offoffBway.com

EDMOND is a screwy play, to the say the least. Unlike Mamet’s better known work (such as Glengarry Glen Ross, which was also made into a film), this is dark without much redemption for the main character. William H. Macy is the premiere interpreter of Mametspeak onstage (he was supposed to play the lead in EDMOND a few years back, but it didn’t work out) and on screen (he’s incredible in Homicide, a Mamet film that’s just plain weird), so he should go to town with this part. As a film, EDMOND will probably be more real and less surreal than it was onstage, a bit more of a thriller with some extra bite. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Read the review in today’s New York Times for a well-measured opinion.

First Independent Pictures presents the motion picture, EDMOND opening
July 14th in New York City at the Quad Cinema on West 13th Street
and at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd.

Please see www.edmondthefilm.com for more info!

Based on the classic play by acclaimed American writer David Mamet – this grisly, psychological journey is a must see.
Tour-de-force performances by William H. Macy, Julia Stiles and others…!

Edmond (and other plays)

This isn’t off-off Broadway at all really, but it sounds great: real Greek theater, from, like, Greeks. The play The Persians. Six performances only: Saturday, September 16 Through Wednesday, September 20, at City Center. And it’s performed in Greek with supertitles. So the illiterate need not apply. Here’s all the info:

THE NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREECE PRESENTS

AESCHYLUS’ THE PERSIANS

DIRECTED BY AND STARRING LYDIA KONIORDOU

For Six Performances Only at New York’s City Center

Saturday, September 16 Through Wednesday, September 20

The National Theatre of Greece proudly returns to New York’s City Center for a limited six-performance run of Aeschylus’ The Persians — the oldest surviving play in history and the only extant Greek tragedy that is non-mythical in theme and based on historic fact — from Saturday, September 16 through Wednesday, September 20. Lydia Koniordou, one of Greece’s most accomplished stage actresses who Ben Brantley of The New York Times describes as “ravishing” and “blazing with conviction and ardor,” heads the cast and directs. The Persians will be performed in Greek with English supertitles. Translation is by Nikoletta Frindzila, sets and costumes are by Lili Kendaka, music is by Takis Farazis, lighting is by Lefteris Pavlopoulos, vocal patterns are by Mirka Gementzaki, and the assistant director is Lilly Meleme.
(more…)

This is waaaay off-off Broadway – Amherst, MA, to be exact. It does feature a lot of NYC-based artists, though, and we don’t like to be all “I never leave the island of Manhattan”. Some of these sound interesting, and hey, maybe you’ll be traveling and will check some of these out. Full press release follows; for more info visit KoFest.com.

The Ko Festival of Performance Celebrates the Opening of its 15th Anniversary Season with a Gala Weekend of Live Performance –

Three Evenings of Fabulous Fun!
Dates: Friday-Sunday, July 15-17
Times: 8 p.m.

For Reservations call (413) 542-2277. Box office opens July 10.

For further information visit www.kofest.com. or call (413) 427-6147.

Who says you can’t go home again? The Ko Festival of Performance is celebrating it’s 15th birthday by inviting back artists from the last 14 years of the Festival to show Valley audiences their latest work. The festival is opening with a trio of extraordinary events. On Friday, July 14 at 8 p.m., perennial KoFest favorite Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Company conjures their latest magic with an adventure tale for all ages, Valentyne and Orson, performed under the stars at the Amherst College Observatory lawn. (Remember The Caucasian Chalk Circle (’05) The Heroic and Pathetic Escapdes of Karagiozis (’04) and Psyche (’03))? On Saturday, July 15 at 8 p.m., come to The Ko Kabaret, featuring a fabulous roster of Ko Festival alumnae in an evening of live music, compelling movement, wacky humor and wild performance, all in a stunning environment created from non-traditional and found materials by members of Boston’s hot, young ensemble TENT. Then on Sunday, July 16th at 8pm catch House/Boy, the internationally acclaimed concluding chapter of Nicky Paraiso’s trilogy that began with Asian Boys, which was featured in the 1994 Ko Festival. It is a sweet, poignant and musical look at parental legacies, and the enduring theme of what “home” means to Filipino Americans.
(more…)

We’re all for something that was off or off-off moving to another theater for an extended engagement. The artists are happy, the people working on the show are happy, and (in theory) audiences are happy. Plus for every show like this that works (that is, nobody loses their entire investment), that makes it that much more likely that another show will move as well (sort of – it’s the old “hey, that worked! Why not this one?” theory). Usually the direction is downtown-to-midtown and this is the opposite, but we’re not going to quibble. From some of the people who brought you BUG.

NILAJA SUN’S “NO CHILD…”
HEADS DOWNTOWN FOLLOWING SOLD-OUT RUN
ON THEATRE ROW

PERFORMANCES RESUME OFF BROADWAY AT

BARROW STREET THEATRE

SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2006

OPENING SET FOR SUNDAY, JULY 16, 2006

Barrow Street Theatre, Scott Morfee, Tom Wirtshafter, and Epic Theatre Center are proud to announce that No Child…, a solo play written and performed by Nilaja Sun, and directed by Hal Brooks (Thom Pain), will be transferring Off Broadway to the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street at 7th Avenue) this summer. Immediately following a sold-out and critically acclaimed run at the Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row, plans were in motion to bring No Child… to a larger audience. The open-ended engagement will begin performances on Saturday, July 8 with an opening night set for Sunday, July 16 at 7:00 p.m. Set Design is by Narelle Sissons, Lighting Design is by Mark Barton, Costume Design is by Jessica Gaffney and Sound Design is by Ron Russell.

No Child… is an unflinching look into the New York City Public Education system by the acclaimed teaching-artist and solo-performer, Nilaja Sun, who transforms into the teachers, students, parents, administrators, janitors, and security guards who inhabit our public schools every day and are shaping the future of America.

(more…)

The New Group offers this “new play with music”. With a title like that, it better have music! Ethel Merman, are you listening? (Note: we have no idea if this play has anything to do with Ethel Merman. In fact, it most likely does not.)
Seth Zvi Rosenfeld had a play produced back in 1997 called The Flatted Fifth which starred Danny Hoch; we remember folks liking that one. Seth’s done other stuff since then, this is just his latest work. The New Group is usually good for a solid production. So this one is worth a look, just based on the talent involved. Here’s the deal for those who want to know more:

THE NEW GROUP
PRESENTS THE FINAL PRODUCTION
OF ITS 2005-2006 MAINSTAGE SEASON
“EVERYTHINGS TURNING INTO BEAUTIFUL”

A NEW PLAY WITH MUSIC
WRITTEN BY SETH ZVI ROSENFELD
SONGS BY JIMMIE JAMES
DIRECTED BY CARL FORSMAN
LIMITED OFF-BROADWAY RUN
JULY 17 – AUGUST 26

OFFICIAL OPENING: THURSDAY, AUGUST 3 @ 7:00 PM

THE NEW GROUP @ THEATRE ROW
(THE ACORN THEATER / 410 WEST 42ND STREET)

The New Group proudly presents the final production of its 2005-2006 mainstage season, Everythings Turning Into Beautiful, a new play with music written by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld with songs by Jimmie James. Directed Carl Forsman, this production stars Daphne Rubin-Vega and Malik Yoba. This limited Off-Broadway engagement will play Monday, July 17 – Saturday, August 26 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Official Opening Night is set for Thursday, August 3 @ 7:00 PM.
(more…)

Second Stage Theatre has moved up in the world over the past several years, moving shows to Broadway (like this one, and this one) and doing most of their work at a mid-sized off-Broadway space in midtown. They did, however, wisely hold onto their jewel of a space on the Upper West Side, and here’s the latest offering there:

SECOND STAGE THEATRE
Concludes its 2006 Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series
with the World Premiere of
ALL THIS INTIMACY

Written by RAJIV JOSEPH

Directed by GIOVANNA SARDELLI

* * * * * *

PERFORMANCES BEGIN JULY 17 — OPENING NIGHT IS JULY 27

Following the world premiere of Anton Dudley’s Getting Home, Second Stage Theatre Uptown will conclude its 2006 season with the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s All This Intimacy, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The play will begin previews on July 17 and officially open on July 27 at Second Stage’s uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre on Broadway @ 76th street. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422.
(more…)

It’s not a warning, it’s the title of a play. Based on the film of the same name, it’s from the Hourglass Group, the company that did Mae West’s play SEX a few years back.

Stage Adaptation of 1932 Film Classic Makes Leap To Off-Broadway
TROUBLE IN PARADISE

“Yummy… smooth as silk” – New York Times
“Plays like a million bucks.” – Time Out

Hourglass Group in association with True Faux Productions (Christopher Atamian and Hillary Knill) bumps its critically acclaimed new stage adaptation of TROUBLE IN PARADISE to an Off-Broadway contract for an extension through July 22nd at the Hudson Guild Theatre. Conceived & directed by Elyse Singer, this adaptation of the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch film of the same name and screenplay by Samson Raphaelson is written by David Simpatico and features an original score by downtown jazz veteran Steven Bernstein & the Millennial Territory Orchestra.
(more…)

A revival of Cindy Lou Johnson’s play BRILLIANT TRACES, which was originally produced by the sadly defunct Circle Repertory Company. Those who are doing the reviving (veracious reflection theatre company) have a few words to share about why they are doing it. Read on:

BRILLIANT TRACES
by Cindy Lou Johnson

First presented by New York’s prestigious Circle Repertory Company,
this richly imaginative absurdist allegory used fantastic and often
outlandish situations and characterizations to probe into the nature
of modern relationships, both sexual and otherwise.
“Brilliant Traces is kooky, weird and definitely off-kilter, but if
taken in the right spirit, illuminating about how we live today.” — BackStage
“…deals with common issues of love and family, and does so with
characters, story and dialogue so fantastic that they could exist only
within the enchanted realm of the stage.” — NY Times
“Brilliant Traces is one of those plays in which a man and woman
battle it out in a small enclosed space, alternately repulsing and
seducing each other.” — The New Yorker
(more…)

Wouldn’t that be… fish food? Okay, okay…

In FOOD FOR FISH, young Bobbie drops pages from his novel into the Hudson River. The pages tell a story of three sisters: a stalker, an agoraphobe and a scientist with a secret plan to isolate and eliminate the gene for love. It is set in a world where men became women and women became men. But how far do you have to bend a gender before it breaks?

July 6-8, 12-15, 19-22, 27-29, 2006 at 8PM ° Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street NYC (btw 3rd and 2nd Avenues)

$17 / $10 with student ID ° special $10 previews July 6, and 7 ° tickets ° www.theatermania.com or call 212-352-3101

There’s also a nifty web page here.

Whoo-hoo! Selling out works! We knew it! Congrats to all involved. Hopefully the next step is a Brick Theater IPO…
In all seriousness, this is one of the best off-off houses in the city. So take the freakin’ L train and get out to Williamsburg to see a show! (We’re not responsible if this happens.)

The Brick Theater, Inc. shamelessly announces EXTENSIONS of several
shows in THE $ELLOUT FESTIVAL

New York, New York June 26, 2006—With the success of this year’s
$ELLOUT FESTIVAL, The Brick Theater, Inc. is proud to continue this
year’s most artistically void summer festival throughout the summer,
with the extension of several shows.

THE $ELLOUT FESTIVAL will now continue to run through Saturday,
August 26 at The Brick Theater (575 Metropolitan Avenue, between
Union and Lorimer Streets, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn). Tickets for
each show are $10, and are available by calling Theatermania at
212-352-3101 (or toll-free at 1-866-811-4111) or online at
www.theatermania.com. For more information regarding THE $ELLOUT
FESTIVAL, visit www.bricktheater.com.

THE $ELLOUT FESTIVAL Extensions:
(more…)