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THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY SETS
ITS TENTH ANNUAL
DREAM UP FESTIVAL
All events at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street)
NEW YORK, July 28 -- From August 25 to September 15, 2019, Theater for the New City (TNC), under the direction of Crystal Field, Artistic Director, will present its tenth annual Dream Up Festival, a feast of adventurous theater mixing world premieres, American premieres and New York premieres. It's an ultimate new work festival dedicated to the joy of discovering new authors and edgy, innovative performances.
The Festival lineup follows below.
Helmed by the theater's Literary Manager, Michael Scott-Price, the festival offers 27 plays. Audiences will savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country. There are two musicals, four plays on the African-American experience, two plays on pregnancy and motherhood, four plays of political content set in the dystopian future, two solo shows and two two-handers. A new translation is offered of Strindberg's proto-Freudian masterpiece, "The Father." Critics are invited to all stagings of all plays in the festival.
Theater for the New City has consistently been the most inexpensive theater of its caliber and it continues its commitment to affordable tickets with this festival. Dream Up Festival tickets are $12-$20 for the participating productions.
The festival does not seek out traditional scripts that are presented in a traditional way. It selects works that push new ideas to the forefront, challenge audience expectations and make us question our understanding of how art illuminates the world around us.
Michael Scott-Price (Curator/Festival Director) has directed in New York City at venues including Chashama, Dixon Place and Collective Unconscious. He has written and directed productions that were presented nationally as well as in Canada, Ireland and England. Currently, he is also Curator of TNC's "New City, New Blood" reading series and "Scratch Night" (works-in-progress). He is Artistic Director of an experimental theater company, Asteroid B612 Theatre Company, which made its debut in the 17th Annual HERE American Living Room Series in August 2006. He has studied at the School of Physical Theatre in London, England, at the Odin Teatret in Hostelbro, Denmark and in the International School Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) in Wroclaw, Poland with Eugenio Barba and company. He is an alumnus of Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Theater for the New City.
Theater for the New City (TNC) maintains a distinctive commitment to high artistic values and community service. In an effort to make theater accessible to all, TNC presents an assortment of distinct, exceptional events each year, including the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which celebrates the artistic and cultural diversity of TNC's Lower East Side community; an annual Village Halloween Ball and an annual summer Street Theater tour that presents a free, live, original musical in thirteen neighborhoods in all five boroughs. Most of these are free of charge to the public.
Theater for the New City is located at 155 First Ave., at East 10th Street.
For tickets, go to: www.dreamupfestival.org. For additional info, call TNC box office at 212-254-1109.
ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT:
Alphabetical lineup of the productions (WEB PAGE with links to press releases
for each show): www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup2019.htm#lineup
Captioned, high-resolution photos of selected shows: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8TM5hCWLmZbKzV4p9
Festival's website: www.dreamupfestival.org
PRESS
REPRESENTATIVE: JONATHAN SLAFF, 212-924-0496,
JS@JSNYC.COM
ALPHABETICAL
LIST OF PRODUCTIONS
All events at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (at E. 10th Street).
Box office: TNC (212) 254-1109 - Other info: www.dreamupfestival.org
INFO AS OF JULY 28, 2018. SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
"ABDICATION!" BY NAYA JAMES
"THE ASSASSINATION OF J.KAISAAR, THE DESTRUCTION OF MARKO
T AND KLEOPATRA AND THE RISE OF AUGUSTUS" BY STEPHAN MORROW
"CARRIER PIGEON" BY SKYLAR J. BEIRNE
"THE CHAOS THEORY OF NOW" BY JENNIFER JOY PAWLITSCHEK
"DANGEROUS TO DANCE WITH" BY BILL ROGERS
"THE FATHER" BY AUGUST STRINDBERG, NEWLY TRANSLATED
BY ROBERT GREER
"HEDY LAMARR AND FREQUENCY HOPPING" BY DEMETRIA DANIELS
"I KNOW IT WAS THE BLOOD THE TOTALLY TRUE ADVENTURES
OF A NEWFANGLED BLACK WOMAN" BY TARA LAKE
"KIRA (REINCARNATION)" BY YUNA SHAPATAVA
"LAME DUCKS" BY ANTHONY FUSCO
"MAKER OF WORLDS" BY WENDY A. SCHMIDT
"THE MATERNITY MONOLOGUES," BY CATHERINE HIGGINS-MOORE
"ME AND LEE" BY JASON TRACHTENBURG
"PETER IN PIECES" BY ANTONY RAYMOND
"QUILTING THE SUN" BY GRACE CAVALIERI
"REVOLUTIONARY" BY PRASAD PAUL DUFFY
"SAILOR" BY ELLE SUNMAN AND MARIAGRAZIA DE LUCA
"SECOND CHANCE" BY TALIB ANDRE
"SHELTER IN PLACE" BY JENNIE CAMPBELL
"SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, ROBERT E. LEE & ME" BY ASHLEY
CHRISTOPHER LEACH
"THIS IS LIKE THAT" BY MICHAEL SEAN CIRELLI
"TURKEYS GO ON STRIKE: A NEW SATIRICAL MUSICAL" BY
ETHAN FELIZARRI
"TWO IS A PRIME NUMBER" BY ANNA WATTS
"WHIPPED" BY HANK H.KIM
"WIFEY" BY SARAH E.
"ABDICATION!" BY NAYA JAMES
September 3 at 9:00 PM, September 4:00 at 6:30 PM, September
5 at 9:00 PM, September 6 at 6:30 PM, and September 7 at 8:00 PM (Johnson
Theater)
"Abdication!" is a series of three separate stories, each of which takes place in their own realities of the near-future, each story with characters who are grappling with whether to fight for their independence to think and feel, or to give in to simpler and easier life for them in the short run.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Abdication.htm
Buy Tickets: https://abdication.brownpapertickets.com/
"THE ASSASSINATION OF
J.KAISAAR, THE DESTRUCTION OF MARKO T AND KLEOPATRA AND THE RISE OF AUGUSTUS,"
BY STEPHAN MORROW
September 9 at 9:00 PM, September 10 at 6:30, September 11
at 6:30 PM, September 12 at 9:00 PM, September 14 at 2:00 PM, September 15
at 8:00 PM (Johnson Theater)
Stephan Morrow set out to dramatize the unintended consequences of political assassination and out popped an epic fantasy, drawing on Plutarch, Shaw, Shakespeare and other sources. Since power struggles today so resemble Mafia wars, it's somewhat like "The Sopranos" meets "Mad Max," written in uber-contemporary language with vestiges of the Bard. The theme is that political assassination can have unintended consequences and should be considered as the least effective solution to political conflict if a free citizenry is valued above all else. The irony of history, you see, is that the democratic impulse to save the Roman republic by unseating Julius Caesar ushered in the age of Octavius, who governed so well that his system of authoritarianism lasted over 200 years, creating a heyday of empire.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/assassination_of_JKaisaar.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4294683
"CARRIER PIGEON" BY
SKYLAR J. BEIRNE
August 25 at 8:00 PM, August 26 at 6:30 PM, August 27 at 9:00
PM, August 28 at 9:00 PM, August 29 at 6:30 PM, August 31 at 2:00 PM (Cabaret
Theater)
An agoraphobic mass shooting survivor must choose between her shut-in lifestyle and a life where she can do more than survive with the development of her sister's wedding, the return of her father's terminal illness and her relationship with a mysterious man that she communicates with via a carrier pigeon.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Carrier_Pigeon.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4294756
"THE CHAOS THEORY OF NOW" BY
JENNIFER JOY PAWLITSCHEK
September at 2:00 PM, September 9 at 6:30 PM, September 11
at 9:00 PM, September 12 at 6:30 PM, September 13 at 6:30 PM, September 14
at 5:00 PM, September 15 at 5:00 PM (Cabaret Theater)
Science nerd Jennifer Joy Pawlitschek uses chaos theory to envision what her alternate selves might have been: a Trump-voting farm wife, a liberal rural politician, an Evangelical homeschooling mom and a teen punk Antifa activist. Inspired in part by her own Trump-loving farm family, Jennifer reveals how America got to this point – and what's next.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Chaos_Theory_Of_Now.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4296869
"DANGEROUS TO DANCE WITH" BY
BILL ROGERS
August 30 at 9:00 PM, September 1 at 8 PM, September 2 at 6:30
PM, September 4 at 9:00 PM, and September 5 at 6:30 PM (Johnson Theater)
The guests of a brilliant yet paranoid playwright are forced to put up with his verbal abuse as he manipulates them like characters in one of his plays. "Dangerous to Dance With" is a dark comedy about greed, deception and taking things way too far.
Complete info:
http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Dangerous_to_Dance_With.htm
Buy Tickets: https://dangeroustodancewith.brownpapertickets.com/
"THE FATHER" BY AUGUST STRINDBERG,
NEWLY TRANSLATED BY ROBERT GREER
August 25 at 8:00 PM, August 27 at 9:00 PM, August 28 at 6:30
PM, August 31 at 5:00 PM, September 1 at 2:00 PM, September 2 at 9:00 PM.
(Johnson Theater)
The Dream Up Festival offers Robert Greer's brand new translation of Strindberg's 1887 tragedy, in which a wife uses her erotic influence over her doctor and her readiness to claim that her family lawyer is her child's father to drive her husband into madness. The play offers a proto-Freudian explanation of the unreasonable hatred that can exist between husbands and wives. Greer's translation mines the hidden sexual meanings in the original Swedish dialogue (bowdlerized in many translations) that seem to drive the play.
Complete info:
http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Father.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298658
"HEDY LAMARR AND FREQUENCY HOPPING"
BY DEMETRIA DANIELS
September 9 at 9:00 PM, September 11 at 6:30 PM, September
13 at 9:00 PM, September 14 at 2:00 PM, September 15 at 2:00 PM (Cabaret Theater)
A bioplay about the famed film and TV actress who co-invented a technology that might have contributed to victory in World War II, but whose life was marred by bad marriages and the decline of her Hollywood career in the 1950s.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/HedyLamarr.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298672
"I KNOW IT WAS THE BLOOD THE
TOTALLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF A NEWFANGLED BLACK WOMAN" BY TARA LAKE
August 25 at 2 PM, August 26 at 9 PM, August 27 at 6:30 PM,
August 30 at 6:30 PM, September 1 at 5 PM (Cabaret Theater)
An autobiographical, one woman coming-of-age story written and performed by Tara Lake about being raised by a Southern family which has relocated to the North. Ultimately, it portrays an African American woman who is proud to construct her own identity, defying the limiting stereotypes and enforced roles of race, gender, sexuality and class.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/I_Know_It_Was_The_Blood.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298683
"KIRA (REINCARNATION)" BY YUNA
SHAPATAVA
August 25 at 5:00 PM, August 30 at 6:30 PM (Community Theater)
In "KIRA (Reincarnation)," an ephemeral woman and a man (both immortal) experience the reincarnation of their physical love into eternity. Yuna Shapatava (an A-list actress in Georgia, now living in NYC) and Ulysses Heyward play the lovers. Directed by Shapatava.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/KIRA_Reincarnation.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298694
"LAME DUCKS" BY ANTHONY FUSCO
September 4 at 9:00 PM, September 6 at 6:30 PM, September 8
at 8:00 PM, September 10 at 9:00 PM, September 12 at 9 PM. September 15 at
8:00 PM (Cabaret Theater)
How much do you know about your roommate? Do you know what kind of person he is when he stands in front of you? "Lame Ducks," a psycho thriller written and directed by Anthony Fusco, addresses this conundrum in a dark contemporary drama.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Lame_Ducks.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298715
"MAKER OF WORLDS" BY WENDY A.
SCHMIDT
September 2 at 6:30 PM, September 3 at 9:00 PM, September 4
at 6:30 PM, September 5 at 6:30 PM, September 6 at 9:00 PM, September 7 at
5:00 PM (Cabaret Theater)
In a play crookedly inspired by You Tube's how-to videos one woman, part Judeo-Christian god and part Martha Stewart, creates the world and threatens to destroy it using the few items on stage. She also plays other deities, her husband and Jim Morrison in a play about creativity, capitalism and the divine in all of us. Performed by Amy Gorelow, directed by Jeri Frederickson.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Maker_of_Worlds.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298865
"THE MATERNITY MONOLOGUES,"
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CATHERINE HIGGINS-MOORE
September 5 at 9 PM, September 7 at 5 PM, September 8 at 5
PM, September 11 at 9 PM, September 12 at 6:30 PM (Community Theater)
Built upon interview transcripts of real women, "The Maternity Monologues" seeks to demystify the experiences of pregnancy, birth and motherhood with an honest depiction of how these women feel about their changing bodies, their physical and mental health, and their romantic relationships. Cast of four. Catherine Higgins-Moore is an Northern Irish-born writer now based in Tribeca. She was commended in BBC's International Playwriting Award 2018 and nominated for Harper Collins' Comedy Women in Print Prize. She writes for The Times Literary Supplement, is founding editor of The Irish LiteraryReview and is one of the sifter judges of BBC's National Short Story Award.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/MaternityMonologues.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298875
"ME AND LEE" BY JASON TRACHTENBURG
September 15 at 5:00 PM (Johnson Theater)
A musical theater account of the supposed romance of Lee Harvey Oswald and teen science whiz Judyth Vary Baker in the runup to the JFK assasination.With seven original songs and an all-Star Downtown cast and band.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/ME_and_LEE.htm
Buy Tickets: https://meandlee.brownpapertickets.com/
"PETER IN PIECES" BY ANTONY
RAYMOND
September 8 at 5:00 PM, September 10 at 9:00 PM, September
12 at 6:30 PM, September 13 at 9:00 PM, September 14 at 5:00 PM (Johnson Theater)
A dark comedy about the life and relationships of a New York actor who is always desperate to get laid. It causes his demise.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Peter_In_Pieces.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298890
"QUILTING THE SUN" BY GRACE
CAVALIERI
September 3 at 6:30 PM, September 6 at 9:00 PM, September 7
at 5 PM, September 8 at 8:00 PM, September 9 at 6:30 PM, September 11 at 9
PM. (Johnson Theater)
A play about the life and work of Harriet Powers, a former slave and artist whose Bible quilt now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution. A play about finding genius in undiscovered places. Harriet Powers's quilts are said to be closer in appearance to Picasso's work than to the story quilts of the post-Civil War South. Written by Grace Caballeri and directed by Shela Xoregos.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/quilting_the_sun.pdf
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298905
"REVOLUTIONARY" BY PRASAD PAUL
DUFFY
September 5 at 6:30 PM, September 9 at 9:00 PM, September 11
at 6:30 PM, September 13 at 9:00 PM, September 14 at 5:00 PM, September 15
at 8:00 PM (Community Theater)
"REVOLUTIONARY" is a futuristic musical about young, homeless musicians who become entangled in a revolution against fascism. Written and directed by Prasad Paul Duffy, with music and lyrics by Theo Grace, it is set in and around a graffiti filled apocalyptic version of Washington Square Park.
Complete info:
http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/REVOLUTIONARY.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4299569
"SAILOR" BY ELLE SUNMAN AND
MARIAGRAZIA DE LUCA
August 25 at 5PM, August 26 at 6:30PM, August 29 at 6:30PM,
August 30 at 6:30PM, August 31 at 2PM (Johnson Theater)
"Sailor" is a love story between Sofi, an Italian middle aged woman pursuing a dream of publishing a novel, and Juan, a young Mexican ex-gangster turned dishwasher. They meet in the kitchen of a New York City restaurant. As they chase their particular American dream, their worlds collide. The play speaks of work, fatigue and surviving in a city where dreams can easily fall apart.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Sailor.htm
Buy Tickets: https://sailor.brownpapertickets.com/
"SECOND CHANCE" BY TALIB ANDRE
August 28 at 6:30 PM, August 29 at 6:30 PM, August 30 at 9
PM, August 31 at 2 PM, September 1 at 2 PM (Community Theater)
A living couple renews their wedding vows in hopes of infusing their marriage with a bit of romance, and a deceased couple are sent to Earth by God to show that there is still love in the world. A play about overcoming misgivings and reinvigorating your marriage.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Second_Chance.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4299600
"SHELTER IN PLACE" BY JENNIE
CAMPBELL
August 25 at 5:00 PM, August 31 at 8:00 PM, September 7 at
8:00 PM, September 10 at 6:30 PM, September 14 at 8:00 PM. (Cabaret Theater)
What do you do when an emergency alarm appears on your phone? "Shelter In Place" written by Jennie Campbell and directed by Christopher Busch, explores a fictional moment when five people, working in an office, suddenly receive an emergency alert comes over the loudspeaker. At that point, everybody panics. The play explores their journey through fright, denial, problem-solving, blaming, intellectualizing and all the other reactions to natural shocks that flesh is heir to.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Shelter_In_Place.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4299611
"SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, ROBERT E.
LEE & ME" BY ASHLEY CHRISTOPHER LEACH
September 1 at 2:00 PM, September 2 at 9:00 PM, September 3
at 6:30 PM, September 5 at 9:00 PM, September 7 at 2:00 PM (Cabaret Theater)
A solo performance that aims to demonstrate how Americans can find common ground on issues that divide them. As one statue goes up, another statue is torn down. The play seeks to demonstrate how both Chisholm and Lee transcended the constraints of their time and made unpopular decisions that spoke to their humanity rather than the contemporary ideologies they commonly represent.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Shirley_Chisholm_RobertELee_and_Me.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4299684
"THIS IS LIKE THAT" BY MICHAEL
SEAN CIRELLI
August 31 at 8:00 PM, September 1 at :005 PM, September 2 at
6:30 PM, September 3 at :009 PM, September 4 at 6:30 PM (Johnson Theater)
A man enters his own dream of teaching his class about the meaning we as humans assign to everyday words, while also initially struggling to explain this concept. The show is for people who have the experience of knowing what they say but still feel misunderstood.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/ThisIsLikeThat.htm
Buy Tickets: https://thisislikethatworld.brownpapertickets.com/
"TURKEYS GO ON STRIKE: A NEW
SATIRICAL MUSICAL" BY ETHAN FELIZARRI
August 25 at 2:00 pm, August 26 at 9:00 PM, August 27 at 6:30pm,
August 28 at 9:00 PM, August 29 at 9:00 pm, August 31 at 8:00 pm, September
1 at 5:00 pm (Johnson Theater)
A young turkey who feels that his town's local government has been taken over by corrupt politicians fights alongside the rest of his flock against brutality and oppression by searching for the truth. A new satirical musical with a score consisting of Hip-Hop, 60's Doo-Wop, Tango and more.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/TurkeyGoOnStrike.htm
Buy Tickets: https://turkeysgoonstrike.brownpapertickets.com/
"TWO IS A PRIME NUMBER" BY ANNA
WATTS
August 25 at 2:00 PM, August 26 at 6:30 PM, August 27 at 9:00
PM, August 31 at 5:00 PM, September 1 at 8:00 PM
Two people come together over their interest in kick-boxing. As their careers draw them further apart and they begin to fight more often, the pair must decide whether or not they are truly right for each other. "Two is a Prime Number" uses poetry, movement, and workout reenactments to tell a universal love story about what it means to fall in love.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/TwoisPrimeNumber.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4299763
"WHIPPED" BY HANK H. KIM
September 2 at 9:00 PM, September 3 at 6:00 PM, September 4
at 9:00 PM, September 6 at 9:00 PM, September 7 at 8:00 PM, September 8 at
8:00PM. (Community Theater)
In a dystopian future, a struggling couple with some uncomfortable secrets are visited by Whip, a senior government case officer for the newly minted Department of Personal Responsibility and Rectitude, who is charged with helping them get their financial troubles in order. Whip, an Asian-American with an English accent, is not the devoted, squeaky clean official that he's cracked up to be. This black comedy/psychological thriller explores tyranny and oppression using dark humor and thriller aspects, satirizing how our ideal of government by, of and for the people is all too often just an empty slogan.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/Whipped.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4299775
"WIFEY" BY SARAH E.
September 8 at 2:00 PM, September 10 at 9:00 PM, September
12 at 9:00 PM, September 14 at 2:00 PM, September 15 at 2:00 PM (Community
Theater)
"WIFEY" is a series of scenes and testimonial monologues exploring what it means to be and become a "wife" in Trump's America. Structured as a series of vignettes, this show blends intimate drama, free verse, experimental movement, and nuanced lighting to tell a story that spans decades.
Complete info: http://www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup_2019/WIFEY.htm
Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4299808
# # #
Alphabetical lineup of the productions (WEB PAGE with links
to press releases for each show): www.jsnyc.com/season/dreamup2019.htm#lineup
Captioned, high-resolution photos of selected shows: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8TM5hCWLmZbKzV4p9
Festival's website: www.dreamupfestival.org