Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Announces 2013 - 2014 Season
Season Preview by David Roberts Theatre Reviews Limited
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Artistic Director David Van Asselt and Managing Director Brian Long have announced the company’s 2013-14 season—its 19th—will include world premieres by Halley Feiffer, Charles Fuller, Samuel D. Hunter, Craig Lucas, Lucy Thurber, and Ken Urban. As the first part of its 19th season, Rattlestick will present The Hill Town Plays, a cycle of five plays by Lucy Thurber that will be produced simultaneously at five different West Village theaters, including Rattlestick Theater, Cherry Lane Mainstage Theatre, Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, Axis Theatre, and the New Ohio Theatre. The Hill Town Plays comprise the inaugural season of Theater: Village, what will become an annual theatrical event of five plays centered around one playwright or theme running simultaneously in five different West Village venues.
The Rattlestick 2013-14 Season opens with: The Hill Town Plays Written by Lucy Thurber August 14 - September 28; opening September 5 Theater: Village
The Hill Town Plays tell the story of a woman who works her way into a new life from a troubled childhood. Each play examines a pivotal stage of the character’s life--from a childhood of poverty, alcoholism, and abuse in a western Massachusetts mill town through adulthood as a successful author. The Hill Town Plays investigate where we come from, what we dream of becoming, and who we are.
The Hill Town Plays include:
"Scarcity"
Presented by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Cherry Lane Theatre Directed by Daniel Talbott August 14-September 28 Cherry Lane Studio Theatre
"Where We’re Born"
Directed by Jackson Gay August 14-September 28 Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
"Killers and Other Family"
Presented by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Axis Company Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin August 14-September 28 Axis Theatre
"Ashville"
World Premiere Directed by Karen Allen August 21-September 28 Cherry Lane Theatre, Mainstage
"Stay"
Presented in association with the New Ohio Theatre Directed by GT Upchurch August 21-September 28 New Ohio Theatre
Rattlestick’s 2013-14 Season will continue with:
"One Night…"
World Premiere Produced by Cherry Lane Theatre and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Written by Charles Fuller; Directed by Clinton Turner Davis October 16 – December 7; opening o/a October 30 At Cherry Lane Theatre, Mainstage
One Night… takes an unflinching look at what has happened to women in the US Armed Forces when their decision to serve their country exposes them to an unforeseen battle against their fellow soldiers. Home from war, One Night… explores the lingering effects of trauma and injustice and one woman’s recompense. One Night... was commissioned by the Cherry Lane Theatre.
"How to Make Friends and then Kill Them"
World Premiere Written by Halley Feiffer; Directedby Kip Fagan October 23 - December 14; opening o/a November 7 At Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Left to their own devices by their alcoholic mother, Ada and Sam cultivate an insular world into which they soon draw a third wheel – a pockmarked, limping wallflower named Dorrie. In the years spanning childhood to young adulthood, these three troubled girls learn to lean on each other completely, finding ways to fill each other up and to tear each other down. But when a horrible accident turns their reality upside down, they find they must decide whether they will continue to foster their familiar, codependent cycle, or whether they will break free, with or without each other's aid.
"The Correspondent"
World Premiere Written by Ken Urban; Directed by Stephen Brackett February 5 – March 23; opening o/a February 20 At Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
A grieving husband hires a dying woman to deliver a message to his recently deceased wife in the afterlife. When he receives letters signed by his wife, describing events that only she could know, he’s faced with determining if the correspondence is from a con artist or actually from a ghost.
"Ode to Joy"
World Premiere Written and directed by Craig Lucas February 12 – April 12; opening o/a February 27 At Cherry Lane Theatre, Mainstage
Ode to Joy tells the story of love, heartbreak, addiction, and illness through the eyes of Adele, an audacious painter and her destructive relations with Mala and Bill, her two lovers.
"The Few"
World Premiere Written by Samuel D. Hunter; directed by Davis McCallum April 16 – May 31; opening o/a May 1 At Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Four years ago Bryan abandoned his labor of love, a newspaper for truckers. Now he's returned--with no word of where he's been--and things have changed. His former lover is filled with rage, his new coworker is filled with incessant adoration, and his paper is filled with personal ads. As he considers giving up for good, Bryan searches for what he couldn't find on the road: a way to keep faith in humanity.
Memberships for Rattlestick’s 2013-2014 season are now on sale and can be purchased at www.rattlestick.org/membership or by phoning the theater at 212.627.2556 (Monday through Friday 11am – 4pm). Rattlestick has specially priced memberships available for students, under 30 patrons, and theater artists.Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is located at 224 Waverly Place (off Seventh Avenue South – between West 11th & Perry Streets). Cherry Lane Theatre is located at 38 Commerce Street, two blocks below Bleecker Street.
Currently playing at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater through June 29th is Jessica Dickey’s Charles Ives Take Me Home, directed by Daniella Topol, and at Cherry Lane Theatre through June 22nd is Mando Alvarado’s Basilica, directed by Jerry Ruiz. The Rattlestick production of Buyer & Cellar, written by Jonathan Tolins, directed by Stephen Brackett, and starring Michael Urie is currently playing a commercial run at the Barrow Street Theatre following a critically-acclaimed, sold-out run at Rattlestick.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Sunday, June 23, 2013
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