THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY’S DREAM UP FESTIVAL PRESENTS
"WIFEY" BY SARAH E.
One woman's journey through marriage in the wake of the 2016 election

WHERE AND WHEN:
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
Theater for the New City (Community Theater), 155 First Avenue
Presented by Theater for the New City (Crystal Field, Artistic Director) as part of Dream up Festival 2019
Tickets: $18. Box Office: (212)254-1109, www.dreamupfestival.org
Running Time: 75-80mins. Critics are invited to all performances.
Photos are available for download at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8TM5hCWLmZbKzV4p9

New York, July 24-- "WIFEY," written and directed by Sarah E., is a series of scenes and testimonial monologues exploring what it means to be and become a “wife” in Trump’s America. Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival will present the play’s world premiere September 8 to September 15.

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. The piece underscores the political and personal implications of the title "wife" and examines how this label can both influence and unmoor those who wear it. What do these people suppress, what are they expected to do, and who must they become? The play encourages us to listen to and engage with the female experience so that we may better understand where women are coming from... and where they are going.

The play contains nudity and mature themes

The cast is TBA as of this writing. Lighting design is by William Gibbons-Brown. Stage Manager is Julie Palumberi and Assistant Stage Manager is Leslie Gray. Dramaturgy is by Danny Cassidy.

Playwright and director Sarah E. is an artist of Iranian descent who creates experimental and absurdist theatre, collage, video, movement, and poetry. She began her career as an experimentalist during a Fulbright fellowship in Spain, where she learned to direct theater in a bilingual rehearsal environment at Garaje Lumière. A few credits include directing "Tongues" by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin, assistant directing the world premiere of "Wax Wings" by Matthew Maguire, producing "Nowruz" at Cloud City Art Space in collaboration with Ajam Media Collective, and publication in the inaugural issue of "The Menstrual," a radical literary journal. By day, Sarah E. is a practicing attorney, representing the underrepresented in New York courtrooms.

ABOUT THE DREAMUP FESTIVAL
The tenth annual Dream Up Festival (www.dreamupfestival.org) is being presented by Theater for the New City from August 25 to September 15. An ultimate new works festival, it is dedicated to the discovery of new authors, fresh ideas and edgy, innovative performances. Audiences savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country and around the world.

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.

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NOTE: The author's stage name has an initial in place of a last name.