You’re invited to a reading of

HOMEBODIES

By Alex Beech

Directed by Michelle Bossy

The cast includes Socorro Santiago, Florencia Lozano, Cathy Curtin, Omar Koury, and Jorge Cordova

Primary Stages Studio, 307 W 38th St, #1510

Sunday, April 28th, 3pm

It’s a sort of farce. About upstairs/downstairs neighbors in a brownstone.

To rsvp, write readings@primarystages.org

LIVE STREAM PERFORMANCE COMING TO YOU FROM LA MAMA & CULTUREHUB
“Dante’s Inferno, a journey into hell, a life in Indian show business”

Tune in on Monday April 29th at 11AM EST

Streaming to you live at http://www.culturehub.org/live1

Directed by Murielle Borst-Tarrant

Featuring Nicholson Billey, Tanis Parenteau, Josephine Tarrant and Kevin Tarrant

Watch out when Indian show business meets the “Doctrine of Discovery”. A raucous political satire loosely based on Dante’s Inferno. A comedic, hard hitting look at the marginalization of Indigenous Peoples and appropriation of Indigenous cultural property in show business. Watch this 30 minute workshop piece and join us afterward for a panel discussion with the cast on “Self-Determination and the Arts.”

With special guests:

Tonya Gonnella Frichner, ESQ ( Onondaga Nation, Snipe Clan) President and Founder American Indian Law Alliance

Karmenlara Ely Artistic Director of The Norwegian Theater Academy

And

Muriel Miguel ( Kuna, Rappahannock) Artistic Director of Spiderwoman Theater

http://www.murielleborsttarrant.com

Maria Alexandria Beech is a playwright and librettist living in New York. She has written over fifteen full-length plays, several as a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages Theatre, which co-produced her play LITTLE MONSTERS at Brandeis Theatre Company. Her full-length musical titled CLASS, with Karl Michael Johnson, was presented in a reading in May, 2012 at NYU.
AH: Alex, I know that you hold an MFA from Columbia University. Now you have a second, this time from NYU.

MB: It’s in musical theatre writing. It is a true honor. One would think that writing a musical and writing a play are similar processes, but in fact they’re not. They each require their own craft and their own knowledge base.

AH: What is CLASS about?

MB: It’s based on a play that I wrote in the writers group at Primary Stages, about a girl who is struggling with alcoholism and she signs up for a summer school class in New Orleans in 1987. And so this girl walks into the situation, and the professor has recently learned that she doesn’t have much longer to live.

It was a real challenge to adapt as a musical, in the sense that it is very much a play as it exists. It was an homage not only to a professor that I had, who was dying of cancer and who had to face students who wanted to use her illness against her, but it was an homage to professors and teachers I had had growing up.

AH: Tell us about your reading at NYU.

One of the things that I learned is that musical theatre is still very much about that well-made musical, that traditional structure of the well-made musical, and the opening number and the closing number. One of my goals is to still honor that tradition, but kind of also do other things and explore more. [I’d like to] not look at the book or the dialogue just as a bridge between the songs. I think the songs could be little kind of poems that stand alone.

Anne Hamilton has 22 years of experience in the professional theatre in NYC, across the nation, and internationally. She is available for script consultations and career advising through hamiltonlit@hotmail.com. Season Three of Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! launched with an interview with Kate Valk, a leading actress with The Wooster Group.

Download the interview here: BCWJ Profile of Maria Alexandria Beech by Anne Hamilton

1 More Show in NY for Black History Month
1 Show in LA for Women’s History Month

Playwright/actor Yvette Heyliger is pleased to announce that during Back History Month she will be performing 30 minutes of her solo show, Bridge to Baraka, directed by Mario Giacalone in John Chatterton’s Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival. The remaining show is on Sunday, February 24th @ 4:15pm, Roy Arias Theatre, 300 West 43rd Street # 402 (at 8th Avenue). Tickets are $13.00. Click here to purchase your tickets today! A Talk back with the playwright following the show can be arranged upon request

Emboldened by the 1960′s Black Arts Movement, Yvette X stakes her claim as a female dramatist coming of age during the ongoing fight for parity in the American Theatre. Bridge to Baraka is Yvette’s first one-woman show and marks her return to performing since appearing on the NBC hit, Cosby Show. Martin Denton, nytheatre.com critic, said, “Heyliger has clearly carved out a successful life for herself since then as actor and then playwright/activist (she’s a notable campaigner for parity for women playwrights on the American stage).”

During Women’s History Month, Yvette is pleased to announce that she will be heading to the West Coast to perform Bridge to Baraka in the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival. The show will be at the Renberg Theater on Friday, March 22nd @ 8pm. For tickets and information visit http://www.lawtf.org.

Photo by Miriam Berkley

Resonance Theatre Ensemble presents:

R.U.R.
By Karel Čapek
Adapted By Lee Eric Shackleford
Directed By Valentina Fratti

January 9-30, 2012

http://www.resonanceensemble.org/season.htm

Featuring Kevin Bernard*, Mac Brydon*, Christine Bullen*, Tyler Caffall, Chris Ceraso*, Matt W. Cody*, Jane Cortney*, Charlotte Hampden*, Meg Heus, Brad Makarowski*, Sean Philips*, Corey Tazmania*, James Ware

Karel Čapek’s classic R.U.R. originated the word “robot,” and for nearly a hundred years, the play has been considered a classic, translated into every major language on the face of the planet. The plot is centered on a factory that makes artificial beings used in the service of humans. While at first these “robots” seem content with their function as domestic servants, a hostile rebellion soon arises that threatens the very existence of the human race. Lee Eric Shackleford’s adaptation brings the play’s characters, language, and themes into a modern vernacular while remaining as faithful as possible to Čapek’s intentions and vision.

*Appearing Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
An Equity Approved Showcase

Theatre Row – The Beckett Theatre
410 West 42nd Street
New York NY

Yvette talks with host Joan Allen about her career in theater as an actress (Cosby Show), producing artist (Twinbiz) and playwright and the plight of women in theater today! She recently produced, “A Seat at the Table,” a standing room only reading of 10 minute plays by women of color! Yvette also discusses the role of activism and her decision to become a volunteer in Obama’s re-election campaign. Don’t miss it!

Dear Ann Hamilton,

First off, as a Theatre Worker i confess to being constantly remiss in reading American Theatre Magazine as soon as i receive it. Now finally reading the October ’12 issue, i came across the article showcasing your wonderful Podcast Show. Though i haven’t heard of or listened to your show previously, i am intrigued to do so.

The article compelled me to find your email address and write you. i am a 31 year old man who has worked in the theatre professionally and followed trends for the last ten years & it is my opinion that we must be creating new opportunities/jobs for Women in the Theatre.

it has long been an observation in my career that — for Actors — there are more Women in this business than there are roles. Also, i have observed 4 different educational settings for children (of myriad ages) to be introduced to theatre and overwhelmingly, the majority is female. Bottom line: the majority of the current/next generation of Theatre Workers WILL be Women.

For my part, i will, as a some-time playwright, create more roles for Women and i will spread this word to as many colleagues as i can to urge them to do so as well. But EVERY playwright regardless of their gender should keep this in mind — Women are & will be the majority of the talent pool.

i am most likely spouting opinions you already share, but i want you to know that for myself, as a Man, i will be championing Women as the Theatre Workers of the future.

Bravo to your Podcast, and i am looking forward to listening.

Happy Thanksgiving,
tscottw

T. Scott Wooten