MCC Theater 2006 FreshPlay Festival

[MCC]

Posted: 7/21/06 at 10:59am

For Immediate Release:
For: MCC Theater/ FreshPlay Festival
Contact: Jessica Crone, 212-727-7722 Ext. 224 / [e-mail]


2006 FRESHPLAY FESTIVAL
AN EVENING OF THEATER
BY THE MCC THEATER YOUTH COMPANY
AUGUST 10 – 12
AT THE PETER JAY SHARP THEATER

MCC Theater Youth Company announces the 2006 FreshPlay Festival

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director, John G. Schultz, Executive Director), are proud to announce that the 2006 FreshPlay Festival will perform August 10th-12th at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

PRODUCTION HISTORY
The FreshPlay Festival is a performance of five original short-plays penned by New York City teens. The plays are produced for the stage by a roster of professional directors, actors, and designers. FreshPlay merges the voices and creativity of urban youth with the experience of professionals in an evening of explosive, innovative, and fresh theater.

In addition to great “Theater for Thought” on the MCC Theater Mainstage, the MCC Theater Youth Company (a free after school program for New York City high school teens) promotes thought through theater with programs like the FreshPlay Festival.

PERFORMANCE VENUE/SCHEDULE/TICKET INFORMATION
The FreshPlay Festival will be performed August 10- August 12th, 7pm. There is an additional 2pm performance on August 12th. All performances will take place at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater 416 West 42nd Street, one block west of Ninth Ave. FreshPlay Festival reservations can be made by calling Ticket Central (ticketcentral.com) at 212-279-4200. Suggested ticket donations for all performances are Students $5; Adults $10

ORIGINAL WORKS SCHEDULED FOR THE 2006 FRESHPLAY FESTIVAL

ASCENDING TO HEAVEN
By Jennifer Huynh
Directed by Claudia Zelevansky
Dramaturgy by Mark Schultz
Dean has fallen in love with the woman of his dreams. Only one catch: she’s a doll. When Dean’s brother tries to cash in on her value, Dean pulls out all the stops to keep her close. Is this doll as innocent as she appears? Or is Dean in for a huge surprise?
WRITER’S BLOCK
By Kyle-Steven Porter
Directed by Jackson Gay
Dramaturgy by Qui Nguyen
There’s nothing normal about Junior’s day today. He awoke to find a Narrator chronicling his life. His mother has slipped into a pancake-throwing frenzy. Even his friends have lost their minds. Will a trip to the Oracle cure Junior’s confusion, or are we in for a plot twist that even the Narrator couldn’t foresee?

STORYTELLER
By Cara Brumfield
Directed by Claudia Zelevansky
Dramaturgy by Catherine Filloux
A storyteller spins a web of romance for two young lovers. As they navigate the stories materializing before them, they discover that love is enveloped in more questions than answers.

DIRECTIONS FROM A CONVICT
By Julia Torres
Directed by Jackson Gay
Dramaturgy by Lucy Thurber
A night behind bars throws Trish headlong into the wrong side of the judicial system. Suddenly a “criminal,” Trish has to gather her wits to take up matters with the law. Will Trish end up a statistic, or will she be able to fight her way to justice?

THE BOOK OF THE WHO
By Holland Hamilton
Directed by Tamilla Woodward
Dramaturgy by Lynn Thompson

THE TRUTH ABOUT CONEY ISLAND
By MCC Theater Youth Company with Zakiyyah Alexander
Directed by Lou Moreno
What’s going on down there in Coney Island? The hot dog vendor’s cooking up something strange. The house of mirrors is making people see straight. The Wonder Wheel is spinning out of control. It’s not the usual summer afternoon at Coney Island, and a strange world is about to get a whole lot stranger.

BIOGRAPHIES

MARIA CRISTINA FUSTÉ (Lighting Designer). Ms. Fusté has designed numerous shows for off-Broadway, Regional Theatre, Modern Dance and Spanish Theatre. She toured at more than 100 venues on the east coast, Colorado and Texas with the Spanish Repertory Theatre. She shares her free-lance work between New York Theatre and her native Puerto Rico. Recent credits in NYC: Yo Soy Latina at Crossroads Theatre directed by Ricardo Khan. The feast of the Goat & El Quijote both directed by Jorge Ali Triana at the Spanish Repertory Theatre. Germans in Paris directed by José Zayas at 59E59. Lorca’s The Butterfly’s Evil Spell directed by Silvia Sierra. Recent credits in Puerto Rico: The Merchant of Venice & A Flea in Her Ear both directed by Lynnette Salas, Grace & Glorie directed by Emineh Marrero, Tres Historias del Mar and Icaro directed by Pedro Rodiz. She has collaborated with the MCC on Uncensored 2004 and last years FreshPlay Festival. Her dance credits include collaborations with choreographers like: Catlin Cobb, Courtney Trammel, Julian Barnett, Cherylyn Lavagnino, and Miguel Estefan Jr among others. Ms. Fusté is the Resident Lighting Designer for Teatro Círculo. Her credits with the company include A Quijote in NY, Tiempo de Tango, Amores Gíbaros, Lorca Federico Lorca & El Arte de la Pintura. She has international credits in Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia & the Dominican Republic. She holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Puerto Rico and an MFA in Lighting Design from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

JACKSON GAY (Director). Upcoming… Don’t Stop, by Molly Rice, for Voice and Vision’s Envision Retreat. Stay, by Lucy Thurber, for Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater. Short film adapted from Maeterlinck’s The Interior, with puppets by Ola Maslik. Recent: Kia Corthron’s Master Disaster for the Atlantic Theater Company’s10x20 New Play Festival. Sunil Kuruvilla’s West of the 5 for La Jolla Playhouse. Atlantic Theater Company’s The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, by Rolin Jones (New York Times Critics Pick). Winner 2004/2005 Best Production Connecticut Critic’s Circle Award for The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at Yale Repertory Theater. Ken Lin’s Agency* for the Yale School of Drama. Recipient: Jonathan Alper Directing Fellowship at Manhattan Theatre Club, the Williamstown Theater Festival Directing Fellowship and the Drama League’s New Directors/New Works Fellowship. MFA Directing Yale School of Drama.

DAVID WITHROW (Costume Designer) is currently an assistant on the Broadway musical The Wedding Singer. Recent design credits include; The Book of the DunCow(PTC)A Lie of the Mind(ttw), Guys and Dolls(St. Bart’s Players), Animal Farm(Synapse Tour), The Miss Education of Jenna Bush(2005 Fringe), Hamlet(ttw), Twelfth Night(The Vital), Far from the Madding Crowd(NYMF), No Exit(Access Theatre), Princes(Trilogy Theatre), Hedwig and the Angry Inch(Producer’s Club), The Adding Machine, Wholly Joan, Stone, The Other Shore, Radio Play, Mud, and Road to Nirvana( all @ Marymount Manhattan College), First Lady, Enough for All, Lady of Copper, and more (Theatre Garden). Assistant Design credits include Silence the Musical(2005 Fringe), JOY(Actor’s Playhouse), BERLIN (Theatre 315), Yankee Doodle Dandy (Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle), The Pursuit of Persephone(PTC),and second assist credits for King Arthur(English national Opera, and The Threepenny Opera(Roundabout) both designed by Isaac Mizrahi. He is gearing up to design Urinetown for the gallery players in Brooklyn this fall.

JOHN IVY (Sound Designer) has been working in as many aspects of theatre as possible for 20 years. Music Director at the Comedy Workshop in Houston at 16, former Master Electrician at Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals, Technical Director at Strand Street Theatre, and Sound Supervisor at the Dallas Theatre Center, John is a theatre-loving Texas fool who designed sound and composed music for 14 New York productions last season, including all of the 3 Graces Theatre Productions, Ah, Wilderness! at NYU, Deviant, and In Delirium at the Vortex Theater, Coronado for Invisible City, and last year's Fresh Play Festival for MCC Youth Company. He is the creator of two full-length musicals, including Teen Party Massacre! - written with Justin R. G. Holcomb. John is also an actor who has appeared in many sparsely-attended but nonetheless exciting and interesting performances, and is featured as the character Frank in The Ninja Way, available on DVD.

SUSAN ZEEMAN ROGERS (Scenic Designer). Off-Broadway: Mercy on the Doorstep (dir. Jim Simpson,) the Flea Theatre; the 2005-2006 season for The Pearl Threatre; Crooked, Lion Theatre; Innocents (dir Rachel Dickstein,) Ripe Time, Ohio Theatre; Lobster Face (dir. Daniel Jaquez,) INTAR 53; El Paso Blue (dir. Juliette Carillo,), Kirk Theatre; Wet (dir. Kent Nicholson), Beckett Theatre; New Works Lab 2004, INTAR; Disappearing Acts, Mabou Mines; The Right Way to Sue, New Georges. Select Boston and Regional: Mayhem, ART Institute at Zero Arrow; N, Pilgrim Theatre; Anna in the Tropics, SpeakEasy Stage Co; Boy Gets Girl, Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Henry V, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co; On Raftery’s Hill, Sugan Theatre Co; Sing Me to Sleep ,Coyote Theatre; The Importance of Being Earnest, CATCo. International: Phoebe’s Got Three Sisters (dir. Marcus Stern,) Moscow Art Theatre School. Opera: L’Etoile, Alceste, Nixon in China, Opera Boston. Susan was awarded an NEA/TCG Designer Fellowship in 2000. www.szrdesign.com

TAMILLA WOODARD (Director). Most recently Tamilla directed An Evening Honoring Toni Morrison at Lincoln Center Jazz featuring readings and tributes by Sonia Sanchez, Phylicia Rashad, Bill T. Jones and Sweet Honey in the Rock among others. Also, this year: The sold out World Premier of Here.This.Now at Symphony Space; The premier of Stanton Woods Mr. Hoovers Tea Party for Off World Theatre, The tour of WeGotIssues! and the remount of Valiant,winner of a Best Of Fringe award for performance at the NYC int’l Fringe Festival and a Best Of listing in New York Magazine.

CLAUDIA ZELEVANSKY (Director) recently directed a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, having just moved back to New York after teaching at Oberlin College, where she served as a both a Visiting Professor and Guest Director. Previous to that, she enjoyed a three-season stint as Associate Director of Dallas Theater Center, where she directed productions of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Be Aggressive by Annie Weisman, and Blur by Melanie Marnich. While at DTC, Claudia produced a play development series called Fresh Ink, for which she also directed work by playwrights Brighde Mullins and Hilary Bell. Claudia directed The Laramie Project for Actor’s Express Theatre (Atlanta) and its remount at The Alliance Theatre the following season. She was the 1996 Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow at Manhattan Theatre Club, and has worked at The Public Theatre, ArsNova/Underwood, the 52nd Street Project, Dixon Place, and The Flea Theatre in New York City as well as at the Echo Theatre Company in Los Angeles. In addition to Oberlin, Claudia has taught at Yale University, Northwestern University, Dallas Theater Center and as a Teaching Artist for Theatre for a New Audience. Education: Northwestern University (BSS, Performance Studies); Yale University (MFA, Directing).

MCC THEATER (Producer). Under the artistic direction of Bernard Telsey, Robert LuPone and William Cantler, MCC Theater, now in its 21st year, is one of New York City’s leading off-Broadway theater companies, committed to presenting New York and world premieres each season. When MCC Theater was founded in 1986, its mission was simple: to bring new theatrical voices to theater-going audiences. MCC Theater continues to accomplish this yearly through presentation of its Mainstage works; its Literary Program, which actively seeks and develops new and emerging writers; and its Education and Outreach Program, allowing more than 1,200 students yearly to experience theater, increase literacy and discover their own voices in the arts. Notable MCC highlights include: the 2004 Tony-winning production of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen as well as Ms. Lavery’s Last Easter; Neil LaBute’s Some Girl(s), Fat Pig, The Distance from Here, and The Mercy Seat; Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living; Marsha Norman’s Trudy Blue; Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer-prize-winning Wit; and Tim Blake Nelson’s The Grey Zone. Over the years, the dedication to the work of new and emerging artists has earned MCC Theater a variety of awards. For more information and a complete production history, visit online at www.MCCTHEATER.org


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