What We're Seeing: Wisconsin Death Trip

Fault Line Theatre actors Karl Gregory (Frogs, From White Plains), Haas Regen (Doctor Faustus, Frogs), and Rudi Utter (Doctor Faustus, Frogs) will be featured in an upcoming staged reading for two nights only in New York City! Please note that the reading is in different locations each night. Tickets are free, so there’s really no excuse to miss this debut reading!

September 7 @ 7pm
Manhattan Theatre Club’s Creative Center
311 West 43rd St. 8th Floor.
New York, NY 10036

September 8 @ 7pm
ART/NY’s Bruce Mitchell Room
520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10018

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

Troubled souls grapple with diphtheria, infant mortality, and cocaine addiction, among other obstacles, in Lizzie Vieh’s new drama, Wisconsin Death Trip, based on the book by Michael Lesy. Wisconsin Death Trip mixes vivid poetic language with deliciously dark humor, and explores themes of loss, sickness, alienation, drug addiction, and sexual yearning. While most events are filtered through the perspective of tireless newspaperman Frank Cooper (Utter), the heart of the drama is found in our intimate encounters with characters such as Anna Myinek (Lubow) and Ward Rausch (Loughlin), two homeless tramps on-the-go; and Vera Arlington (Kaplan), a wealthy daughter of a landowner who marries beneath her status, dies during childbirth, and returns as a ghost. These stories offer small glimpses into the resoluteness of the human spirit in the face of utter destruction.

CAST:

• Georgia Cohen
• Charise Greene
• Karl Gregory
• Brough Hansen
• Ben Kahre
• Caroline Kaplan
• Lizzie King-Hall
• Jason Loughlin
• Lauren Lubow
• Haas Regen
• Rudi Utter

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Director - James Rutherford
• Playwright - Lizzie Vieh
• Book - Michael Lesy

Churros in Spain

I’m currently on holiday in the South of Spain… home of flamenco, Federico García Lorca, and most importantly… churros.

Memories of last season’s production of The Faire are coming back to me on this fine summer day.

Ursula would be proud… wherever she is.

- John Racioppo

Washed Up On The Potomac reading

It was so exciting to hear Lynn Rosen’s brand new play Washed Up On The Potomac read aloud by a talented group of six actors and in the company of close friends. I snapped a few photos before the actors took their places for the reading.

Jenny Seastone (center) and Craig Wesley Divino (right) run music while Director of Communications Matt Clevy looks on.

Aaron Rossini directed the reading, while the cast was made up of some familiar faces and some new friends.

• Jenny Seastone (The Faire)
• Andrea Syglowski
• Adam Green
• Grant Krause (The Faire)
• Craig Wesley Divino (Breathing Time, From White Plains, Frogs)
• Molly Thomas (Breathing Time)

Grant Krause relaxes before the reading

What We're Seeing: Mother's Day

You may remember Fault Line Theatre actor Karl Gregory (pictured top right) as Aeschylus in our production of Frogs back in 2011… Or perhaps you know him as the screenwriter Dennis in our GLAAD Award winning original work, From White Plains. Personally, I’ve been a huge fan of Karl since I first saw him play Heiner Müeller in a production of Full Circle while he was still an MFA candidate at Brown University (it’s worth noting that he had a 15 minute monologue in that show that absolutely blew me away). All this is to say, Karl’s fantastic and I look forward to any chance to see him perform. Luckily, he’ll be in a brand new play called Mother’s Day making its world premiere this August as part of the 18th annual New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC.

August 12, 13, 20, 22, and 24
The Players Theatre
115 MacDougal St. (between West 3rd and Bleecker)
New York, NY 10012

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

Acid-tongued New York drag queen Helen Back (aka Joey Pollack) incites a nuclear family meltdown when he comes home to New Jersey to see his family for Mother’s Day. His mother Liz (never without a glass of wine), father Talbott (always ready with a refill) and older brother Nicky (hungover and still playing video games in the basement on the cusp of 30) are a captive audience to Joey’s trademark button-pushing and cruel putdowns. But a shocking announcement finally tears down the illusions they have been maintaining for years and reveals the limits to what each of them they can accept in the name of family.

CAST:

• Karl Gregory
• Renee Claire Bergeron
• Neal Lerner
• Brough Hansen
• Rhonda Ayers

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Playwright – Colin Drucker
• Director – Reginald L. Douglas
• Stage Manager – John Simmons
• Scenic Design – Colin McGurk
• Costume Design – Orli Nativ
• Assistant Director – Justin Nieto
• Producers – Colin Drucker & Renee Claire Bergeron

Washed Up On The Potomac

After a few weeks off, we’re back in the rehearsal room at ART New York.

For the next few days, we’ll be workshopping a new play by Lynn Rosen called Washed Up On The Potomac. The week of work will culminate in an informal reading for friends and collaborators. We’re not only excited to work with Lynn for the first time, but also to welcome back a few familiar faces from last season including Molly Thomas (Breathing Time), Grant Krause (The Faire), and Jenny Seastone (The Faire). Craig Wesley Divino joins the cast, while Aaron Rossini directs the workshop,

Day 1 was a blast and I can’t wait to see a full read-through on Friday!

What We're Seeing: A Midsummer Night's Dream

As the New York summer heat settles in, what better time to escape the city and see some Shakespeare in the fresh, open air. Co-Artistic directors of Fault Line Theatre, Aaron Rossini and Craig Wesley Divino, will be appearing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream presented on Shelter Island outside of Sylvester Manor. It’s only a two day event, so why not make a weekend out of it! The play will also feature Breathing Time‘s Lee Dolson. Oh yeah, the producers encourage you to bring blankets and picnics (BYOB!) to enjoy during the show. Shakespeare is arguably best watched sitting on the grass while enjoying some nice wine and cheese.

July 19 & 20, 2014 @ 7pm
Sylvester Manor
80 North Ferry Road
Shelter Island, NY 11964

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

Shakespeare at the Manor presents Shakespeare’s great celebration of innocence, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Come brave the woods alongside headstrong lovers, hapless thespians, and warring fairies.  It promises to be a hilarious and magical night for the whole family.

The play will be on the lawn behind the Manor House.  Please bring blankets, chairs and picnics (BYOB) to enjoy on the lawn before and during the show!

Adults $20 in advance, $25 at the door
Kids 10-18 $10, 10 and under free
Family max $60

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Written by William Shakespeare
• Directed by Drew Foster

Congratulations Beau!

[Guest post by Adam Suritz]

Like many House of Cards fans, I have too many news alerts set up on my iPhone. The fact that I grew up as a news junkie in the suburbs of DC only makes the problem worse. I’ve got alerts for Supreme Court rulings, for Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (who I think is a serious VP contender in 2016), and for various NY and DC area theater companies. Usually the alerts are mundane, but one this morning had me pumping my fist and shouting on the W96th Street subway platform.

What an absolute thrill it was to find out that playwright of Fault Line Theatre’s Breathing Time, Beau Willimon, was nominated for an Emmy, for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.

For the millions of House of Cards fans, this nomination is exciting and well-deserved. For those of us who were a part of Breathing Time this past spring, the nomination is doubly-sweet. Fault Line Theatre’s audience got to see a side of Beau’s writing that might surprise many of his fans. Beau always finds a way to surprise you. Point in case: Googling “House of Cards Spoilers” returns almost 1.5 million results. The surprises in Breathing Time were of a different type, though. Sure, there were more than a few gasps in the houses at Theatro Iati, but the surprise was how much the characters onstage mattered to people in the audience in such a short amount of time.

When Breathing Time opened, The Hollywood Reporter said, “It’s a genuine coup for Fault Line Theatre…to be presenting Beau Willimon’s Breathing Time.” Maybe. But Beau’s work and Fault Line Theatre’s ethos go hand in hand. He puts the story, the words, and the action above all else. Fault Line Theatre creates and produces socially relevant, character-driven plays for today’s audiences, and so does Beau. Whether or not he brings home the Emmy for House of Cards – and we believe he will – the team here at Fault Line Theatre is proud of Beau.

Breathing Time press

We’ve just compiled many of the profiles and reviews that were published about Breathing Time. If you haven’t seen them yet, there are some great interviews with Aaron and Beau about the writing and production of Breathing Time (and even a little bit about Beau’s TV show House of Cards!).

Head over to the Breathing Time MEDIA PAGE for more information.

What We're Seeing: 16 Words Or Less

July 3. The day before Independence Day. Two days after Canada Day. What are you doing? I can tell you what Fault Line Theatre will be doing: On Thursday, July 3rd at 8pm a big group of us is headed to The Wild Project to see the immensely talented Fault Line Theatre playwright Crystal Finn (The Faire) tear it up on stage in Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks production of 16 Words or Less. But wait! There’s more! Everyone who comes with Fault Line Theatre will receive a free beer! Here’s some more info about the show:

June 26 – July 5, 2014.
The Wild Project
195 E 3rd St. (Between Ave A & B)
New York, NY 10009

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

A lone and over-helpful flower shop clerk tries to contain the challenges of her customers’ lives, but can’t do the same for herself.  

Pet cats, meth addictions, ex-husbands, tumor, hair (and not just in the usual places)… all things sprout, grow, die.

CAST:

• Crystal Finn
• Donnetta Lavinia Grays
• Neal Huff
• Mia Katigbak
• Caitlin O’Connell
• Jessica Rothe
• Clayton Dean Smith

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Written by Peggy Stafford
• Directed by Portia Krieger
• Set - Daniel Zimmerman
• Costumes - Sydney Maresca
• Lights - Mike Inwood
• Sound - Stowe Nelson
• Stage Manager - Danielle Teague-Daniels

Here We Are Here

Remember when we told you Fault Line Theatre co-founder, Tristan Jeffers, was accepted into the Summer Residency Lab with The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep?

Here he is speaking at a panel discussion hosted by The Ground Floor with the co-creator of his project Here We Are Here Jiehae Park. The piece is described as “a new work about place through three lenses: cartography, the internet, and the loneliness of clock-time.”