitt, Andy Warhol, and more—against the backdrop of Rothko’s struggle between achieving success and selling out. Audiences and performers will sit around a table together in the paint-splattered space and experience a theatrical conjuring of artistic ghosts whose impact echoes till this day.

The company creates, develops, and presents original, multi-disciplinary, site-based performances that encourage collaboration, experimentation, and a rebel spirit in artists by providing them with the tools and opportunities necessary for artistic growth. The company performs in unconventional spaces because of the belief that unique sites impact the work, the work in turn impacts the site, and audiences then experience both in surprising new ways. Since 1993, Peculiar Works has taken performance directly into local communities—city streets, landmarked buildings, gutted storefronts, and other peculiar sites throughout NYC and beyond.

Investigating influential artistic movements has been an important part of Peculiar Works’ 26-year history. Projects include Off Stage: The West Village and East Village Fragments (about the birth of Off-Off Broadway), Judson House Project (celebrating Judson Church’s renowned Gallery, Poets Theater, and Dance Theater), Floydada (Dadaist performance), as well as Imagining America at the Varna International Theatre Festival in Bulgaria and Planet X at Black Mountain College in North Carolina (both exploring the American avant-garde). Afterparty: The Rothko Studio continues this artistic exploration with the rare opportunity to witness the spirit of a movement and the artists who lived it.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/peculiarworks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pwpny
Instagram: www.instagram.com/pwpny

PRAISE FOR PECULIAR WORKS…

“Whether you’re a political junkie, love a cutting satire set to music, or have never been to Fraunces Tavern, Androboros is a clever romp through history told with fresh eyes, influenced by current events, in a legendary space.” – Androboros, Theater Is Easy

“Clever staging and theatre with aural, spatial, and performance ingenuity aren’t the exclusive province of the big budget” – Can You Hear Their Voices?, New York Theatre Wire

“A warmhearted and well-researched tribute…a treat for anyone with an interest in the origins of downtown theater.” – Off Stage: The West Village and East Village Fragments, The New York Times 

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Ralph Lewis, Catherine Porter, and Barry Rowell. Co-founders/Artistic Directors of Peculiar Works.

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LPTW Announces Inaugural Rachel Crothers Leadership Award: Donna Walker-Kuhne @lptwomen

2019 RECIPIENT, DONNA WALKER-KUHNE
AWARD LUNCHEON THURSDAY, JUNE 27 @ SARDI’S


The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, is pleased to bestow their inaugural Rachel Crothers Leadership Award to Donna Walker-Kuhne, founder and CEO of Walker Communications. The award will be presented at the LPTW Leadership Luncheon on Thursday, June 27 from 12-3pm at Sardi’s Restaurant (234 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036). Tickets: Members $95; Non-Members $125.00; VIP tickets $175 (includes journal ad); VIP table $1,700 (with a journal ad). In keeping with LPTW’s mission of providing opportunities and visibility for women-identified theatre professionals, one seat at each VIP table will be reserved for an emerging leader who is lending her gifts and talents to assist in a cause or issue to benefit society and/or the world. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit www.theatrewomen.org.

The American Theatre Wing is best known as the creator of the coveted “Tony Award” given annually for distinguished achievement in the Broadway theatre, but it began as a service organization providing war relief. In 1917, seven visionary theatre women led by playwright/director Rachel Crothers, came together to organize members of the theatrical community at a time when women could not even vote. Their service to fellow Americans fighting on the front lines in World War I and World War II upheld America’s highest ideal—sacrifice for a common cause. Remarkably, while leading the theatre community in supporting the war effort, Crothers, a founder of The American Theater Wing and Its Stage Door Canteen, for 30 years had one play per season produced on Broadway – many of which she produced and directed. The New York Times said, “In the last 200 years, a respectable number of women have left their mark on American theater, but few of them have had as impressive a career as Rachel Crothers.” In the spirit of selfless service to her fellow Americans while simultaneously making significant contributions to the American theatre, the Rachel Crothers Leadership Award is given to a theatre woman who has distinguished herself in exemplary service and sacrifice for a common cause—a cause which leaves our society and the world a little better than the way we found it.

Acknowledged as the nation’s foremost expert in Audience Development by the Arts & Business Council, Donna Walker-Kuhne, an award-winning arts marketing consultant has devoted her professional career to increasing access to the arts. She is the founder of Walker International Communications Group, a boutique marketing, press and audience development consulting agency. Her team specializes in multicultural marketing, group sales, multicultural press, and promotional events. Walker-Kuhne has gained unique insights into the challenges of initiating conversations and building meaningful partnerships with diverse constituents. 
Ms. Walker-Kuhne says, “We’ve cultivated new generations of cultural ambassadors who now see the arts as a necessary element for their lives. Most important, our work has proven that the arts are a bridge for cultivating understanding, fostering dialogue, bridging divides and opening the door for people to share a transformative experience.” She goes on to issue a call-to-action, “I ask that you please dialogue about the arts with someone outside of your circle of colleagues and friends, as a reminder of its potential to unite and empower us to resist division, tyranny or despair.”  

2019 Rachel Crothers Leadership Award honoree, Donna Walker-Kuhne, has a vision that is bigger than ticket sales and putting “butts in the seats.” In our current political climate, her call-to-action asks us to remember our humanity and gives hope to our citizenry. The League of Professional Theatre Women fights year-round for parity and visibility for women in the American Theatre. LPTW Co-Vice President of Programming, Yvette Heyliger, says, “We are very excited by the opportunity the League has now to award a theatre woman who brings her gifts and talents to bear in addressing a national or local cause or issue affecting our fellow citizens and everyday Americans.”

The League of Professional Theatre Women (a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization) has been championing women and leading the gender parity conversation in the professional theatre for over 35 years. Since its founding, the LPTW’s membership has grown to 500+ theatre artists and practitioners of all backgrounds, across multiple disciplines, working in the commercial and non-profit sectors. To increase visibility of and opportunities for women in the field, the LPTW spearheads events, public programming, advocacy initiatives, media, and publications that celebrate industry luminaries, preserve the legacy of historic visionaries, raise awareness of the importance of nurturing women’s voices, and shine a spotlight on the imperative of striving for gender parity and fostering a diversity of expression, both in the theatre world and the world at large. To find out more about how you can support its endeavors, please visit www.theatrewomen.org. 

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LOVE DRUNK is back this Sunday, June 2nd at The Drama League @matthewklein316

Unlimited mimosas + bacon cheddar biscuits + theatre = LOVE DRUNK! 

Brunch it up and get an hour of entertainment on top of it with six new short plays from three badass writers in Heather Antos, David Rosen, and Ben Dworken!  Have fun, support some new work, maybe get full and/or just the right amount of tipsy to have an awesome rest of your Sunday. AND I’m directing! I’m super pumped for SPILT MILK by Heather Antos featuring Jeannine Frumess and Jeremy Cohen, who are going to make everyone in the audience want marshmallows (you’ll get it if you come out).

For more, check out the event on FB here.
THE TIME:
Sunday, June 2nd, 2019
11am-1pm

THE PLACE:
Stewart F. Lane & Bonnie Comley Studio Lab
The Drama League
32 Avenue of the Americas
(Near the A/C/E/Q/R/N Canal Street Station and the 1 Train Franklin Street stop)

THE PLAYS:

Jackson, Chuck and the Duchess: Nomenclature and Relationships In Bank Heist Preparation
Written by David Rosen
Directed by Richard Aven
Featuring John DiMino, Zach Evenson, and Kathleen O’Neill

Spilt Milk
Written by Heather Antos
Directed by Matthew Klein
Featuring Jeremy Cohen and Jeannine Frumess

Just Like A Tattoo
Written by Ben Dworken
Directed by Anna Rebek
Featuring Veracity Butcher, Peter Coleman, Faith Connor, Hannah Inez Howzdy, Thomas Metelski and Cheryl Bear.

Untitled Piece #6
Written by David Rosen
Directed by Emerie Snyder

Little Hazel And Her Sisters
Written by Ben Dworken
Directed by Lauren Miller
Featuring Lindsey Alter, Kayla Hendry, Jaclyn Licht, Bria Melendez, and Valerie Terranova

Burgled
Written by Heather Antos
Directed by Kelly Monroe Johnston
Featuring Jeremy Cohen, Joshua Drew Fowler, Jeannine Frumess and Bridget Cosgrove

THE COST:
$15 Suggested Donation at the doo

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RE-DO Choreographed and Performed by Daniel Gwirtzman – 6/4/19

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Enjoy this 50-second trailer for the new film Doubles in which the choreographer dances with his twin in a variety of settings. The film will be released this June.


RECENT PRESS: INTERSECTIONS MARCH 2019
Read Full Review in OnStageBlog.com“Provocative, whimsical, and ethereal, the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company defies expectations of postmodern dance and soars, unafraid to take risks and dazzle with unflinching honesty….At times, just the urgency and power conveyed in the dancers’ glances deserved applause…The company shoots energy through every limb and glance the entire evening, and Gwirtzman’s choreography shines through in every piece as an ultimate force of nature.”  
Read Full Review  in TheaterScene.com“The result was at once elegant and intimate….The imagination shown in the lifts provided a stimulating contrast…Both of these dancers infused their every movement with an awareness, a sensuality, and a presence in the moment that made each of them riveting in their own way…These two dancers recalled that sensuality to us, and reminded us of why we go to see dance and why it pulls at our souls.”  

MORE RECENT PRESS
DECEMBER 2018 Dance Magazine visited DGDC in the studio, streaming 11 minutes of rehearsal live to Dance Magazine’s Facebook Page. Featuring Stacy Martorana (Mark Morris Dance Group), Shifting three minutes in.
SEPTEMBER 2018 At the Rochester KeyBank Fringe Festival, critic Jack Garner singled out the Company’s production of Encore at Geva Theatre, the critical “cream of the crop.” Read his review, praising Daniel and Garth Fagan Dance.
AUGUST 2018 The performance of our quintessential summer-themed Summertime Suite at Battery Dance Festival this August was enthusiastically-documented and received. We made the cover of Downtown Express.

WHEN & WHEREDixon Place Presents Moving MenTuesday, June 4, 2019 at 7:30pm161A Chrystie Street, between Rivington and Delancey

WEBSITE FOR TICKETS AND INFO: http://dixonplace.org/performances/moving-men-6-4-2019/Tickets start at $12-15

About Re-Do
In the irreverent and none-too-precious spirit of this anniversary season, along with the theme running throughout Intersections, Daniel takes a scissors, knife and his own claw-like hands to the solo he has performed numerous times over the past three years, interrupting the dance, extending sections, adding his own commentary through spoken text, reanimating and reimagining the solo. He is not doodling, but re-doodling, questioning the rules prescribed in the choreography as the very parameters of democracy are being questioned. Why follow rules?
The solo allows the movement and score to scroll calligraphically in a playful, stream-of-conscious manner like a meandering doodle on the page. This elasticity allows Daniel to explore a range of virtuosic qualities, and a diverse range of music, as the piece’s careful structure runs off the page, moving from the literal to a place of abstraction.

Doodling previewed at the Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center/Gibney (NYC), April 2016 and premiered September 2016 at the Harkness Center for Dance’s Friday at Noon series at the 92nd Street Y (NYC). Other performances include Gdański Tança Festiwal in June 2018 (Gdańsk, Poland), Arts On Site in October 2018 (NYC), Key West Dance Collective, November 2018 at the Tennessee Williams Theatre (Key West, FL); and the MidWest Regional Alternative Dance Festival (RADFest) in Kalamazoo’s Epic Theater (MI), March 2019.

Rochesterian Daniel Gwirtzman grew up performing musicals and plays at the Jewish Community Center and Brighton High School, his alma mater. Folk dancing at Temple Beth El played a central, formative role. He recently presented on the influence of Israeli folk dancing on his technique, repertory, pedagogy and programming at Arizona State University’s Jews and Jewishness in the Dance World conference with critic/editor Elizabeth Zimmer. At 12 he began studying with Garth Fagan’s The Bottom of the Bucket But…Dance Theater. A week after graduating from The University of Michigan he joined Garth Fagan Dance. Co-Founded Artichoke Dance Company, 1995: “A welcome addition to the New York dance scene.” reviewed TheNew York Times. Guest artist and international touring with the renown Mark Morris Dance Group. Founded the NYC-based Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company (DGDC), a nonprofit performing and teaching company in 1998. Dance Films: numerous national & international film festival credits; Theater: selected by DanceBreak Foundation supporting the “next generation of great Broadway choreographers.” Professor and Guest Choreographer at numerous institutions nationally and internationally.

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Queer Nightclub Musical OSCAR at The Crown Returns to 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn @theneoncoven @maarkm @andrewbarretcox

Sequins, reality television, and the complete works of Oscar Wilde: not much else survives in a secret bunker far in the fascist future.

Photo by Ted Alcorn

MoreTickets: www.oscaratthecrown.com

Watch trailer here! 

“A K-Pop/J-Pop/Scissor Sisters-on-speed electronic dance party euphoria” -them. 

“Have a four-in-one experience. The draw here is all in the nouns: Immersive, queer, nightclub, musical.”

Backstage “Pop culture at the end of the world” -Metro New York

WHAT: After a sold out and critically acclaimed January and February run at 3 Dollar Bill, the dystopian queer nightclub musical OSCAR at The Crown returns for an open-ended run, with previews beginning May 10th and an official opening on May 30th. Sequins, reality television, and the complete works of Oscar Wilde: not much else survives in a secret bunker far in the fascist future. OSCAR at The Crown is an immersive nightclub musical detailing the rise and fall of one of history’s most flamboyant characters. AND it’s about the Real Housewives and a minor character from that show The O.C. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And yes, it’s ALSO about us: staring at our phones, wondering if our latest Instagram is going to flop and if the bombs have started flying yet.

See you on the dance floor! Wear something cool! 

WHERE: 3 Dollar Bill – 260 Meserole St. Brooklyn NY 11206 

WHEN: Previews begin May 11th on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

Official open-ended run begins on May 30th with performances on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays

HOW: Tickets from $45 – $79 – ticket link. This show is 18+. THE NEON COVEN

The Neon Coven is a growing collective creating music performances that tell stories of otherness. We like: queer people, theater in non-traditional spaces, and screaming.@theneoncoven www.theneoncoven.com

MARK MAURIELLO (creator) is a Brooklyn-based performer and theater artist. Since graduating from Harvard University, he has performed at the American Repertory Theater (Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge, The Donkey Show), in nightclubs from New York to Berlin (Dr. Frank-N-Furter, The Rocky Horror Show), and even the occasional abandoned burger restaurant (Marjorie Newquist, Little Murders). Mark is a co-founder of The Neon Coven, and above all, he believes in negative capability. @maarkm www.markmauriello.com 

ANDREW BARRET COX is a choreographer, composer and producer based in New York City. A graduate of Emerson College, his work is inspired by underground scenes and non-traditional material. His work has been seen at the American Repertory Theater’s immersive second stage OBERON, and his original works Clubland, Hexed, Wilder, Pokémon: The 90s Rock Show, and Seamtowne have been heard on stages and virtual platforms across the country. As a co-founder of The Neon Coven, he strives to create vessels that tell stories of otherness and continue to bridge the gap between mainstream and queer media.@andrewbarretcox www.andrewbarretcox.com

SHIRA MILIKOWSKY is a freelance theater director, specializing in new plays and radical re-imaginings of musicals and classic texts. She is also a co-founder of The Neon Coven. Recent projects include Distant Star (Caborca/Abrons Arts Center) and Little Murders (in an abandoned burger restaurant!) As the Artistic Associate at the American Repertory Theater, Shira directed The Lily’s Revenge by Taylor Mac (named by The Boston Globe as one of the top ten theater events of the year), Bride*Widow*Hag by Kim Rosenstock, and countless other productions, workshops and special projects. A Drama League Fellow, Shira holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia and a BA in Theater Studies from Yale. Associate Lecturer in Theater, Dance & Media, Harvard University.

JENN MALEY is a Tony-nominated producer for Paula Vogel’s Indecent and a director. Currently, Jenn is a co-producer on Be More Chill by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz, opening on Broadway in 2019. Other select producing credits include Reunion ’69 and ’85 (Byron Theatre) and Associate on The Mad Ones (59e59). Jenn recently was the Assistant Director to Tyne Rafaeli for Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer at Roundabout Theatre Company. For more information visit jennmaley.com.

Choreography by Andrew Barret Cox
Set and Props Design by Tekla Monson
Lighting Design by Calvin Anderson
Costume Concept by Mateus Forte
Sound Design by Shannon Slaton
Casting by Kate Lumpkin, CSA

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To She Who Waits May 23 – June 8 at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios #toshewhowaits

A Family Torn Apart by an Extreme Religious Community in the New Drama

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Amercian Renaissance Theatre Company (ARTC) is proud to present Bob Clyman’s compelling new play, To She Who Waits, May 23 – June 8 at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios. To She Who Waits was the winner of the 2018 Kaufman Award for Excellence in Playwriting. Maria Aladren directs.

The Kaufman committee shared why they selected the timely play, “To She Who Waits gives insight to what can happen in any society where there is a lack of understanding based on fear and superstition. There’s a humanity in this play, Bob has created unforgettable characters in situations of the highest importance. It’s a big bite of life that stays with you.”

Clyman has received numerous awards and fellowships including an Outer Circle Critics nomination, Drama League’s Playwrights First Award, Eugene O’Neill Summer Conference Fellowship, Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship, among others. 

Meg and Jack were childhood sweethearts, who got married, and when their daughter, Hannah, was born, Meg stayed home with her, while Jack worked. They were happy. Then their church hired a new pastor. Flash forward … Jack is dead, and Meg is fighting the church she fled for custody of Hannah. Now that Meg is about to see Hannah for the first time in two years, the clock is already ticking. She will only have 12 visits to convince Hannah, who is openly hostile toward her, to leave the church she loves and its promise of salvation, to live with Meg — the mother who left her behind.

The cast features Lee Eden (The Bad Seed/Nicu’s Spoon Theater), Brian Homer (Richard II/Richard III/Theater for a New Audience), Carol Todd (Jericho/59E59), and Kathleen Swan (Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall/Broadway).

The creative team includes scenic and costume design by Joanna Conte, sound design by Abigail Nelwin, Stage Manager Mackenzie McGuire and assistant production manager Alexis Wilner.

To She Who Waits runs May 23 – June 8 with performances Wednesday – Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 3:00 pm, and Saturday, May 25 and June 1 at 2:30 pm.

Tickets are $25 and are available at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4227704.

Performances take place at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street (between Broadway & 8th Ave), 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Subways: A/B/C/D/1 to Columbus Circle, N/Q/R/W to 57th Street.
More info available at www.americanrenaissancetheater.com

Bob Clyman (Playwright) plays have been produced Off-Broadway and at regional theatres, such as the Alley Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, San Jose Repertory Theatre, George Street Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Colony Studio Theatre in Los Angeles, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, and L.A. Theatre Works, in addition to touring Scotland. His play Secret Order was initially commissioned and produced by The Ensemble Studio Theatre under the auspices of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It was subsequently produced at 59E59 Theatre in New York, where it was nominated for an Outer Circle Critics Award for the best script in 2008, and has since been produced at many regional theatres. Of his most recent plays, The Good Bet was chosen for The Ashland New Play Festival in 2014 and won the Stanley Drama Award for 2015. He has been awarded a number of national prizes, including a Eugene O’Neill Summer Conference Fellowship, Geraldine Dodge Fellowship, Drama League’s Playwrights First Award, New Jersey State Arts Council Award, Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship, Berilla-Kerr Foundation Award, Djerassi Foundation Fellowship, Shenandoah Valley Playwrights Fellowship, and Theater in the Works Fellowship.

Maria Aladren (Director) is a professional director and performing arts educator, originally from Zaragoza, Spain. For the past fourteen years, Maria has developed the conservatory theatre program at Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools, where she teaches, directs young actors and directs mainstage shows. Maria was the artistic director of Pegasus51/Performance Project, an award-winning experimental company, where she directed a variety of productions, including All’s Well That Ends Well, Mud, In The Middle of the Ocean. She has also directed for other companies and universities including St. Louis Shakespeare Company, Mercer County College, University of Texas-Austin, Kean University, Teatro Humanidad, Washington University Thyrsus Company, Southern Illinois University, among others. Maria trained as a director at the University of Texas-Austin, where she received her MFA, and as a dramaturg at the Theatre School at Washington University in St. Louis. 

American Renaissance Theater Company under the Producing Artistic Director, Kathleen Swan, has been dedicated to the development and production of new works by a multi-generational company of professional playwrights, actors and directors. Since its inception in 1976, ARTC has been a home to nearly five hundred professional actors, writers, directors, composers and musicians – theatre artists from a diversity of backgrounds who have found a congenial, stimulating environment in which to expand their resources and creativity. Plays developed through ARTC’s workshop process have moved on to subsequent productions on Broadway, Off Broadway, and in America’s leading regional theaters. In 2007, ARTC started the annual Jerry Kaufman Award in Playwriting which honors American Renaissance Theater playwrights. 

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Evelyn Puppets’ Home at The Tank May 30-June 2

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Home, a new play by Evolve Puppets (Tanya Khordoc & Barry Weil) will be performed at The Tank NYC from May 30-June 2, 2019.  

Home fuses puppetry, theatre and multimedia into a visually thrilling and emotionally moving story of a woman’s connection to the universe.  Alice is an archaeologist, mother and scholar at the final crossroads of her life.  A visit from an intimidating guardian angel (and his strangely familiar young companion) sends Alice on a trip through time and memory, digging through the layers of the past, unearthing her life with her brilliant but troubled husband and their young daughter, and her years studying the people of Pompeii, frozen forever in their last moments on Earth.

 Home uses live actors alongside lifelike full-figure puppets inspired by Japanese bunraku techniques, shadow play, state-of-the-art digital projections and more to tell Alice’s story through the very contents of her home.  Photos on the walls become animate; plush toys and dolls come to life; clouds of dust form into moving images; furniture travels around the space, opening up to reveal dynamic museum-style dioramas of the past. 

Home is written and directed by Tanya Khordoc & Barry Weil (world premieres of Vàclav Havel’s Motormorphosis and Lord Graham Russell’s Devil and the Deep), who also designed the show’s innovative puppetry.  Original music is composed and arranged by Joel Phillip Friedman (Drama Desk and Outer Critic’s Circle nominee).  Lake Simons (Lincoln Center’s War Horse, Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique) is associate director and movement choreographer.  Home features projection design by Jared Mezzocchi (Obie and Lucille Lortel winner, Vietgone), set design by Tom Lee (Shank’s Mare), lighting design by Federico Restrepo (founder/artistic director of Loco7) and costume design by Sarah Riffle (Lyric Opera of Chicago).  Stage manager is Berit Johnson, and movement assistant is Mark Myles Murray. 

The cast of actors and puppeteers features Mery Cheung, Marjorie Conn, Maggie Gayford, Kevin P. Hale, Ross Hamman, Tanya Khordoc, Caitlyn Piccirillo, Barry Weil and Meghan Maureen Williams. 

Evolve Puppets’ Home is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and administered by LMCC. Earlier developmental presentations of Home were made possible with support from The Jim Henson Foundation, the Puppetry at the Carriage House program and Dixon Place. 

SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCES:

  • Thursday May 30 at 7:00 p.m.
  • Friday May 31 at 7:00 p.m.
  • Saturday June 1 at 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.
  • Sunday June 2 at 3:00 p.m. 

The Tank NYC is located at 312 West 36th Street, NYC between 8th and 9th Avenues, on the 1st floor.  Tickets are $20 at 212-563-6269 or at brownpapertickets.com/event/4224756.  For more information, visit www.evolvepuppets.com.

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She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival

SHE NYC ARTS
ANNOUNCES 
CREATE HER & NEW PLAY RESIDENCY
AS PART OF THE
2019 SHE NYC ARTS SUMMER THEATER FESTIVAL
 
Playwright Natalie Margolin
JUNE 19-30 @ THE CONNELLY THEATER
She NYC Arts announces two new programs, CreateHer, a playwriting workshop for high school students who identify as girls, and their inaugural New Play Residency, to be presented as part of the fourth annual She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival, a festival featuring eight new full length shows by women writers and composers, June 19-30 at The Connelly Theater (220 E 4th St, New York, NY 10009).
She NYC’s inaugural New Play Residency has been awarded to playwright Natalie Margolin (The Power of Punctuation at the Davenport Theater). Ms. Margolin will be given the two months leading up to the She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival in June to write a new play, entirely from scratch. Audience members can check out She NYC’s social media accounts every Wednesday, for weekly updates on her progress. #NewWorksWednesday.
The first annual CreateHer program, a free 6-session workshop for high school girls interested in playwriting or producing, will culminate on Sunday, June 30 at 12pmwith staged readings of four new 10-minute plays, written and produced by the students. Guest teachers for the workshops will include Broadway producers, directors, and managers. The staged readings will include new plays by A’dreana Williams (produced by Lauren Estrella), Mirei Dominguez (produced by Therese Rubi), Ava Grandfield (produced by Gabriela Veciana), and Lucy Machlan (produced by Tali Natter).
Natalie Margolin (New Play Resident) is a playwright, actress, improviser, and graduate of Kenyon College. Her play, The Power of Punctuation, premiered off-Broadway at the Davenport Theater in the summer of 2016. The Power of Punctuation was a New York Stage and Film Founders Award finalist, recipient of Kenyon College’s James E. Michael Playwriting Award and the Thomas Turgeon Memorial Award. She is currently developing her play, Tutus, which has been workshopped in both Chicago and NYC. Most recently, Natalie was a part of Fault Line Theatre’s Irons in the Fire with her new play, All Nighter. Natalie is a resident playwright at Colt Coeur (Artistic Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt). She lives in NYC and continues to write and perform. www.nataliemargolin.com
CreateHER strives to expand She NYC’s mission of showcasing the talent of female theatre artists, by introducing students to the steps needed to develop their own material. The workshop is designed to provide students with mentors as they write and produce short plays as well as a setting to learn about opportunities that may be available to them should they be interested in pursuing a career in theatre
Created by artists, for artists, the She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival is New York City’s premiere festival devoted to producing full-length plays, musicals, and adaptations by women writers annually. In 2018 She NYC Arts brought its mission to the West Coast by launching the inaugural year of the She Arts LA Summer Theater Festival. She NYC’s commitment to an open submissions process allows it to discover and cultivate the best up-and-coming talent in the industry, while providing an environment where artists are mentored in how to produce their work in full for a paying audience. www.shenycarts.org
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