Dear Fault Line Theatre Family,
Good afternoon. I hope this email finds you safe and sound and sane as you navigate your lives. Everyone at Fault Line Theatre is happy, healthy, and as crazy as we’ve always been - no new developments on that front. In case you haven’t heard, we want to let you know that we’ve postponed all in-person Fault Line Theatre activities indefinitely, but that should come as no surprise to anyone. However, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been hard at work. Quite the opposite in fact.
We want to invite you, our extended family of friends and fans and supporters, to enjoy some online content from many of our esteemed collaborators. Over the past few weeks, our family of artists has been working together - digitally, of course - to share stories about this time from our individual and collective lives.
This series, featuring the work of your favorite Fault Line Theatre artists is called [...] in the Time of Corona. You might be asking: Hey, Fault Line, what does [. . .] mean? Honestly, it means anything and everything and nothing at all. [Loneliness]? [Loss] or [Lust]? [Confusion]? [Peace]? Or maybe it’s just those three dots you see when you’re waiting for your crush to text you back:
[...] in the Time of Corona.
We’ve paired up writers with actors and let them toss ideas around, grab their phones, and shoot a story, monologue, poem, or mini-play with the goal of bringing some clarity, pathos, or levity to all of our lives. Artists need to create, and we’re proud to give our family a digital canvas to paint their stories on.
Keep your eyes on our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube feeds every Tuesday and Friday starting tomorrow, Friday, April 10th with Its Own Crown a new piece written by Liba Vaynberg (Round Table, The Oregon Trail) and performed by Karl Gregory (Round Table, From White Plains, Frogs). Sending you all love, light, good health, and peace in this time of uncertainty. Please never hesitate to reach out with any questions or comments or simply to say hello and check in. We miss all of your faces.
Love and solidarity,
Fault Line Theatre
What We're Watching: Famous Cast Words
Our friend Lynne Marie Rosenberg is the creator and host of a brand new television show, Famous Cast Words. It is now available everywhere for streaming on ALL ARTS, the dedicated arts platform of New York Public Media (WLIW / WNET / Thirteen). Be sure to tune in!
STREAMING (App, web, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV)
Feb. 5 - Ep. 1: Amber Gray
Feb. 12 - Ep. 2: Maysoon Zayid
Feb. 19 - Ep. 3: Emilio Delgado
Feb. 26 - Ep. 4: Aneesh Sheth
BROADCAST (Tri-State area only)
Feb. 19: Amber Gray & Maysoon Zayid
Feb. 26: Emilio Delgado & Aneesh Sheth
A LITTLE ABOUT THE SHOW
In “Famous Cast Words," stars of the stage and screen discuss representation and inclusion issues facing the entertainment industry. Hosted by actor and writer Lynne Marie Rosenberg (HBO's "High Maintenance"), "Famous Cast Words” blends hilarious readings of language from the casting world with an earnest investigation into what's wrong, and what's changing, within The Biz.
What We're Seeing: STEW
Page 73 supports and produces the work of early-career playwrights. They also happen to be one of our favorite companies in the city! We can’t wait to catch their latest play STEW by Zora Howard this month at Walkerspace downtown. We’ll see you there!
January 20 - February 22, 2020
Walkerspace
46 Walker Street
New York, NY 10013
A Little About The Show
In Zora Howard's STEW, Mama is up early to prepare an important meal, and even with her family on hand to help, time is running short. Tensions simmer with three generations of Tucker women under one roof, but things come to a boil as the violence hovering around the periphery of their lives begins to intrude upon the sanctity of Mama’s kitchen.
Cast:
Portia
Kristin Dodson
Toni Lachelle Pollitt
Nikkole Salter
Creative:
Written by Zora Howard
Directed by Colette Robert
Set Design: Lawrence E. Moten III
Costume Design: Dominique Fawn Hill
Lighting Design: Stacey Derosier
Sound Design: Avi Amon
Props Design: Caitlyn Murphy
Hair & Wig Design: Nikiya Mathis
Graphic Designer: Rico Frederick
Production Stage Manager: Fran Acuña-Almiron
Assistant Stage Manager: Ingrid Pierson
Production Manager: Maggie Snell
What We're Seeing: Everything Is Super Great
Last month, we packed up our broadswords and said goodbye to the cozy walls of Theater C at 59E59 Theaters. This month, we’re returning to Theater C, but this time as enthusiastic audience members to catch our friends in New Light Theater Project and Stable Cable Lab Co. We can’t wait to stop by our old stomping grounds to catch Stephen Brown’s latest play Everything Is Super Great.
November 22 - December 14, 2019
59E59 Theaters - Theater C
59 E 59 Street
New York, NY 10022
A Little About The Show
A typical day in the life of Tommy involves triple shot lattes, pining over the manager at Starbucks, and arson at Applebee’s. Such distractions are therapeutic when your older brother has been missing for months and your mom won’t stop force-feeding you Pop Tarts.
But when a well-meaning, if somewhat dysfunctional, “art therapist” shows up on his doorstep, Tommy must finally face his loss. Everything is Super Great explores the different ways we cope with grief, and how letting someone in helps us with letting something go. TIMEOUT New York Critics' Pick!
Cast:
Lisa Jill Anderson
Marcia DeBonis
Xavier Rodney
Will Sarratt
Creative:
Written by Stephen Brown
Directed by Sarah Norris
Scenic Design: Brian Dudkiewicz
Costume Design: Mari Taylor
Lighting Design: Elaine Wong
Sound Design: Janet Bentley
Prop Design: Sarah George
Stage Management: Alannah O'Hagan*
Assistant Stage Management: Elizabeth Weber
Line Producer: Samuel-James DeMattio
Assistant Director: Arthur Ross
Technical Direction: TJ Craftsman
Press Representation: Karen Greco
Round Table: Week 4
As we head into the final week of Liba Vaynberg’s Round Table, let’s take a look back to the day it all came together on stage.
In this rehearsal update, watch as around 24 hours of work constructing Izmir Ickbal’s beautiful, minimalist set flies by in under 60 seconds.. Click the image above to check out the video! The music was composed by our brilliant sound designer Fan Zhang.
Tickets are almost sold out for our production of Round Table by Liba Vaynberg, directed by Geordie Broadwater running at 59E59 Theaters from Sept. 27 - Oct. 20.
Round Table in TDF
TDF sat down with Round Table playwright Liba Vaynberg and director Geordie Broadwater to chat about how the play came together and why we’re staging a play about LARPing.
Why Is This Couple Dressing Up and Sword Fighting?
By Caroline Cao
A new romantic comedy puts live-action role-playing center stage
There are adults who meet for poker; some play chess; others host book clubs. But the protagonists of Liba Vaynberg's new romantic comedy Round Table at 59E59 Theaters indulge in LARPing. That's an acronym for live-action role-playing, with participants masquerading as knights, fairies, elves, warlocks, witches and other fantastical characters in an imaginary kingdom.
A real-world expansion of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, LARPing started in the '70s. To the uninitiated, it may look like a bunch of grown-ups engaging in Renaissance Faire cosplay, sporting medieval costumes and wielding plastic swords, but that's only scratching the surface. LARPing isn't just an eccentric hobby; many players believe it has social and emotional benefits that have changed their lives.
Vaynberg and director Geordie Broadwater's quest with Round Table is to vanquish misconceptions about LARP culture. As Vanyberg explains, they want to "remove the judgments inherent in LARPing by bringing it to the theatre, where it can live in a context that most people never get to experience." Indeed, LARPing checks off most of the same boxes as theatre -- players wear costumes, wield prop weapons and stay in character -- except traditionally, there's no audience.
In addition to penning Round Table, Vaynberg plays Laura, a ghostwriter of romance novels who's introduced to LARPing by Zach (Craig Wesley Divino), a medieval scholar and writer for a fantasy TV series. They've recently started dating and it's going well, but Zach knows something Laura doesn't: he has cancer. Their bittersweet romance is interwoven with a retelling of the King Arthur legend, which begins to bleed into their courtship.
"LARPing is this play's metonym for storytelling," says Vaynberg. "We tell stories precisely because we want to negotiate our relationship with fate."
Broadwater and Vaynberg admit they're not hardcore LARPers, but they did their homework while developing Round Table, including interviewing people involved in the scene. Vaynberg's Laura, initially a LARP skeptic, serves as the audience's window into the world. "A lot of people think it's really goddamn weird!" admits Vaynberg, but she counters that perception by presenting LARPing as a potent tool of empowerment, feminist even.
"Fantasy, sci-fi, nerdy things are not about escaping; rather they're a celebration of ideas and imagination," says Broadwater. As such, Zach's LARPing is treated with affectionate humor, not dismissive snark, and the King Arthur scenes are played seriously, not as campy comedy, even though they do elicit laughs.
Round Table's fight sequences really thrill because it's staged in 59E59 Theaters' most intimate space. That's by design. "In college, I saw a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in a very small basement room," Broadwater recalls. "It had so much violence and so much blood right near the audience, and I'll always remember it. There's something incredible about having our sword fighting right up in the audience's faces. We wanted it to be fast, dangerous and exciting, but also since it is quite a small space, we made sure it was safe."
Round Table isn't the first production to bring fantasy role-playing to the stage. Qui Nguyen's She Kills Monsters and Crystal Skillman's Geek touched on it (fun fact: Nguyen was Vaynberg's stage combat instructor while she was earning her MFA in Acting at Columbia University). And earlier this year, Sinking Ship Creations mounted The Mortality Machine, an interactive LARP mystery in which audience members were called on to play specific characters.
But Round Table goes further by making a compelling case for how LARPing can be just as moving and cathartic as theatre. As Broadwater says, "The validity of the emotions in the play are the same as the validity of the LARPers you might see in the park."
Round Table Opening Night
Thank you so much to all of our friends, collaborators, and patrons who came out to the opening of the world premiere of Round Table by Liba Vaynberg. We love this play and are thrilled we get to share it with audiences through October 20.
All photos by Valerie Terranova Photography
What We're Seeing: Molly Sweeney
Our friends (and office neighbors) at Keen Company create theater that provokes identification, reflection, and emotional connection. In intimate productions of plays and musicals, they tell stories in which people strive to live with integrity. Sounds pretty good right? There's less than one week until their 20th season (!!!!) begins with Molly Sweeney and we can't wait to see it.
October 8 - November 16, 2019
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
TICKETS ARE ONLY $45 WITH DISCOUNT CODE TRKTRD
A Little About The Show
TO REGAIN HER SIGHT, WHAT WILL SHE HAVE TO LOSE?
Brian Friel, Ireland’s master storyteller (Dancing at Lughnasa, Faith Healer, Translations), creates a riveting play about Molly Sweeney. When her hopeful husband and ambitious doctor propose an operation to restore her sight, Molly begins to understand that things may not all be as they appear. Molly Sweeney stars Pamela Sabaugh, an accomplished low-vision actress, as well as Paul O'Brien and Tommy Schrider. Talkbacks, touch tours, and audio description available on select performances.
Cast:
Paul O’Brien
Pamela Sabaugh
Tommy Schrider
Creative:
Written by Brian Friel
Directed by Jonathan Silverstein
Production Stage Manager: Rachel Gass
Set Designer: Steven Kemp
Lighting Designer: Anshuman Bhatia
Sound Designer: Fan Zhang
Costume Designer: Jennifer Paar
Casting: Judy Bowman, CSA
Community Consultant: George Ashiotis
Press Representatives: David Gersten & Associates
Geordie Broadwater Live on tabletopnotch
This past Sunday, Round Table director Geordie Broadwater guest starred on an episode of tabletopnotch, a weekly Dungeons & Dragons web series that streams live on Twitch.tv (and features our own John Racioppo as a regular cast member). After the episode, he spoke briefly about Round Table and the power of imagination.
“[Round Table] is about how much we can get out of imagination and caring about the things we nerd out about.”
If you’re not familiar with the medium, Twitch is very similar to YouTube, except instead of pre-recorded videos, everything is live. tabletopnotch is a weekly web series in which a group of actors play Dungeons & Dragons, a role playing game (similar to LARP, the subject of our play Round Table) that combines elements of storytelling, improv, and board games.
tabletopnotch airs every Sunday at 7:00pm EST at www.Twitch.tv/tabletopnotch. Check out Geordie’s episode above!
Round Table: Week 3
Previews begin tonight for our World Premiere presentation of Round Table by Liba Vaynberg. Last weekend, we had one more day in our rehearsal space to run the play, brush up those scenes, and, of course, work the fights, before we moved into 59E59 Theaters for tech. Click the image above to check out the video!
Tickets are almost sold out for our production of Round Table by Liba Vaynberg, directed by Geordie Broadwater running at 59E59 Theaters from Sept. 27 - Oct. 20. Grab your tickets here.