Interesting Othello Comes

New York Shakespeare Exchange is pleased to announce their next production of Shakespeare's OTHELLO, directed by Cristina Lundy. OTHELLO begins performances on Tuesday, October 15 for a limited engagement through Saturday, November 2. Press opening is Saturday, October 19 at 8 PM. Performances are at Hudson Guild Theater (441 West 26th Street, between 9th & 10th Avenues; C to 23rd Street). The performance schedule is Tuesday at 7 PM; Wednesday - Saturday at 8 PM. There is an added performance on Sunday, October 27 at 2 PM. The regular ticket price is $18 ($10 students tickets, with valid student id, at the door, based on availability). For tickets, call Brown Paper Tickets on 1-800-838-3006 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com. For more information, visit www.ShakespeareExchange.org.

Despite barriers of racism, Othello the Moor has risen to the post of commanding officer and serves with profound integrity. But his honor becomes his vulnerability when he’s mercilessly betrayed by his seemingly faithful comrade.  In keeping with their mission of viewing Shakespeare through a contemporary lens, NY Shakespeare Exchange (producers of this year's on-going Sonnet Project) sets this OTHELLO in a municipal police precinct where diverse cultures converge; where societal preoccupation with appearances and a deeply entrenched culture of racial profiling and violence against women victimize the very people charged with upholding the peace. Can a single villainous mind terrorize even the noblest among us?

The cast features Keldrick Crowder (Audelco Award-winner); Anna Van Valin (The Degradation Play with Rising Phoenix Rep); Terence MacSweeny; Carey Van Driest (national tour of Annie); David Price (You Can Never Tell at the Pearl); Josh Jeffers (The Life and Death of King John with NYSX); Anna Paratore (Game Play Festival at the Brick); Anthony Manna (Timon of Athens at the Public Theatre, The Hasty Heart (Keen Company); Katherine Puma (Pudd’nhead Wilson); David Lapkin (Measure for Measure at the Pearl); Danny Rivera (member of The Bats at the Flea Theater); John St. Croix (Much Ado About Nothing in Astoria Park); and Matthew Velez.

The design team includes G. Warren Stiles (set design); Daniel Winters (lighting design); and Orli Nativ (costume design); Cassie Dorland (props design). The composer is Shane Parks. Alicia Rodis is the fight choreographer.

Cristina Lundy (director) has worked as a director and assistant director in San Francisco (Exit Theatre), and in NYC (Studio Tisch, Columbia University, T. Schreiber Studios and 3 Roads Productions).  For NYSX, Cristina has directed staged readings of Romeo & Juliet; Spring’s Awakening; and, many scenes for ShakesBEER, NYC’s Original Shakespearean Pub Crawl. She was assistant director on both The Life and Death of King John and Island.  Graduate of Trinity College.

New York Shakespeare Exchange (NYSX) offers innovative theatrical programming that explores what happens when contemporary culture is infused with Shakespearean poetry and themes in unexpected ways. Providing fresh points of entry to the work so that modern audiences will be exposed to the intrinsic power of Shakespeare, NYSX’s goal is to encourage an enthusiastic appreciation of classical theater and to expand the reach of the art form within new and existing audiences

Upcoming: SARAH FLOOD IN SALEM MASS

In SARAH FLOOD IN SALEM MASS, blood feuds, black magic, and the birth of capitalism merge in this dizzying portrait of a village on the brink. Can the women of Salem alter their destiny?

SARAH FLOOD stars Bradley Anderson (White Hot), Jamie Bock (White Hot), Veracity Butcher (A Letter from Omdurman), Thomas Carman, Yong Hyun Choi, Whitney Conkling (Restoration Comedy), Matthew Cox (Restoration Comedy), Hannah Finn, Glenna Grant (The Electric Lighthouse), Kana Hatakeyama, John Paul Harkins, Jed Krivisky, Christine Lee (a cautionary tail), Hank Lin, Elizabeth May, Jeff Ronan (These Seven Sicknesses), Isabella Sazak, Michelle Silvani (I Hate Mexicans), Elly Smokler, Mariette Strauss, Kate Thulin, and Nate Washburn (These Seven Sicknesses). It features sound by Adriano Shaplin, set by Caitlin Lainoff, lighting by Dante Olivia Smith, and costumes by Nikki Delhomme.

Adriano Shaplin is a playwright, performer, sound designer, and artistic director of the Riot Group, an ensemble he co-founded in 1997. He is the author of 11 plays for the Riot Group including Wreck the Airline Barrier, Pugilist Specialist, Victory at the Dirt Palace, Freedom Club and Sophie Gets the Horns. In 2004 Adriano joined Pig Iron Theater Company to create the Obie Award winning Hell Meets Henry Halfway, an adaptation of Witold Gombrowicz’s The Possessed. In 2006 Adriano became the first International Playwright-in-Residence with the Royal Shakespeare Company and his first play for the RSC, The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes, opened at Wilton’s Music Hall in London in 2008. Adriano is a four-time recipient of the Scotsman Fringe First, a Sloan Foundation grant recipient, and has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, the Royal Shakespeare Company, New Paradise Laboratories, and Interact Theatre Company. His plays have been produced at the Soho Theater and Riverside Studios in London, the Arches in Glasgow, the Magic Theater in San Francisco, the Theater Der Welt Festival in Germany, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Princeton University, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Ice Factory Festival, 59e59 and The Culture Project. His most recent play, Sophie Gets the Horns, debuted at the Incubator Arts Project in May 2012. His plays have been published by Oberon Books and Playscripts Inc.

Rebecca Wright has directed and dramaturged for PlayPenn, the Lark Play Development Center, and InterAct Theatre Company. She has developed work with Philadelphia-based performers for First Person Arts, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Micro-Fest Philadelphia, and SoLow Festival. Recent directing credits include Sophie Gets the Horns with The Riot Group, Merry Wives of Windsor with Shakespeare in Clark Park, 17 Border Crossings with Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, and Joan of Arc: Voices in the Fire at Columbia University, co-directed with Kristin Linklater. Rebecca is a co-founder of Applied Mechanics, with whom she creates immersive performance pieces, including Philadelphia Fringe Festival hit Overseers, and the 26-person historical fantasia Vainglorious: The Epic Feats of Notable Persons in Europe after the Revolution. She is a recipient of a 2012 Independence Fellowship in the Arts and a graduate of Artists U.

The Bats are the resident acting company members of The Flea Theater. Each year over a thousand actors audition for a place in this unique company. The Bats perform in extended runs of challenging classic and new plays. The Bats have recently appeared in premieres by A.R. Gurney, Will Eno, Adam Rapp, Beau Willimon, Mac Wellman, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Bradshaw, Itamar Moses, Sheila Callaghan, Julian Sheppard, Ken Urban, Tommy Smith, Jonathan Reynolds, Trista Baldwin, Laurel Haines, Qui Nguyen, Sean Graney, and Amy Freed.

Upcoming: Give The People What They Want

Tony Award Winner Greg Kotis Premieres

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT
(seven plays for five actors)
October 10 - November 11

Tony Award-winning playwright/lyricist Greg Kotis (Urinetown) returns to the New York stage with the World Premiere of GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT (seven plays for five actors). Written and directed by Kotis, performances begin October 10 at The People’s Improv Theater (aka The PIT).

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT (seven plays for five actors) is a collection of seven short plays that explore love, sex, truth, sex, money, sex, and justice. In that order.

The production stars Micah Sherman, Dan Hodapp, Keisha Zollar, Chris Roberti, and Julie Sharbutt with sound design by Matthew Callahan and lighting by Michael Montalbano.

Greg Kotis is the author of many plays and musicals including Urinetown (Book/Lyrics, for which he won an Obie Award and two Tony® Awards), All Your Questions Answered, Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards, The Boring-est Poem in the World, Yeast Nation (Book/Lyrics), The Truth About Santa, Pig Farm, Eat the Taste, and Jobey and Katherine.  His work has been produced and developed in theaters across the country and around the world, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theater, American Theater Company, the Eugene O’Neill National Theater Conference, Henry Miller’s Theatre (Broadway), Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Stage and Film, Perseverance Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Soho Rep, South Coast Rep, and The Old Globe, among others.  Greg is a member of the Neo-Futurists, the Cardiff Giant Theater Company, ASCAP, the Dramatists Guild, and was a 2010-11 Lark Play Development Center Playwrights Workshop Fellow.  He grew up in Wellfleet, Massachusetts and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife Ayun Halliday, his daughter India, and his son Milo.

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT (seven plays for five actors) runs Thursday, Oct. 10; Friday, Oct. 18; Friday, Oct. 25; &Friday, Nov. 11. All performances are at 8:00pm. The PIT is located at 123 E. 24th Street (between Park and Lexington Avenues), accessible from the N,R,4&6 trains at 23rd Street. Tickets are $15 at 800-838-3006 or www.thepit-nyc.com.

Disaster - It Better Be Good or the Review Writes Itself...

TOM RIIS FARRELL, MICHELE RAGUSA, SETH RUDETSKY,

JENNIFER SIMARD & MARY TESTA

to Star in

DISASTER!

A 1970’s Disaster Movie…Musical

Written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick

Directed by Jack Plotnick

Choreographed by Denis Jones; Music Direction by Larry Pressgrove

Begins performances on October 14; Opening Monday, November 4, 2013

At St. Luke’s Theatre

New York: Mary J. Davis will present DISASTER! written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, at St. Luke’s Theatre starting on October 14, opening Monday, November 4.  DISASTER! is a musical based on 1970’s disaster movies with a score consisting  of 1970’s pop, rock and disco hit songs. Directed by Jack Plotnick, choreographed by Denis Jones and music direction by Larry Pressgrove. Disaster! previously ran in 2012 and received rave reviews. The New York Times called it a “triumph” and “irresistible” and advised “You’ll be tickled and, despite your best judgment, probably singing along”.  For more information please visit www.disastermusical.com.

Upcoming: For The Sins I Remembrer

Maimie Pinzer and friend

FOR THE SINS I CAN REMEMBER, inspired by the celebrated letters of prostitute Maimie Pinzer, receives NYC premiere

New York, New York September 5, 2013— Vagabond Inventions returns with the New York premiere of FOR THE SINS I CAN REMEMBER, devised and co-written by
Donna Costello, Cynthia Polutanovich, and Jennifer Sargent and directed by Jennifer Sargent. FOR THE SINS I CAN REMEMBER begins performances on Friday, October 4 for a limited engagement through Sunday, October 20. Opening Night is Sunday, October 6 at 7 PM. Performances are at The IRT Theater (154 Christopher St, 3rd Floor, between Washington and West Streets). The performance schedule is Thursday – Saturday at 8 PM; Sunday at 7 PM. The regular ticket price is $18 ($15 for students). For tickets, call Brown Paper Tickets on 1-800-838-3006 or visit www.irttheater.org. For more information, visit www.vagabondinventions.com.

Inspired by Maimie Pinzer and her collection of letters, The Maimie Papers, mixed with stories from other prostitutes in the red light districts around the US, FOR THE SINS I CAN REMEMBER is an absurdist portrait of women from the late 19th and early 20th centuries who chose to work as "soiled doves." This tragi-comic Brechtian farce explores questions of morality, love, and femininity inside a storm of clownish Death Angels, Victorian etiquette lessons, and a looming Judgment Day. From fragments of history’s underside to a deconstructed present, FOR THE SINS I CAN REMEMBER captures our anti-heroine’s obstinate effort to survive her life—and death—with her personhood intact.

The cast features Donna Costello, Denni Dennis, Emily James, and Elisa Matula. The music director and pianist is Tony Melone.

Jennifer Sargent (Director, Co-Writer/ Creator) is a physical actor, creator of devised work, and the Artistic Director of Vagabond Inventions since 2007. Ms. Sargent’s seven original productions have performed across the US and in seven different countries. In NYC, she has performed work at The Chocolate Factory, HERE, Abrons Arts Center, The Brick Theater, and The Bushwick Starr. She completed the post-graduate training program at École Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

Donna Costello (Co-Writer/ Creator) is a dance artist immersed in process-rich work that blurs the lines of dance, theater, and performance. Ms. Costello has built rich relationships dancing for Shannon Hummel/ Cora Dance (founding member) jill sigman / thinkdance, Mollie O’Brien and Jimena Paz. Her own work has been presented by Movement Research at Judson Church, The flea theater, Green Space, Wow Café, Dixon Place, DanceNow/NYC, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange.

Hertog Fellow Cynthia Polutanovich (Co-Writer/ Creator) earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Hunter College and holds an award from the Academy of American Poets. Her work has appeared in "Half Drunk Muse," "The Bloomsbury Review," and, "Killing the Buddha." She has written commissioned poems for Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre’s “Base Pairs,” performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this fall, and for the company’s upcoming work. She recently published her first book.

Broadway Flea Market September 22nd

If you haven't been, you should go.  It's a great time.  LINK

Upcoming in September: A Dish For The Gods

MARGOT WHITE & KEVIN CRISTALDI

To Star in

Rachel Reiner Productions

World Premiere of

A DISH FOR THE GODS

Written by Victor L. Cahn

Directed by Adam Fitzgerald

Theatre Row's Lion Theatre

Beginning Performances September 14; Opening September 16, 2013

New York: Rachel Reiner Productions will present the World Premiere of Victor L. Cahn'sA Dish For The Gods, directed by Adam Fitzgerald. A Dish for the Gods will begin performances on Saturday September 14, and will open Monday, September 16  and will run throughOctober 5, 2013  at Theatre Row's Lion Theatre (410 West 42 Street). Tickets are $19.25 (including a $1.25 theatre restoration charge) and can be purchased atwww.Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.

In A DISH FOR THE GODS, celebrated writer Julia Richards reflects on her path to success as well as the price she has paid. She recalls the challenges she faced, the painful choices she made, and the tumultuous relationship she shared with the singular man she loved.

This production marks Cahn's seventh New York production in just under ten years, his sixth with Rachel Reiner Productions. A DISH FOR THE GODS will star Margot White (Broadway:The Farnsworth Invention) and Kevin Cristaldi (Next Fall, Dear Darkness). Creative team includes: David Arsenault (Set Design), Brooke Cohen (Costume Design), Nastassia Jimenez (Lighting Design), Colin Whitely (Sound Design), Rebekah Hughston(Associate Producer), Sean McCain (Stage Manager).  

  

A DISH FOR THE GODS

Written by Victor L. Cahn; Directed by Adam Fitzgerald

Begins performances on September 14; Opens September 16 and runs through October 5, 2013

Performance Schedule: Wednesday-Saturday at 8PM; Sunday Matinee at 3PM

Added performance Monday, September 16 at 7PM (opening); NO performance onSeptember18

Running Time is 90 Minutes NO intermission

The Lion is located at 410 West 42 Street

 Tickets are $19.25 (including $1.25 theatre restoration charge)

Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.

Mr. Cahn and Mr. Fitzgerald are available for interviews. To arrange interviews and/or press tickets please contact Springer Associates PR at 212 354 34660 / joe@springerassociatespr.com

WHO's WHO

VICTOR L. CAHN has written numerous plays, including several produced Off-Broadway as well as regionally: Getting the Business, Roses in December; Embraceable Me; Fit to Kill (all published by Samuel French); Dally with the Devil; Sheepskin/Bottom of the Ninth; andSherlock Solo, a one-man show that he performs. He has also taken leading roles in plays by Shakespeare, Pinter, Coward, Simon, Gurney, and Knott. He is Professor of English at Skidmore College, and the author of five books on Shakespeare; critical volumes on Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter; Conquering College: A Guide for Undergraduates; the memoir Classroom Virtuoso;and two novels, Romantic Trapezoid and Sound Bites. His articles and reviews have appeared in such varied publications as The New York Times, The Literary Review, Modern Drama, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Variety. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Inc.

ADAM FITZGERALD (Director)is the Artistic Director of kef theatrical productions and a founding partner of FIFTY2&NINE. With kef Adam recently directed Ken Urban's The Awake, the critically acclaimed Methtacular! (Time Out NY Critics' Pick), Killing Women(with Lisa Brescia) and Lyric is Waiting. Other recent NYC directing credits include Songs for a More Funnier World (NYMF), Getting the Business (Rachel Reiner Productions), Marc Castle'sFriends and Relations, Michael I Walker's Letter from Algeria (GroundUp) and the concerts of Ali Ewoldt and Adam Jacobs' Heart Full of Love (Town Hall) and Carner and Gregor's Island Song (92YTribeca). Adam was the 2008-09 Directing Resident at Playwrights Horizons assisting Wilson Milam, Bartlett Sher and Kate Whoriskey on plays by Nicky Silver (Three Changes with Maura Tierney), Craig Lucas (Prayer for My Enemy with Victoria Clark, Michele Pawk and Jonathan Groff) and Christina Anderson (Inked Baby with LaChanze) and served as the 2007-08 Artistic Associate, Playhouse West where his production of Defiance garnered Critics Circle nominations for Director and Production. With FIFTY2&NINE, Adam wrote and directed the PSA for the Ad Council and GLSEN which won a national Talent House competition judged by Brett Ratner and Tom Ford and directed FIFTY2&NINE's first web series, Conversations w/My Ex for GWIST TV. www.directorfitz.com

KEVIN CRISTALDI (Greg) Kevin Cristaldi's theatrical credits include Next Fall (Florida Studio Theatre), The Dirty Talk (Center Stage, NYC), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Schoolhouse Theater), Dear Darkness (New Ohio, NYC), Eddie Legs (The Lillian Theatre, L.A.), Cringe(Evidence Room, L.A.), The Last Station (Vermont Stage), The Miser (Hartford Stage), Message to Michael (Rattlestick Theater, NYC), Importance of Being Earnest (Two Rivers Theater), and the title role in Hamlet (Arden Theatre, Philadelphia). He is a member of The Evidence Room in Los Angeles, and has worked with Terra Nova Collective, the Labyrinth Theater Co., and Vampire Cowboys here in NYC. Television credits include Criminal Minds, Gilmore Girls, Numbers, Medium, The Unit, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

MARGOT WHITE (Julia) 2013 has proved a busy year for Margot.  As a TACT company member, she performed in their Spring production of Happy Birthday, as well as Love Therapy at the D*R*2.  She also just returned from CATF as a last minute replacement in Heartless, and will be at Harlem's Apollo Theatre the first weekend in November in Unspeakable - based on the life of Richard Pryor.  Other Favorite Credits include: Broadway/Off-Broadway: Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention; Rosmersholm (The Pearl, opposite Austin Pendleton); The Traveling Lady (E.S.T, Drama Desk Nomination, Best Revival); Pericles (Red Bull); Love Goes to Press! (Mint Theatre); world premiere of When They Speak of Rita (Primary Stages),directed by Horton Foote.  Regional:  Marshall Mason's revival of Talley's Folly at The McCarter with Richard Schiff; Studio Theatre/DC, A.C.T, Great Lakes, Pioneer, & STNJ.  TV/Film: "L&O", "L&O: CI", "Ugly Betty", "Blue Bloods" "Four Single Fathers", "Face Time", "A Queen Without His Crown"and a couple pilots on the 'cutting room floor' Network.