By A Thread at the Cornelia Connelly Center School

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to the Cornelia Connelly Center School to hear By A Thread by Eljon Wardally! This work-in-progress, directed by Kel Haney, was the first Irons in the Fire project of 2018 and we couldn't think of a better way to start the new year! After hearing the play performed by the incredible Omari Hardwick (Starz's Power) and Jose Joaquin Perez (Lesser America's In A Word), we headed across the street to the Dorian Gray Tap and Grill to hide from the cold and warm ourselves with good conversation. 

It's going to be a busy 2018 and we can't wait to share more incredible plays with you! Stay tuned.

All photos by Ali Rose Dachis.

What We're Seeing: Breitwisch Farm

Our friends in the Esperance Theater Company are staging Jeremy J. Kamps' latest play Breitwisch Farm. Heavily influenced by Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, this story is being brought to life at the brand new Town Stages space in TriBeCa. Head downtown and check this one out!

March 2 - 16, 2018
Town Stages
221 W. Broadway
New York, NY 10013

A Little About The Show

Unprotected legal status of immigrants. Football players turned activists. Environmental destruction and the rise of the alt right in political power. But this isn’t Trump’s 2018, but a small organic farm in rural Wisconsin in 2011. The middle class has long been disappearing. Democracy has long been corroding. This farm, a bastion of idealism surrounded by cynicism, is a home for people who have nowhere else to go. So what happens when it’s gone?

Cast:

• Danaya Esperanza
• Katie Hartke
• Will Manning
• Charlie Murphy
• Maria Peyramaure
• Alejandro Rodriguez
• Joe Tapper
• Katie Wieland

Creative:

• Written by Jeremy J. Kamps
• Directed by Ryan Quinn
• Assistant Director: Stephanie George
• Sound Designer: William Neal
• Set Designer: Alexander Woodward
• Costume Designer: Kaitlyn McDonald
• Lighting Designer: Leslie Smith
• Production Manager: Greg Taubman
• Production Stage Manager: Emily K. Rolston
• Production Stage Manager: Kelsy Durkin
• Assistant Stage Manager: Jenny Plackemeier

What We're Seeing: Othello

Trinity Rep in Providence, our former stomping grounds in graduate school, is currently staging one of the Bard's greatest plays: Othello. The production is littered with familiar faces including Jude Sandy (At The Table), Rebecca Gibel (Frogs), and Charlie Thurston (The Wedge Horse). The whole production is under the watchful eye of Whitney White who directed our Irons in the Fire presentation of White History by Dave Harris. If you're traveling to Rhode Island in March, this can't be missed!

February 15 - March 18, 2018
Trinity Repertory Company
201 Washington Street
Providence, RI 02903

A Little About The Show

Friendship and betrayal, love and jealousy. Once Othello’s most trusted confidante, Iago’s envy-fueled passions unleash a betrayal with catastrophic results for Othello and his beloved bride Desdemona. Shakespeare’s profound tragedy is an enduring story of race, love, envy, and repentance. This stripped down retelling is the portrait of an unraveling mind amid a society engulfing and destroying its very best.

Cast:

• Angela Brazil
• Daniel Duque-Estrada
• Rebecca Gibel
• Mauro Hantman
• L'Oreal Lampley
• Brian McEleney
• Jude Sandy
• Stephen Thorne
• Charlie Thurston
• Ryan Broussard
• Fred Sullivan, Jr.
• Brendan D. Hickey

Creative:

• Written by William Shakespeare
• Directed by Whitney White
• Set Design: Daniel Soule
• Costume Design: Andrew Jean
• Lighting Design: Amith Chandrashaker
• Sound Design: Mikaal Sulaiman
• Stage Manager: Kristen Gibbs
• Fight Choreographer: Zdenko Martin

What We're Seeing: Romeo & Juliet

Our friends at The Backroom Shakespeare Project are taking on one of the Bard's bests at one of our favorite bars in the city: Romeo & Juliet at Radegast Hall. If you've never been to a Backroom Shakespeare Project show before, you're in for a treat. With only one rehearsal and no director, actors bring the show to life in bars for free. The result is a raucous night of good theatre, good drink, and good company. Better yet, this incredible cast features Ali Rose Dachis (The Wedge Horse) and Tiffany Topol (workshop of The Fitzgerald's of St. Paul).

February 19, 2018
Radegast Hall & Biergarten
113 N 3rd St, Brooklyn
New York 11249

A Little About The Show

Doors: 6:30pm
Show: 7:30pm

Shakespeare's actors had no director. They rehearsed only the fights and dances. They got their lines and their cues, they grabbed their balls and tried to tell the truth. When they failed, they probably really bit it. 

Hell of a legend, right? 

The Back Room Shakespeare Project takes as much of it as seems useful. We read the play once, we memorize our parts, and we rehearse it once. We have no director, and we perform in bars, for free. For you! An unruly bunch of drunks! 

Cast:

• Ali Dachis
• Nowani Rattray
• Sean McIntyre
• Victoria Blade
• Victoria Nassif
• Eric Powell Holm
• Katie Melby
• Jesse Thurston
• Michael Fell
• Emily Shain
• Anthony Venturini
• Blake McKay
• Caitlin Costello
• Luis Vega
• Tiffany Topol

What We're Seeing: Today Is My Birthday

Our friends at Page 73 do brilliant work fostering and producing new work by early career playwrights. Before we hide away for the holiday season, we can't wait to catch their latest production: Susan Soon He Stanton's latest play Today Is My Birthday. Check it out!

November 28 - December 23, 2017
New Ohio Theater
154 Christopher Street
New York, NY 10014

A Little About The Show

Emily, a would-be writer, retreats home to O’ahu after Manhattan finally gets the best of her. Trading one island for another doesn’t help, though, and when she stumbles into a gig as an actor on a shock-jock radio dating show, she finds herself strangely determined to turn fantasy into reality. Told through a playful mixture of phone calls, voicemails, and live radio spots, Today Is My Birthday is a comedy about loneliness in the age of connection.

Cast:

• Jonathan Brooks
• Ugo Chukwu
• Ron Domingo
• Jennifer Ikeda
• Emily Kuroda
• Nadine Malouf

Creative:

• Written by Susan Soon He Stanton
• Directed by Kip Fagan
• Set Design: Dane Laffrey
• Costume Design: Jessica Pabst
• Lighting Design: Jen Schriever
• Sound Design/Live Foley Artist: Palmer Hefferan
• Prop Design: Allison Mantilla
• Prod. Stage Manager: Kara Kaufman
• Asst. Stage Manager: Justin Myhre
• Production Management: Intuitive Prod. Mgmt.
• Asst. Lighting Design: Carly D. Shiner
• Asst. Sound Design: Nok Kanchanabanca
• Asst. Sound Design: Sinan Zafar
• Asst. Props Design: Liz Frino
• Graphic Design: Maya Eilam

What We're Seeing: The Pool

Through December 16, The Pool is taking over The Flea Theater downtown. What is The Pool you ask? Well technically it's a temporary consortium formed by playwrights Lynn Rosen, Peter Gil-Sheridan & Susan Bernfield to drive their own processes and produce their ready-to-go plays. More personally, it's a big ol' group of artists we love coming together to make three awesome plays. Back in the Summer of 2014 we workshopped Washed Up On The Potomac with Lynn Rosen. You may also recognize Juan Arturo (The Oregon Trail), Crystal Finn (playwright of The Faire) and Adam Green (workshops of Bernhard and Washed Up On The Potomac). Behind the scenes, Kaila Galinat, our assistant stage manager for The Oregon Trail, is stage managing Washed Up On The Potomac. A last but certainly not least, our fearless leader Aaron Rossini is the line producer for the whole operation. That's at least six really good reasons to check out these shows!

November 15 - December 16, 2017
The Flea Theater
20 Thomas Street
New York, NY 10007

A Little About The Shows

TANIA IN THE GETAWAY VAN

It’s 1975 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Laura’s mom is going back to school. Diane is discovering liberation, openness, possibility! But that doesn’t mean eleven-year-old Laura has to play along, no way. She’s in the hall closet, pretending to be Patty Hearst. Fast forward to 2012. Successful Laura looks like a model product of the women’s movement… or is she just the byproduct of Diane’s expectations?

Cast:

• Annie McNamara
• Caitlin Morris
• Courtney G. Williams
• Madeline Wise

Creative:

• Written by Susan Bernfield
• Directed by Portia Krieger

---

WASHED UP ON THE POTOMAC

Order is the name of the game in this D.C. proofreading office, but things are all off today. It’s 90 degrees in October, an error has been made on a major account, and someone is going to be fired. As three proofreaders ponder their futures, they become haunted and inspired by memories of a coworker whose body may have washed up on the Potomac today. Who is the next to go? Or are they already gone? A dark comedy about the ways in which we try to stay afloat.

Cast:

• Austin Blunk
• Crystal Finn
• Adam Green
• Jennifer Morris
• Debargo Sanyal
• Jacque Emord-Netzley

Creative:

• Written by Lynn Rosen
• Directed by José Zayas

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THE RAFA PLAY

Peter Gil, a legendary but retired playwright, has been whisked away to Mallorca to a fantasy life by his husband, tennis superstar Rafael Nadal. When he returns to New York to let his friends know just how successful his life has become, he finds them (actress Eva Patton and casting director John Ort, CSA) in disarray at a posh New York City restaurant. When Rafa himself comes to retrieve his love, Peter is transported back to Mallorca to do battle with the realities of Rafa’s life, family, and career.

Cast:

• Juan Arturo
• Olli Haaskivi
• Tommy Heleringer
• Annie Henk
• Megan Hill
• Tommy Russell

Creative:

• Written by Peter Gil-Sheridan
• Directed by Morgan Gould

Amazon Smile

Did you know you can support Fault Line Theatre simply by shopping online? It's easy, 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. 

Enjoy Cyber Monday and support new plays at the exact same time! 

What We're Seeing: Up/Down Here/There

If you've been to one of our Irons in the Fire projects, you've likely met Caroline Smith wearing a Fault Line Theatre t-shirt and keeping the event running smoothly. This weekend, you can catch her on stage in Up/Down Here/There, the inaugural production of Best Intention Theater Company's second season. There are only two chances to catch this new play, so don't procrastinate!

The Mark O'Donnell Theater at the Actors Fund Arts Center
160 Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

A Little About The Show

Up/Down Here/There examines the hopes, dreams, pasts, and futures of those who can’t stop wondering about what happens beyond Earth. Told through interweaving strands, it's a ensemble play about home, Mars, and how to tell the difference

Cast:

• Maddie Browning
• Bailey Hawthorne
• Katherine Freel
• Nell Kessler
• Jonathan Young
• Sam Richardson
• Felix Birdie
• Caroline Smith
• Sam Krapels

Creative:

• Written by Jonathan Young
• Directed by Joseph Kevin Coles

The Fitzgeralds Of St. Paul

Last weekend, we invited a small group of friends and collaborators to take a look behind the scenes with writer Christie Baugher and director Danny Mefford (Dear Evan Hanson, Fun Home) in an open rehearsal we hosted of their musical-in-progress The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul. In the new year, we will be back in the room with Christie and Danny to further develop this exciting new show! 

The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul is a two-person, one act full-length chamber musical about F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, celebrated literary figures of the Jazz Age. Part memory play, part gin-soaked vaudeville, The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul is a fictionalized, hyper-theatrical imagining of the lives and adventures of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda – an evening in which two tragic, larger-than-life icons of a bygone era finally get to tell their story.

Round Table at Hex & Co.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to hear Round Table by Liba Vaynberg at Hex and Company last weekend! This work-in-progress was directed by Geordie Broadwater and marked the second project of our Irons in the Fire reading series. After hearing the play, we headed to the beautiful rooftop patio of The Heights Bar & Grill. 

If you were able to attend, it was our pleasure to share this play and enjoy the first few days of Fall with you. If not, we hope to see you at the next one in the new year!

All photos by Katherine Oostman.