First Design Run

Here, director Aaron Rossini, technical director Nate Frieswyk, and line producer Melanie Hopkins are at our production meeting after the first design run of Crystal Finn’s The Faire, discussing the schedules for load-in and tech this coming weekend. Tech is always our favorite part of the rehearsal process; it’s a time when all the elements finally come together.  Sure, they’re long days and lots of manual labor, but few things are as fun as watching months and months of hard work from all the different departments all come together on a single stage.

Do you have your tickets yet?

What We're Seeing: The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go!

The Ma-Yi Theatre Company, our neighbor just down the hall from the Fault Line Theatre offices, has an exciting new show going up at La MaMa!  It’s been co-created with the Children’s Theatre Company in partnership with the Ensemble Studio Theatre.  It’s a show the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Pioneer Press called the “best play of the 2013 theater season!”  Need any more convincing?  Ok, how about this: Ma-Yi Theatre Company has extended a generous discount code to friends of Fault Line Theatre allowing you to pay preview prices throughout the entire run.  More info is below:

January 28 – February 16, 2014.
La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East 4th Street (between Bowery & 2nd Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

$25 Previews | $30 Regular

Use code MAYIFRIEND for Preview Price to all performances!

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

Using a mix of action-driven storytelling, puppetry, and visual magic, THE WONG KIDS transports its audience into the far reaches of the galaxy. Violet and Bruce Wong just don’t fit in with the other Earth kids. Sure, they have superpowers, they’re just not very good ones. But when an evil beast called the Space Chupacabra appears, intent on universal destruction, The Wong Kids must travel to outer space in order to stop it… if they can only stop bickering. Violet and Bruce ultimately realize that being different isn’t just okay, it might just be the most important thing like ever.

CAST:

• Alton Alburo
• Curran Connor
• Sasha Diamond
• Ethan Hova
• Kate Marley
• Matthew Gunn Park

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Playwright - Lloyd Suh
• Director - Ralph B. Peña with Jack Tamburri
• Set Design – Meredith Ries
• Costume Design – Becky Bodurtha
• Lighting Design – Paul Whitaker
• Original Music and Sound Design – Shane Rettig
• Puppet Design – David Parkinson Valentine
• Choreography – Jennifer Delac

Best of 2013 - Jason's Theatre Picks

Continuing our wrap-up of the Best of 2013, this week, Fault Line Theatre intern Jason Modica offers his 10 favorite theatrical performances in New York this past year. We know the Tony Awards are 7 months behind us (or 4 months ahead of us, depending on your perspective), but in an attempt to cover all mediums in this blog series… Here we go:

1. Fun Home at The Public
2. Matilda on Broadway
3. Carousel at the NY Philharmonic
4. Murder Ballad at MTC
5. Buyer and Cellar at the Barrow Street Theater
6. Twelfth Night on Broadway;
7. MacBeth on Broadway (starring Alan Cumming)
8. The Glass Menagerie on Broadway
9. Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike on Broadway
10. After Midnight on Broadway

As always, connect with us on Facebook and tell us what you think!

Goal Reached!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated to or shared our IndieGoGo campaign for The Faire.  We exceeded our goal of $5000 and couldn’t be happier! Thanks to your generous donations and the continuing support of the NFM Group, this match campaign raised a total of over $10,000!

We would like to give a shout out to all the donors for their significant contribution to Fault Line Theatre:

THE VIRGINS

• Kelly Little
• Will Austin
• Ben and Erin
• Diana Buirski
• Tommy Dickie
• Parker Leventer
• Erica Rotstein
• Lovell H Holder
• David MacGregor
• Leigh F Williams
• Alma Villegas
• Jordan Reeves
• Kathryn McClellan
• Monica Wiley
• Steve Early
• Russ Salmon
• Kathryn A Hickman
• Elizabeth Senneway
• Noah Brody
• Jesse Austrian
• Jimmy King
• Nicholas C Ward
• Timothy Sullivan
• Elizabeth Eckert
• Aaron Raines
• Jim Rossini
• Michael Perlman
• Joe Madia
• Ed Lee
• Rachel Glotter
• Teri Clark Linden
• Aviana Donahue
• Emily Young
• Katie Wright
• Pattie Lynn
• Madeline Maby
• Scott Raker
• Joran Kaplan
• Haas Regen
• Charise Greene
• Rich Williams
• Elena Kelber
• Ali Rose Dachis
• Margaret Daly
• Stephen Buescher
• Donna Bekavac
• Ann Morrison
• Mark E Penzien
• Yazmany Arboleda
• John Higgins
• AP Weisberg

THE WITCHES

• Kathy Romito
• Aunt Cil and Uncle Frank
• Joyce and Randy McDonald
• Cindy Short
• Kathryn S. Finn
• Rachel J Tischler
• Brandon Minnick
• Jaselyn Blanchard
• Lucy Boyle
• Merry Lynn
• Carol S. Sykes
• Karl Gregory
• Jason Planitzer
• Sarah Murphy

THE FENCERS

• Maggie Gilbert
• Craig D. Divino
• Mary Jane Divino

THE ACTRESSES

• Suzi Schoensee
• Tom Ellis

And of course, a big thanks to all of THE OLD BURNOUTS that contributed to the cause!

We excitedly begin the second week of rehearsals for The Faire. Check in with our Facebook and Twitter pages as our intern Jason posts live updates of the process.

The Faire also has a brand new look.  We’ve just released the beautiful poster designed by our friend Mandi O’Brien! Check it out above.

Do you have your tickets yet?

BUY TICKETS TO THE FAIRE

What We're Seeing: Grounded

George Brant, a friend of Fault Line Theatre from back in our graduate school days at Trinity Rep, will be having his new play Grounded produced by Page 73 Productions here in New York City. This play premiered across the pond in the UK and was named one of the top 10 plays in London for 2013 by both The Guardian and the London Evening Standard. We can’t wait to see it’s New York premier!  There’s not too much time left, so get your tickets now!

January 8 – February 1, 2014.
WALKERSPACE
46 Walker St.
New York, NY 10013
A/C/E, N/R/Q, 6 to Canal Street or 1 to Franklin Street

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

In George Brant’s Grounded, an unexpected pregnancy ends an ace fighter pilot’s career in the sky. Reassigned to operate military drones from a windowless trailer outside Las Vegas, she hunts terrorists by day and returns to her family each night. As the pressure to track a high-profile target mounts, the boundaries begin to blur between the desert in which she lives and the one she patrols half a world away.

CAST:

• Hannah Cabell

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Playwright - George Brant
• Director - Ken Rus Schmoll

Best of 2013 - John's Music Picks for 2013

Last week, co-artistic director Aaron Rossini gave us his list of the top 5 films this year for the first in our Best of 2013 blog series.

It’s sometimes easy to forget with all the fervor of the Academy Awards, but the Grammy Awards are next week. So, to prep everyone for a week of celebrating music, he’s a list of my 5 favorite albums of 2013. NOTE: Some of the recommended track links my be NSFW due to language.

1. Volcano Choir – Repave

This is a weird one.  This is Justin Vernon of Bon Iver’s side project. A number of years ago they released a super strange experimental album, but this year’s sophomore effort incorporated the weirdness of their first album with Bon Iver’s emotional folk.  The result is a perfect album that ebbs and flows dynamically and emotionally. Recommended track: Alaskans.

2. James Blake – Retrograde

This album is such a perfect blend of electronic and organic sounds.  He writes ballads hidden beneath dubstep hidden beneath minimalism. Recommended track: Overgrown.

3. The National – Trouble Will Find Me

Nothing makes me feel New York City more than The National.  This album is best listened to late at night on the subway. Recommended track: I Need My Girl.

4. Phosphorescent – Muchacho

Genre is difficult for me. I suppose you could call this a singer-songwriter album, but then again, it sounds an awful lot like rock or indie or folk to my ears. I think that’s what’s so exciting about Phosphorescent as a whole. It’s the sort of album where I think I know which song is my favorite… and then the next song starts to play. Recommended track: Song for Zula.

5. Kanye West – Yeezus

As I write this, I can almost hear my mother and my girlfriend shaking their heads at me. But for my money this album sounds like Nine Inch Nails delved into hip-hop.  Which is fine by me. Recommended track: I Am A God.

BONUS: Childish Gambino – Because The Internet

This is my second favorite hip-hop album this year. It’s riddled with quirky samples, glitchy beats, and interesting song structures. Donald Glover incorporates his humor and cleverness into his strange off-kilter delivery and rhyming schemes. Though there are some tracks that fall a little flat, it’s one of the few hip-hop albums I’ve heard that sounds like an album and is best listened straight through. Recommended track: I, crawl.

BONUS: Daft Punk – Random Access Memories

I’ll be up front about this: “Get Lucky” was probably my favorite song of the year. I’m fully on board with pop music moving in the direction of 70′s disco, which seems to be the mission statement of this album. Recommend track (that isn’t ‘Get Luck’): Doin’ It Right.

Connect with us on Facebook!  Tell us what you think!

The Faire Rehearsals Begin

Today is the first day of rehearsals for Fault Line Theatre’s opening play of 2014: The Faire!

The cast and crew are all here for the first read-through and designer presentations.  The first rehearsal is always this magical moment where all the conceptual ideas we’ve been discussing for months become very real, very quickly.  The characters are no longer words on a page, they are people in a room.

Check out our Facebook page and Twitter account for regular photos and updates from inside the rehearsal room by our lovely intern Jason.

Lastly, this is the LAST WEEK to support The Faire through our IndieGoGo campaign!  If you haven’t already, please consider donating to help make this World Premiere possible!

DONATE NOW!

What We're Seeing: Yentl

Fault Line Theatre Artistic Associate Michael Perlman has been off in Ohio directing a production of Yentl with The Cleveland Playhouse.  The production stars, friend of Fault Line Theatre, Rebecca Gibel (Frogs) as the title character along with a strong cast of 16 other actors. If you find yourself in Cleveland, this is a must-see!

January 10 – February 2, 2014.
Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square
1407 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

A young woman defies convention and the laws of her people to fulfill her dream. Disguised as a young man, she becomes a brilliant student — and the most wanted bachelor in town. Yentl is a startlingly modern love story, and a smart, witty comedy that will win your heart.

Yentl contains mature themes and nudity.

CAST:

• Ben Mehl
• Bernard Bygott
• Bob Abelman
• Bonnie Black
• Christa Meyers
• Donald Carrier
• Dorothy Silver
• Drew Derek
• Marc Moritz
• Mitch Greenberg
• Rebecca Gibel
• Samuel Cohen
• Sarah Kinsey
• Stephen Michael Spencer
• Suzanne Grodner
• Therese Anderberg
• TJ Gainley

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Director - Michael Perlman
• Playwright (1902-1991) - Isaac Bashevis Singer
• Playwright – Leah Napolin
• Scenic Designer – Robin Vest
• Costume Designer – Jenny Mannis
• Lighting Designer – Burke Brown
• Composer/Sound Designer – Elisheba Ittoop

Season Subscription Now Available

For the first time in our young history, Fault Line Theatre is offering a season subscription! For $74 you can purchase tickets to both The Faire AND Breathing Time.  That’s not only saving you $14, but also guarantees you seats to the world premiere production of Beau Willimon’s Breathing Time, well in advance of individual tickets sales.

We’re so excited to dive into our 2014 season and we hope you’ll join us for what we’re sure will be an exhilarating ride!

PURCHASE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW!

Best of 2013 - Aaron's Top Films of the Year

It’s Awards Season! Congratulations to Breathing Time author Beau Willimon. His show House of Cards has received 4 Golden Globe nominations, including Best TV Series, Drama!

This is such a fun time of year with so much great film and television to watch.  We’d like to help you sift through all the noise with our “Best of 2013″ series of blog posts. We’ll take you right through to the Academy Awards in March with lists and predictions by members of Fault Line Theatre.

To start things off, co-artistic director of Fault Line Theatre (and film connoisseur) Aaron Rossini has filtered down his encyclopedic knowledge of film into a list of his top 5 favorite films this year.  How many have you seen? Get in touch with us on Facebook and let us know your favorites.

1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Nebraska
3. Upstream Color
4. 12 Years a Slave
5. A Hijacking

Honorable Mentions: Gravity & Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug