What We're Seeing: A Christmas Carol

We're wishing a happy opening this evening to co-artistic director Craig Wesley Divino and the entire cast of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's A Christmas Carol. This will be Craig's 6th year performing the role of Fred in this annual tradition directed by Michael Evan Haney.

November 23 - December 31, 2016
Marx Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
962 Mt. Adams Circle
Cincinnati, OH 45202

A Little About The Play

Your favorite holiday tradition. Or your chance to make a new one.
The Playhouse's version of A Christmas Carol combines faithful storytelling with spellbinding stage magic to bring to life its familiar story of a sinner given one last chance at redemption by four persuasive ghosts. Ebenezer Scrooge undergoes a miraculous Christmas Eve transformation as he views with new eyes his past, present and the possibilities of the future. As he witnesses all those who have improved his life — his first love Belle, his kindhearted employer Fezziwig, his nephew Fred and his heartily abused clerk Bob Cratchit — he realizes that it's never too late to change his miserly ways. A Christmas Carol's heartwarming message, hundreds of costumes and thrilling special effects help to make the show one of the Playhouse's most popular productions each year.

"For my money, there's no better local holiday entertainment." – The Cincinnati Enquirer

Advisory: A Christmas Carol is suitable for all general audiences, including children ages 5 and older. Due to the full-length nature of the show, children younger than 5 cannot be admitted. Please contact the Box Office if you have questions or require additional information.

Running Time: The show runs approximately 2 hours and 5 minutes, including one intermission.

Cast:

• Richard Buchanan
• George Bull
• Ernaisja Curry
• Bruce Cromer
• Craig Wesley Divino
• Annie Fitzpatrick
• Ella Faith Gallagan
• Ryan Wesley Gilreath
• Candice Handy
• Tatum Hunter
• Ari Elizabeth Johnson
• Taha Mandviwala
• Sara Masterson
• Aidan McCracken
• Kelly Mengelkoch
• Gregory Procaccino
• Douglas Rees
• Nick Rose
• Ty Joseph Shelton
• John Skelley
• Stephen Skiles
• Livvy Stubenrauch
• Sabian George Swan
• Koray Tarhan
• Ashley Taylor
• Austin Vaughan
• Henry Charles Weghorst
• Kathleen Wise

Production Team:

• Directed by Michael Evan Haney
• Written by Charles Dickens
• Adapted by Howard Dallin
• Set Designer - James Leonard Joy
• Costume Designer - David Murin
• Lighting Designer - Kirk Bookman
• Sound Designer/Composer - David B. Smith
• Music Director - Rebecca N. Childs
• Choreographer - Dee Anne Bryll
• Stage Manager - Andrea L. Shell
• Second Stage Manager - Brooke Redler

What We're Watching: Nightcap

Board member, actor, collaborator, and long time friend of Fault Line Theatre Karl Gregory is starring in Pop TV's newest comedy Nightcap, which premiers tonight at 8pm. DO NOT MISS THIS!

Pop TV
Channel 694 (Verizon)
Channel 175 (Time Warner)
Channel 273 (Direct TV)

A LITTLE ABOUT THE SHOW

"Pop’s new scripted comedy Nightcap is a laugh-at-itself, satirical look at the late-night TV landscape, set behind the scenes of the fictitious talk show Nightcap With Jimmy. Every week, A-list celebrities stop by as they would on any real-life talk show—only this time, viewers get an exaggerated look at the hilarity backstage. 

Insanity, absurdity and urgency reign, and it’s up to head talent booker Staci (Ali Wentworth) to wrangle both her dysfunctional staff and the myriad of stars who bring their quirks, diva demands and peculiar antics to the set."

CAST:

• Ali Wentworth

• Lauren Blumenfeld

• Brendan Clifford

• Don Fanelli

• Karl Gregory

• Jeff Hiller

• Cherie Corinne Rice

• Jacob Wallach

Amazon Smile

The holiday season is now upon us!! And we hope you're as excited for this festive time of year as we are. We just want to give you a heads up, that you can help Fault Line Theatre out while checking off your Holiday To Do List! 

As you are getting all of your holiday shopping done online this month and next, please make sure you use Amazon Smile to help your friends at Fault Line Theatre. It's simple, just go to www.Smile.Amazon.com, select Fault Line Theatre as your charity of choice, and you can shop Amazon exactly how you always have. Nothing changes, but the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase to Fault Line Theatre. That may not sound like much, but all those 0.5 percents add up. 

Pretty cool, right?

It's not only for your holiday shopping, by the way, it's good year round! So, if you're going to do some shopping on Amazon anyway, you can still help us bring socially-relevant, character-driven plays to the New York stage.

Much love and thank you for your support!

What We're Seeing: Don't You F**king Say A Word

Our friend and former classmate Andy Bragen's new play Don't You F**king Say A Word is going up at 59E59 Theaters this whole month. The play has been in development with companies like New Dramatists and City Theatre in Pittsburgh for the past three years and now we can't wait to catch the official world premiere!

November 4 – December 4, 2016
59E59 Street Theater B
59 East 59 Street
New York, NY 10022

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

Don't You F**king Say a Word is a play about love and hate, about friendly and not so friendly competition. Tennis is just tennis... until it isn't.

Kate and Leslie explore the complexities of their boyfriends' competitive spirits in this comic new drama. Russ has a temper. Brian has been known to cheat. As their weekly tennis sets play out aggressively on stage, Kate and Leslie dissect their friendship and rivalry in a volley of sharp observation and wry wit.

An explosive comedy about love, relationships, and the consequences of a lousy backhand.

Running time: 85 minutes

CAST:

• Michael Braun
• Jennifer Lim
• Bhavesh Patel
• Jeanine Serralles

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Directed by Lee Sunday Evans
• Written by Andy Bragen

What We're Seeing: Detroit '67

Our friend Rachel Christopher (Frogs, The Faire, At The Table) is currently tearing it up in North Carolina in Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67 at the PlayMakers Repertory Company (whose new Artistic Director is our own Board Member Vivienne Benesch)! The reviews are starting to come in for this regional premier and the press is excited to say the least. The Star Tribune described it as “[a] poetic play of fire-fueled dreams” and the Huffington Post called it “mind blowing!” If you’re in the Chapel Hill area, definitely check it out!

September 14 – October 2, 2016
PlayMakers Repertory Company
150 Country Club Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27599

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

1967. The world is shifting for two siblings running an after-hours joint to make ends meet. Tensions mount when dreams diverge, their tight-knit community is threatened by an outsider and the streets erupt in violence in this riveting new play set to a driving Motown beat.

CAST:

• Myles Bullock
• Katy Castaldi
• Rachel Christopher
• Charlie Hudson, III
• Tangela Large

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Directed by Lisa Rothe
• Written by Dominique Morisseau
• Scenic Design - Lee Savage
• Lighting Design – Xavier Pierce
• Sound Design – Justin Ellington
• Costume Design – McKay Coble
• Dramaturg – Jacqueline E. Lawton
• Vocal Coach – John Patrick
• Stage Manager – Hannah-Jean Farris

What We're Seeing: Troll

Earlier this year, two former Fault Line Theatre interns, Brian Drummy and Jason Modica, co-founded The Rushline Company to produce and artistically engage in satisfying and challenging creative work. Which is why we’re so excited for The Rushline Company’s inaugural production, the world premier of Ken Greller’s new play Troll. Based loosely on the story surrounding the Gawker article Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web, Troll will be performed in a limited run at The Secret Theatre in Long Island City. Congrats Brian and Jason!

April 8 -24, 2016
The Secret Theatre
44-02 23rd Street
Long Island City, NY 11101

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

Troll tells the story of Ari Jacobs, a young web-journalist who’s uncovered the scoop of a lifetime. An Internet “troll” holds sway over the online community of Reddit, filling its pages with hate, filth, and sex, moderating message boards like “Jailbait” and “Jewmerica” with impunity and seemingly unlimited power. When Ari discovers the real life identity of this troll, he’s faced with the question of whether or not to expose this monster to the world.

Troll, a new play by Ken Greller (Hands, Sundance Theatre Lab), explores the perils of unchecked free speech in the Internet age, where every person has the power to raise their voice. Through crackling scene-work, this vibrant and intense new work forces us to ask ouselves: “Is it okay to destroy someone else’s life to save your own?”

CAST:

• Andrew Block
• Jeffery Delano Davis*
• Brian Drummy
• Reggie D. White*

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Directed by Jason Modica
• Written by Ken Greller
• Scenic and Projection Design – Bryce Cutler
• Lighting Design – Steve Shack
• Sound Design – Maggie Burke
• Costume Design – Tristan Raines
• Stage Manager – Imogen Taylor

*Appears Courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

What We're Seeing: Romeo and Juliet

The Public Theater’s Mobile Shakespeare Unit is a wonderful initiative by one of the best theaters in the city to bring Shakespeare’s classic plays to communities across New York City absolutely free of charge. This year, their production of Romeo & Juliet features our buddy Jorge Eliézer Chacón fresh off the heels of our production of Nick Gandiello’s The Wedge Horse. Check out The Public Theater’s website for more info on where this tour will hit in the city!

March 18 – April 9, 2016
The following venues are FREE and open to the public during the Mobile Unit Tour

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit strengthens community engagement with the arts by bringing free, world-class productions of Shakespeare to communities all across New York City. This season, the Mobile Unit will present Shakespeare’s timeless tale of ROMEO & JULIET. In some of the most romantic language ever written for the stage, young Romeo and Juliet become fortune’s fools when the ancient grudge between their families forces them to sacrifice all for the chance to be together. Obie Award winner Lear deBessonet directs the classic tale of star-cross’d lovers caught between the world outside the bedroom window and passion as boundless as the sea.

CAST:

• Sheldon Best
• Jorge Eliézer Chacón
• Mahira Kakkar
• Maria-Christina Oliveras
• Danny Rivera
• David Ryan Smith
• Marques Toliver
• Max Woertendyke
• Ayana Workman.

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Directed by Lear deBessonet
• Written By William Shakespeare

Nick Gandiello's Next Play

Nick Gandiello is on fire right now.

Just a few weeks after we closed our production of his New York debut The Wedge Horse, Nick announced that he received the 2015 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize winner for his play Sunrise Highway. This award is presented by Marin Theatre Company to “a new work that shows outstanding promise and a distinctive new voice for the American theatre.”

Excited to hear more about Sunrise Highway? So are we! Here’s how Nick describes the show:

“Mid-90’s Long Island: an African-American family and an Italian-American family come together in a budding relationship. But when the teenagers in either family discover danger in the relationship between their younger siblings, they make a secret pact that jeopardizes everyone. Identity is stretched across family, race, history, and sexuality in this bittersweet drama.”

Congrats Nick!

What We're Seeing: Bring a Weasel and a Pint of Your Own Blood

Charise Greene, our amazing dialect coach for The Wedge Horse will be appearing in an evening of work written by Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney’s Brooklyn College MFA Playwriting program called the Bring a Weasel and a Pint of Your Own Blood Festival. For an added bonus, the show is costume designed by our very own artistic associate Izzy Fields!

March 17-20, 2016
Jack
505 1/2 Waverly Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11238

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PLAY

Each year, three playwrights in Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney’s Brooklyn College MFA Playwriting program apply their distinct visions to the same source material, coming up with separate beautiful, bizarre, delicate, and disturbing theater pieces, performed together in one evening. This year, John Budge, Zarina Shea, andHeloise Wilson take on Maxim Gorki’s Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Andreev. Prepare to be dazzled by these weasely writers and their deranged minds.

CAST:

• Eliza Bent
• Charise Greene
• Yehuda Hyman
• Michael Patrick Kane
• Ryan Pater
• Julia Sirna-Frest
• Merlin Whitehawk

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Directed by Mia Rovegno
• Set – Joe Burkard
• Props – Katie White
• Lights – Jay Maury
• Composer/Sound Designer/Music Director - Ezra Lowrey
• Costumes – Izzy Fields
• Choreography - Katie Rose Mclaughlin
• Stage Manager - Rebecca Guskin
• Assistant Stage Manager - Rafael Vasquez
• Assistant Director - Tara Elliot

Interview With Charise Greene

There are only 5 more opportunities to catch our production of Nick Gandiello’s The Wedge Horse! Good news though, the first 50% of tickets sold each show are 50% off.

If you’ve already seen the show (or read anything on our website or looked at the show’s poster…), you’ll know that it’s set in Baldwin, Long Island. However, none of our actors hail from anywhere close to Long Island.

Charlie is from Kansas City. Jorge is from Colombia via Seattle. Ali is from Minneapolis.

To help our actors through the process, we turned to our friend Charise Greene. An accomplished actor, teacher, and dialect coach, Charise has most recently worked with Golden Globe nominees Dominic West and Ruth Wilson in Showtime’s The Affair. I sat down with Charise recently to chat with her about the role of a dialect coach and how she approaches a new dialect.

What does a voice and dialect coach do?

My job is to primarily help the actor execute her/his choices in the most powerful, clear and healthy way. It is also my responsibility to support the director’s and writer’s vision for the world of the play/film/tv show, which can involve everything from instructing dialect/accent to coaching placement, pitch, rhythm, and speed.

How did you prepare to coach the Baldwin dialect?

Preparation for any project begins with reading the script to get a sense of place, time, style, and tone. Then comes a conversation with either the director or actor who hires me (usually directors hire me for stage and actors request me for film/tv) to assess the artist’s vision. In this case my meeting was with Aaron [Rossini]. Then I went to Baldwin! I spent a day chatting with locals, recording our conversations, and observing the way their particular dialect impacts physicality. I followed up with research online, then created a sound change sheet, and scored the play. A great deal of my work happens before the first rehearsal.

What’s your favorite dialect to perform and/or teach?

What a fun question! I love doing Russian. I find it lives in my body in a satisfying way (maybe comes from my Dad’s people who came from Lithuania? Who knows?). I like to teach the Scandinavian region. The sing-song thing is super fun.

Any advice to actors working on a new dialect?

If it’s your first time doing an accent or dialect, listen to your recordings every day: on the train, while making dinner, while jogging…the more you can listen while living your actual life, the more muscularity will release; it will remind you to breathe fully and thereby integrate the sounds into your body. Then, like everything else, practice practice practice. But remember that they’re called “plays,” so think of it as play time. This will help keep a sense of spontaneity in the work that will free you up when acting. The dialect/accent should illuminate and support intention, rather than stand in the way of it through muscularity.

You’re a professional actor as well. What’s it like balancing these two careers?

I love what I learn about my acting through my coaching and what I learn about my coaching through my acting. It’s a symbiotic relationship that allows me to get deeper and freer in my work with each passing project. Also, I love breathing life into great writing and whether that is through my voice or the voice of those I’m supporting is less relevant than the passion I have for creativity. It’s all the same at the end of the day.