| 2008 Midtown International Theatre Festival - Page 6 |
| Written by Dja Horry | ||||||||||||||
Page 6 of 9
WHERE EAGLES DARE THEATRE
347 West 36th Street, (between 8th & 9th Avenues) Ground Floor Seating Capacity: 40 (Note: While this venue is wheelchair accessible, the restrooms are not) A Shot in the Dark (comedy/revival) Adapted by Harry Kurnitz from the play L'Idiote, by Marcel Achard Produced by Wildcat Theatricals, by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. Running time: 90 minutes What's a French maid to do when she's found naked and unconscious next to the body of her dead lover, with a gun in her hand? Sex, murder, and true love get cross-examined in a courtroom of comedy -- adapted from the original French -- by Harry Kurnitz. A Shot in the Dark was originally produced on Broadway in 1961, running for 389 performances. The original cast included Julie Harris, William Shatner, Gene Saks, and Walter Matthau. The play was very loosely adapted for the screen in 1964 as a "Pink Panther" vehicle for Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, a character that was added to the action.. Schedule: Tuesday, July 22 at 6 pm Wednesday, July 23 at 6pm Tuesday, July 29 at 6pm Wednesday, July 30 at 6pm ***** As You Like It -- The Big Flush (comedy/experimental) Written by Amelia Bassano Lanier a.k.a. William Shakespeare Directed by Stephen Wisker Presented by John Hudson Featuring: The Dark Lady Players: Kirsta Peterson, Kate Murray, Emily Moment, Donna Lazar, Ashley Diane Curie, Lindsay Tanner, Alexandra Cohen-Spiegler, Jen Browne, Sarah Jadin, Daniela Dakic. darkladyplayers.com Running time; 1 hour, 30 minutes The Dark Lady Players offer a completely new take on the classic As You Like It. This adaptation highlights the two characters called Jaques/Jakes (Elizabethan for toilet), and the character whose pocket watch identifies him as Sir John Harrington, the inventor of the flush toilet! What are these characters, a dunghill, and many references to excrement doing in this play? Why does As You Like It end with Jaques warning that Noah's flood is coming? Why are there other flood references, like Hercules cleansing the Augean stables of manure? And why is Touchstone called Touchstone, or Basanos? Schedule: Sunday, July 20th at 4.30pm Saturday July 26th at 3.45pm Sunday, August 3rd at 7.30pm ********** By The Light of the Silvery Moon (The Yellow Wallpaper) (drama/comedy) Written by Sara Jeanne Asselin Directed by Melissa Firlit A Fine Feathered Friends Production Featuring: Sara Jeanne Asselin* and Keith Foster* finefeatheredfriendstheater.org Running Time: 50 minutes A woman describes a mysterious "condition" she may or may not be suffering from. Stripped of any creative outlet, she develops a bizarre relationship with the hideous wallpaper in her bedroom. Crawling vines, bulbous eyes, severed heads and creeping figures abound. Based on the semi-autobiographical short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the play depicts the horrifying effects of the once popular "rest cure" conceived by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. It's a darkly comic tale of what happens when we delve beneath the pattern. Schedule: Friday, July 18th at 6:30 pm Tuesday, July 22nd at 8:30 pm Saturday, July 26th at 1:45 pm Saturday August 2nd at 3:45 pm Sunday August 3rd at 3:15 pm ********** Daguerreotypes (comedy/drama) Written by Elisa Abatsis Directed by Karen Raphaeli Presented by Shoes for Royalty Productions Running Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes What do the following individuals have in common: a photographer who takes pictures of recently deceased babies to provide a visual record for the grieving parents; a fading actress who has lost just about everything due to her long relationship with the bottle; her daughter, who's getting over an emotionally devastating affair with her married professor; a young man who was once ready to do himself and many others great bodily harm; a confused pregnant woman; and a restless spirit that can't quite cross over to the other side? All are emotionally broken people, and it's only by their coming together -- some by chance, some by design -- that they all can begin to heal. Schedule: Tuesday, July 15th at 8:30pm Saturday, July 19th at 3:30pm Thursday, July 24th at 8:30pm Sunday, July 27th at 5:15pm Monday, July 28th at 6pm Friday, August 1st at 8pm ********** The Director's Reality (four one-acts) Written by Matthew Jellison, Zach Udko, Erica Schreiber, and Linda Giuliano Featuring Billy Magnussen*, Hardhi Harris, Lija Fisher*, Ari Brand, Maggie Surovell, Amy Dannemueller, Kristin Woodburn, Matthew Bondy, Sherin Parikh, Julie Cotton, and Jeff Stevens* Presented by Small Pond Entertainment Running Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Four directors – Aaron Gonzalez, Michael Schwartz, Jessica McVea, and Laura Credidio -- sat around one night discussing the power of the theatre. The discussion quickly boiled down to one word: Reality. In that blurred line between fact and fiction, theatre can change the course of lives, can skew ideas and beliefs. The line fascinates, seduces, and ultimately beckons us to play with it. These directors decided to take on that challenge and create something that redefines the definition of fact and fiction. Schedule: Monday, July 14th at 8:30pm Saturday, July 19th at 1pm Saturday, July 26th at 8:30pm Sunday, July 27th at 2:45pm Wednesday, July 30th at 8:30pm Thursday, July 31st at 6pm ********** FlagBoy (solo show/gay) Written and performed by Cornelius Jones Jr. Directed by Joshua Ian Running Time: 60 minutes corneliusjonesjr.com Cornelius Jones' solo performance tells the autobiographical story of his childhood and teenage years as a fiery and curious young African-American boy, exploring the stepping stone of his burgeoning, and sometimes frightening, sexuality as he maneuvers through the urban worlds of Richmond, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and a major health crisis that can end everything he worked so hard for in his life. More than a coming of age story, FlagBoy is an audacious look into the life of a young boy learning to love and forgive himself, a story that anyone can relate to and a lesson that we must remember to re-teach ourselves on a daily basis. Schedule: Monday, July 14th at 6:30pm Sunday, July 27th at 12:45pm Friday, August 1st at 6:00pm ********** Jump Jim Crow (drama) Written by Henry Meyerson Directed by Tom Thornton Featuring: Lawrence Floyd*, Michael Gnat*, Tom Thornton henrymeyerson.com Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes This show uses the background of the minstrel stage in the mid-19th century to depict Tom Rice, a white performer in blackface, and his black, lifelong friend and collaborator, Jack Washington. Tom performs what Jack writes, and Jack is perfectly content -- until he learns that their act, Jump Jim Crow, has led to the hanging of a black child in Georgia. Jack tries to convince Tom of the harm they both might be doing, but Tom intends to pursue his career. The conflict between Tom and Jack intensifies with the arrival of deceased Senator Strom Thurmond who has come to praise and support Tom's work. Jack, convinced by Thurmond that Rice's act will forever plague blacks in America, takes the next logical (but futile) step to alter history. Schedule: Thursday, July 17th at 6:15pm Sunday, July 20th at 7pm Friday, July 25th at 8:30pm Saturday, July 26th at 6:15pm Tuesday, July 29th at 8:30pm Saturday, August 2nd at 8pm ********** Interning (comedy/satire) Written by Nadia Owusu Directed by Rye Mullis Presented by Where's My Waitress Productions Featuring: Jenna Pace*, Nadia Owusu, Kristen Howard, Anderson Lim*, Ryan Andes*, Michael Galyon wheresmywaitress.com Running Time: 1 hour Four interns are hired at a prestigious event planning firm in New York. There may or may not be a reality TV show involved. Only one will be America's Next Top Event Planner. The others will be eliminated. Or, everyone will return to their desks and resume checking their e-mail. Poo cupcakes will fly, hair weaves will be ripped out, and celebrity events will be planned. The line between reality and reality for TV is blurred in this new dark comedy. Schedule: Friday July 18th at 8:30pm Sunday July 20th at 2:15pm Monday July 21st at 6:15pm Saturday August 2nd at 5:45pm Sunday August 3rd at 1pm ********** Quake (dramedy) Written by Melanie Marnich Produced by Special Arrangement with Playscripts, Inc Directed by Miguel Rosales Presented by On the Square Productions Featuring: Eric Fleming, Adam Gutbezahl, Jackie LaVanway, Michael Lutton, Rachel McPhee, and Kristy Powers Lucy is on a cross-country mission, looking for the love of her life. Her journey takes her across the American landscape, through hilarious and eccentric relationships in which time and emotion pass in a warped instant. When her quest becomes intertwined with that of a quirky female serial killer - an astrophysicist gone bad - the landscape changes once again, as they cross state lines and fault lines, exploring the geography of the human heart. Schedule: Tuesday, July 15th at 6pm Wednesday, July 16th at 6 pm Saturday, July 19th at 10:30pm Wednesday, July 23rd at 8:30pm Thursday, July 31st at 8:30pm ********** Striptease Into The Trip to Bahia Blanca (drama) Written by Griselda Gambaro Directed by Oscar A. Mendoza Presented by The Drop Theater Featuring: Sarah Doudna, Barbara Mundy*, Pasquale Failla, Paul Daily oscaramendoza.com Running Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes Two short pieces by Argentinean playwright Griselda Gambaro about solitude, love and life seen through the eyes of a sensitive woman who is, at the same time, being seen by the eye of the unconscious. A combination of film and live theater will get the audience involved in the big complexity of existence. Schedule: Wednesday, July 16th at 8:30pm Saturday, July 19th at 6pm Friday, July 25th at 6:15pm Sunday, July 27th at 7:45pm Monday, July 28th at 8:30pm Saturday, August 2nd at 1:30pm ********** Zen and The Art of Doing Nothing (comedy/drama) Written and directed by Mike Wallach Presented by Up to Nothing Productions Featuring: Allen Warnock, Brad Russell, Daniel Zen, Bethany Sacks, Susana Kraglievich, Kam Metcalf and Charles Roby ZenAndTheArtofDoingNothing.com Running Time: 1 hour It's opening night for Terence's new avant-garde show when the shattering truth of the meaning of Zen finally pierces him. What is the meaning of life? Why am I an actor? Why is my dad here? Will I wait tables when I'm fifty? How bad is that? Do I have to go onstage? Maybe I should have gone to law school. The play dives into the gut-wrenching, heart-dropping feeling of humiliation that defines the experience of New York City off-off Broadway actors. Schedule: Thursday, July 17th at 8:30pm Saturday, July 19th at 8:15pm Monday, July 21st at 8:30pm Thursday, July 24th at 6:15pm Sunday, August 3rd at 6:15pm
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