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Recent Projects

 

Minstrel Show

Chelsea/Cruelties

FoggyBottom

Hazelwood Jr. High

West Moon Street

Karoake Night at the Suicide Shack

 



columbinus
written by stephen karam and pj papparelli
directed by rob urbinati

Thursday through Saturday, November 12 – 14 at 8pm
Wednesday through Saturday, November 18 – 22 at 8pm
Sunday, November 15 at 3pm

michelson theatre, little center, clark university

free with clark student I.D. $5 general public

starring
rob donnelly and ian michaels

with
victoria grogan, jo maulbeck, cameron miller,
alana osborn-lief, sarah surprenant, danny zeliger


and
amanda ethridge, riley foster, keen hahn, sarah jette,
thaddeus kelley, joseph kowalski, alex kump, laura menzie,
julie mitchell, sean morrow, john nolan, abby petkov,
precious ra’akbar, milla smith, richard spurgin

set design by chris weinrobe
costume design by catherine quick spingler
lighting design by kevin mcgerigle
sound design by robert timothy jarbadan
projection design by adam lefebvre
photography by louie despres
poster designs by cory bratton
stage manager emily hananah


crew
chirs weinrobe - technical director
kevin mcgerigle - assistant technical director
christine dunant - assistant stage manager
dan pologe - sound board operator
katie stone -light board operator

"good wombs have borne bad sons"
eric harris, quoting shakespeare


Samuel French announces the publication of

sam french hazelwood

Drama / 6 f

SAMUEL FRENCH, Inc.

Play Publishers and Authors’ Representatives

45 West 25th Street New York, NY 10010-2751

(212) 206-8990  FAX (212) 206-1429

http://www.samuelfrench.com

INFO@SAMUELFRENCH.COM

 

“In this fierce, disturbing lament for the death of childhood, the characters hardly change - but the audience does. Six junior high school kids remain, through terrible events, suspended in a moral vacuum. We, however, move from open laughter to uncomfortable giggling to deep, dark silence. Though the play retains a deadpan documentary feel, withholding judgments and explanations until near the end, it is very much a dramatic artifice. Urbinati immerses us in the girls’ world. He sweeps us into the warped logic by which a lunchroom tiff escalates into a dreadful crime, and this logic is stitched into dialogue where perspective and proportion are scarily absent. Urbinati creates a mental jungle in which vampires and cuddly toys, Pentecostal visions and Kmart are tangled together. Slowly, these juxtapositions lose their humor and become an angry, insistent protest at the failure of the adult world to provide these kids with a way through. This is deft and morally serious writing, never exploitative and ultimately full of pity. Everywhere, there is the kind of precision and care that such a subject demands.”

- Fintan O’Toole, New York Daily News

 

“Mr. Urbinati’s script is based on court testimony and psychological and police reports. Even in the era of Jeffrey Dahlmer and Susan Smith, the story holds its own grotesquerie; you can see why Mr. Urbinati was hooked by it. It takes the absolutely ordinary subject of teenage rivalry and revenge pranks, gives it an exotic lesbian twist and then pushes it to the outer limits of sociopathic behavior... Mr. Elliott, Mr. Urbinati and the cast do nicely in conveying the solemn earnestness of young love and social warfare, highlighting the contrast between the flatness of the dialogue and the intensity of the confused passions behind it."

- Ben Brantley, New York Times

 

“Hazelwood Jr. High is a blistering piece of drama that’s conceived and presented in cinematic terms. Its multiple scenes and locations flow into each other without a break, building a considerable I can’t believe I’m watching this steam as Urbinati’s story veers from puppydog lesbian romance toward brutal slaughter. The horror of it all is seriocomically underscored by the typical banalities of teen existence while songs by Mariah Carey and 1990’s girl groups pulse through the air. If you go, better hang on tight -- it’s a wicked midnight ride with the rising generation, and definitely not a show for the squeamish.”

- Michael Sommers, New Jersey Star Ledger

 

“Mr. Urbinati has written this in a combination of documentary and dramatic style, effectively capturing the banality, the provincialism and the simple mindedness of the girls and their cruelty. While he makes some gestures in the direction of psychological explanation, the overall effect -- undoubtedly intentional -- is the frightful ordinariness of these teenagers. Even as they stumble toward savagery, they play their boom boxes, eat at McDonald’s, hang out at the mall and gossip about social life.”

- Martin Gottfried, New York Law Journal

 


Sanctuary

 


New York Musical Theatre Festival and Diodati Productions

present
VILLA DIODATI
A Mary Shelley Phantasia


"Mira J. Spektor (music and libretto) and Colette Inez (lyrics and libretto) have imbued their show with all the classic elements of success - luxurious love, vibrant-voiced performers, lush poetry, and a visionary director...The unabashedly operatic music wraps you in the warm embrace of the writings’ timeless romanticism....
You’ll probably hear no better musical all this year than VILLA DIODATI..."
Matthew Murray, TALKIN' BROADWAY

Music and Libretto by                            Lyrics and Libretto by
  Mira J. Spektor                                      Colette Inez 

Additional Lyrics by
Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mira J. Spektor and William Wordsworth

Featuring
Sarah Arikian
Mark Campbell*
Elizabeth Cherry*
Lauren Hauser
Nalina Mann*
Sal Sabella*
Brian Thomas Wilson


Scenic Design       Costume Design         Lighting Design     Sound Design
Andis Gjoni          Sidney Shannon            Jeff Nash          David M. Lawson

            Casting                                                              Publicity                  
  Tom Rowan, Michael Rabinowitz       Springer Associates PR, Joe Trantacosta     
                                                                        
Graphic Artist               Producing Consultant             Producing Assistant
     Barry Childs                       Judy Gordon                Marisol Rosa-Shapiro

Production Stage Manager            Assistant Stage Manager
Jennifer G. Birge*                  Shane Schnetzler

Instrumental Arrangements
Mira J. Spektor
Thomas Carlo Bo

Musicians
Todd Sullivan     Violin
Zoe Hassman    Cello

Musical Director
Thomas Carlo Bo

Directed by
Rob Urbinati

45th St. Theatre, 354 West 45th St. between 8th and 9th Avenue

September 22 - October 4, 2008

Photos by Steven Rosen

Underwritten in part by BookHampton

 



ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF
WEST MOON STREET

By Rob Urbinati

Click here for more information



Queens Theatre in the Park
Immigrant Voices Project Reading Series
in association with
LaGuardia Community College Division of Adult and Continuing Education
presents

GO!
by Go Takeuchi and Rob Urbinati
directed by Rob Urbinati


Saturday, May 3 at 8pm

No Charge - Reservations Required
718.760.0064

Growing up in Nagoya, Japan, the son of an African father and a Japanese mother, a boy grapples with race and identity in a non-diverse city. But the real adventure begins when he emigrates to New York!
This new play with music is the captivating story of the struggles and triumphs of a completely unique,
and utterly charming young man who embodies the new "American dream."

The performance runs approximately 80 minutes, and will be followed by a talkback