PRESS
REPRESENTATIVE: JONATHAN SLAFF, 212-924-0496,
JS@JSNYC.COM
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THEATER
FOR THE NEW CITY’S DREAM UP FESTIVAL TO PRESENT WHERE
AND WHEN: NEW YORK, June 30 -- In a time when we are bombarded by news of violence and uprising, and seemingly paralyzed by our tumultuous political climate, we feel a responsibility to explore the sudden impact of any potentially disastrous moment. 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 a group of coworkers, armed with nothing but a poorly assembled manual and an abundance of glow sticks, suddenly receive an emergency alert to shelter in place. Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival will present the play’s world premiere August 25 to September 14. The setting is the near future, in a small, simple conference room near Columbus Circle. The piece was inspired by a recent bomb scare at the Time Warner Center in New York City, when the NYPD issued the directive “shelter in place” to people in the surrounding area. The play uses absurdist comedy to explore what happens when these alerts become a part of the everyday. Who takes them seriously? Who laughs it off? "Shelter in Place" is a one act play that satirizes the ways people react to risk, the risks of normalization and the banality of emergency directives. Jennie Campbell is a Canadian-American, NYC-based theater artist. She holds degrees from Carleton University (Journalism and Film Studies), The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Acting) and The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (Performance Practice as Research). As an actor, she has appeared in "The Comedy of Errors" (Bergen Shakespeare), "Tabula Rasa" (Dixon Place), and "Sound Sculpture Harmony" by Ran Xia. During her graduate studies, she developed her own performance practice, Stranger Bonds, which was featured in the 2017 Brink Festival in London. Her passion is works of social impact that offer a deep understanding of community and environment. Director Christopher Busch began as a child actor at Northeast Stage in Long Island. He earned an undergraduate degree at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. He has appeared as an actor in "Love’s Labours Lost," "Julius Caesar" (Northeast Stage), "Romeo and Juliet" (NYU), and "The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever" and has worked as an Assistant Director and Music Director for various projects at Theater for the New City. He also works directly with high profile artists as a Backstage Attendant at Carnegie Hall and has worked for The American Airlines Theater and Broadway.com. Production consultant is Jess Kaufman. ABOUT
THE DREAMUP FESTIVAL 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. In addition to traditional plays, a unique and varied selection of productions will again be offered, drawing upon a variety of performance genres including musicals and movement theater. The Festival's founders, Crystal Field and Michael Scott-Price, feel this is especially needed in our present time of declining donations to the arts, grants not being awarded due to market conditions, and arts funding cuts on almost every level across the country and abroad. ### Captioned, high-resolution photos of shows in this festival are available for download at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8TM5hCWLmZbKzV4p9 The festival's website is www.dreamupfestival.org |