Best of Off Broadway Blog, News, New York, Tickets, Plays, Musicals

3-Legged Dog Presents the Off-Broadway Premiere of Charles Mee's Multidimensional Beach Party Play "Fire Island"

Previews begin April 10 at 3LD Art & Technology Center.

In their most ambitious projects to date, 3-Legged Dog will present the World Premiere of Charles Mee's Fire Island at the 3LD Art & Technology Center beginning April 10. Fire Island explores the many ways which people experience the birth and dissolution of relationships amidst the diverse and fragile ecosystems of this barrier island. Characters include drag queens, 6-foot tall little girls, freak clowns, Japanese bondage junkies, old folks and 50 other island inhabitants, all dealing with various stages of their relationships.

3-Legged Dog was approached by renowned playwright Charles Mee, the featured playwright of the Signature Theater's 2007/08 season, to premiere his play Fire Island, which Mee created specifically with 3-Legged Dog in mind.  This massive endeavor will transform the entire performance space into an indoor version of Fire Island, complete with beach chairs, pine trees, and blended drinks. This multidimensional beach party also incorporates the acclaimed 3-D Eyeliner technology that 3LD premiered last season in Losing Something.

Fire Island takes on several forms: an extremely wide format HD video work, a large scale panoramic multimedia installation/performance with 3-dimensional video and spatial sound as well as an ongoing interactive web component. A giant rear projection screen will show multiple perspectives, collaged into one giant array of imagery. All at once, the viewer will experience a couple falling in love from their perspective, close up, from a distance, as a voyeur peeping through the window, as well as the details of the environment around them (the weathered, salted boardwalk or the decaying pine needles). Using invisible Eyeliner screens multiple layers of video will also pop up in thin air, surrounding and sometimes hiding the performers.

Fire Island involves 108 artists, including the Tuvan throat singer Albert Kuvezin. Kuvezin's album Re-Covers, which is specified in the script, consists of covers of popular songs (including Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and Iron Butterfly's "In a Gadda Da Vida") performed with Tuvan overtone singing and traditional Tuvan instruments. Kuvezin will travel from Tuva to perform in the piece both on video and live.  A complete list of performers and the production team will be available online in late February.

Founded in 1994, 3-Legged Dog has become one of the leading experimental arts groups in New York, performing works in venues including The Kitchen, The Ontological, PS 122, La MaMa, Signature Theatre and The Venice Biennale (Arsenale). The company has mounted 17 full productions and numerous large-scale interactive installation works. In March 2006, 3LD Art & Technology Center opened the doors on a 12,500 square foot multi-venue art center in Lower Manhattan. In November 2007 the center was selected as one of 50 Essentials by Time Out and 3LD Artistic Director Kevin Cunningham was awarded The American Theater Wing's Henry Hewes Design Award. As of December 2007, the center had already supported the work of approximately 750 artists. 3LD continues to make at least 2 large-scale pieces each year in its new facility.

Fire Island runs April 10 - May 3, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm. (Note: doors open at 6pm for a pre-show barbecue).  3LD Art & Technology Center is located at 80 Greenwich Street (at Rector Street -- accessible from the 1 train at Rector Street). Tickets are $30, $15 for students available at 212-352-3101 or www.3LDNYC.org.

Rattlestick Goes to War as Norén Work Makes U.S. Debut Off-Broadway Jan. 31

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater presents the American premiere of Lars Norén's War starting Jan. 31.

The show will officially open Feb. 11 at the company's Manhattan home for a run through March 2.  Anders Cato (Miss Julie) directs.

War, as show notes reveals, "is set in a year of ethnic cleansing. A mother and her two daughters, their father missing and presumed dead, think only of survival. When the father returns unexpectedly, they must confront a world gone completely wrong." Marita Lindholm Gochman provides the translation.

Featured in the cast are Ngozi Anyanwu (Ghosts), Rosalyn Coleman (Radio Golf), Flora Diaz (Tooth and Claw), Laith Nakli ("Slippery Slope") and Alok Tewari (Betrothed).

Cato assumed directorial duties from the previously announced Norén, who was "unable to travel due to health reasons," according to a previous release. Ulrika Josephsson — who serves as artistic director of Riks Drama, Riksteatern, Sweden's national theatre company, with Norén — assisted Cato.

The design team includes Van Santvoord (sets), Meghan Healey (costumes), Ed McCarthy (lights) and Eric Shim (sound). Kyle Gates serves as production stage manager.

The season at Rattlestick will conclude with David Grimm's Steve and Idi (April 23-May 24), directed by Eleanor Holdridge.  The company will also host the developmental series "DirtyWorks" in June.

Tickets to War at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place (between West 11 and Perry Street), are available through (212) 868-4444. For more information visit rattlestick.org.

20@20 Returns! Off-Bway Discounts Feb.25 - March 9

For two weeks only, Off-Broadway will offer tickets for only $20 twenty minutes before show time. "20at20" is now a bi-annual celebration of NY's best shows, in the tradition of Restaurant Week!

Beginning Tuesday February 25 and continuing through Sunday, March 9, some Off-Broadway shows will offer seats still available twenty minutes before the curtain, for only $20 when purchased at the box office (cash only at some venues; some restrictions may apply) for over twenty shows. (A complete list follows).

Go to www.offbroadway.com for a complete list of participating shows, venues and special offers. Or call toll-free 1-877-4-20at20 (420-2820).

"20at20" is a project of the Off-Broadway Brainstormers. The Brainstormers began as a town hall-like forum for dialogue among the Off-Broadway community at large. It is founded on the belief that communication and collaboration amongst industry peers is critical for the success of the community.

All tickets subject to availability; restrictions may apply; offer valid only at the box office on the day of the performance 20 minutes prior to the curtain of the show you wish to see; offer may be revoked at any time; not valid on prior sale; can not be combined with any other offers; valid only February 25 through and including March 9, 2008.

Green, Henderson, Martinez, Stadelmann and More Set for Off-Broadway's U.S. Drag

Complete casting has been announced for the Off-Broadway premiere of Gina Gionfriddo's U.S. Drag, which will begin previews at the Beckett Theatre Feb. 23.

Presented by stageFARM and directed by Trip Cullman, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner will officially open March 1. The cast will comprise Tanya Fischer, Logan Marshall Green, Rebecca Henderson, Lisa Joyce, James Martinez, Michael Mosley, Matthew Stadelmann and Audrey Lynn Weston.

U.S. Drag, according to press notes, "is a dark comedy about two recent college grads on the hunt for love, money, meaning, and Ed – New York's most elusive serial attacker."

The creative team includes Sandra Goldmark (sets), Nicole Pearce (lighting), Emily Rebholz (costumes), Bart Fasbender (sound) and John McDermott (props).

Show times are Tuesdays-Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 3 and 8 PM and Sundays at 3 and 7 PM.

The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row is located in Manhattan at 410 West 42nd Street. Tickets, priced $37.50, are available by calling (212) 868-4444 or by visiting www.smarttix.com.

For more information visit www.thestagefarm.org.

Carrie Preston Is Reluctant Nanny in NYC Reading of Esther Demsack Comedy

Billy Finnegan's Esther Demsack, a new comedy about a reluctant nanny and her flamboyant show-tune-loving young charge, will get a private reading Jan. 29 in Manhattan.

Olivier Award nominee Stafford Arima (London's Ragtime, the regional Ace and Off-Broadway's Altar Boyz) directs the five-actor reading to feature Lynn Cohen ("Sex and the City," Lincoln Center's Ivanov, Off-Broadway's The Model Apartment), Noah Galvin (Ace), Carrie Preston (Broadway's Festen, The Tempest, TV's "Lost") as Esther, Claudia Shear (Dirty Blonde) and Robert Stanton (Broadway's The Coast of Utopia, Off-Broadway's Fuddy Meers, All in the Timing).

The presentation will be at 4 PM Jan. 29 at New York Theatre Workshop's 4th Street Theatre, 83 E. 4th Street between Second Avenue and Bowery.

According to notes from the playwright, "Esther Demsack [Preston] thinks she has finally arrived. Called to the office of prominent New York publisher David Brewster [Stanton], Esther is horrified to discover it's not her novel he wants — it's her, as governess to his 12-year-old son, Everette [Galvin], cute as a button, smart as a whip, and about as straight as Charles Nelson Reilly. Everette wants desperately to turn Esther into his very own Auntie Mame, and with the help of his crazy Lebanese neighbors [Shear and Cohen], he almost does. But Esther resists Everette's manic attempts at Mamedom, and digs deeper to find the dark secret that is haunting him and the entire Brewster family."

Finnegan's other plays include Any Solid Color Other Than Black (two-time Eugene O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist, MCC Theater reading); Begin Measured Mile; At the End; The Dander of Female Poplars, or One Queens Parade; and Little Boy Lost.

For more information, e-mail EstherDemsack@gmail.com.

Photo Flash: 'Deathbed' Opens Off-Broadway Jan.31

Deathbed by Mark Schultz (Everything Will Be Different 2006 Kesselring Prize for playwriting) makes its Off-Broadway world premiere at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (2162 Broadway at 76th street). Wendy C. Goldberg directs the limited six week engagement January 21 – March 1 with opening night set for Thursday, January 31.

The ensemble cast includes Ross Bickell, Charlotte Booker, Emily Donahoe, Clifton Guterman, Ryan King, Brandon Miller, Patricia Randell, Christa Scott-Reed and Jonathan Walker.

"Deathbed eloquently paints a landscape of longing and desperation as its characters struggle to come to terms with loss and suffering. Martha has cancer and demands attention; Danny doesn't want to deal; Thomas would rather forget; Steven loves too much; Susan feels betrayed; Martin is confused and Ian wants to know what death is really like. Funny and deeply touching, Deathbed explores the boundaries of human compassion in the midst of personal suffering. Is it wise to embrace one's vulnerability and face death head-on? Or is it better to just to read a book and have a sandwich?" explain press notes.

The design team includes Alexander Dodge (scenic), Anne Kennedy (costume), Josh Epstein (lighting), Ryan Rumery (sound) and Stephanie Gatton serves as stage manager.

Tickets are $45 and can be purchased at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/27041 or by calling 212-352-3101.Photos by Aaron Epstein

Julie White Returns to the Stage

What do you do for an encore after winning a 2007 Tony for best actress?

If you are Julie White, the deserving winner for last season's "The Little Dog Laughed," you go off-Broadway to star in the Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of "From Up Here," a dark family comedy by Liz Flahive about high school, second marriages and more.

The play opens April 16 at the nonprofit's Stage I, 131 W. 55th St. Preview performances begin March 27. The production grew out of a successful presentation at the Out Loud play-reading series, produced by the innovative little cultural organization, Ars Nova.

The cast will also include Aya Cash, Will Rogers and Joel Van Liew. The director is Leigh Silverman, most recently represented off-Broadway with David Henry Hwang's "Yellow Face" at the Public Theater.

Flahive is a former beauty editor for magazines such as Lucky, Seventeen and Teen People.

For tickets to "From Up Here," call CityTix, 212-581-1212, or go online at www.NYCityCenter.org or visit the West 55th Street box office. For more information all Manhattan Theatre Club productions, visit the Web site www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com .

The Gallery Players offer up a 'Wild Night' of theater

Andrew Lippa's Off-Broadway musical "The Wild Party" has deserved to be revived in New York since it squared off in 2000 with a competing musical based on the same story. Actress Nicole Sterling was going to Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's "Bounce" when that show closed out of town. Now both have found a home Off-Off-Broadway at the Gallery Players, a Brooklyn institution for more than 40 years.

A tiny but thriving space in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the Gallery Players has shown a knack for clever revivals of Broadway shows that pack in audiences for the brief, 16-performance run allowed by its Showcase agreement with Actors Equity (an agreement that also specifies an $18 ticket price for the 99-seat space).

The Gallery Players doesn't just draw in new audiences; it also appeals to working actors who see the short runs and high-quality material as the perfect opportunity to do what they love and maybe get spotted by directors, producers and casting agents in the audience.

Click Here to read the full article.

Shows Survive by Sharing a Stage

IF you are thinking of taking in a show at New World Stages, the Off Broadway theater complex on West 50th Street, you had better take a close look at your ticket before you go inside. Going to see “Altar Boyz”? O.K. That has a typical evening curtain time of 8 p.m. But if you’re attending “My First Time,” the hour is 7 p.m. The family-oriented musical “Pinkalicious” runs sometimes at noon, sometimes at 2 p.m. As for “Naked Boys Singing” — well, that could be either 6 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. The reason New World Stages seems to have more arrival times than Grand Central Terminal is that it has become the epicenter of Off Broadway’s latest survival strategy. It’s called piggybacking, and it involves two shows saving production costs by sharing a stage, often lighting and sound equipment and even a crew member of two. Not everyone can claim all the prime slots of course, so showtimes are divided up and staggered. At least three pairs of Off Broadway shows are perched on each other’s shoulders. At the 47th Street Theater, “Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening” and “Dai” are roomies. “Altar Boyz” and “Naked Boys Singing” split Stage 4 at New World Stages, while “My First Time” and “Pinkalicious” both call Stage 5 home. When the Australian cabaret artist Tim Minchin moves in on March 3, Stage 5 will become the scene of a piggybacking triple-header. Click Here to view the full article.

New Musical Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island Begins Off-Broadway Run at the Vineyard Jan. 25

Peter Friedman stars in The Vineyard Theatre's Off-Broadway production of the new Mark Mulcahy-Ben Katchor musical, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (or the Friends of Dr. Rushower), beginning Jan. 25.

Bob McGrath directs and John Carrafa choreographs the production, which is set to open Feb. 12 for a run through March 2.

Following the successes of previous musicals (Avenue Q and [title of show]), the Vineyard presents this new stage work featuring music by Mulcahy with a libretto and drawings by Katchor.

"Set in and around Manhattan and on a tropical factory-island of exploited workers," as press notes reveal, The Slug Bearers... was "inspired by the tradition of the "picture reciter, a form of live entertainment from 17th-century India." Katchor's drawings form the animated background for the unique new musical with Mulcahy's indie-rock score. The work was first presented in New York City at The Kitchen in March 2004.

Click Here to view the full article.