SUNSHINE SERIES 2008

 
Monday, MAY 19, 4pm

MAHIDA'S EXTRA KEY TO HEAVEN by Russell Davis
Directed by Will Pomerantz
Featuring Kathryn Grody, Roxanna Hope, Charles Semine, James Wallert

Shubert Theatre @ New York University Tisch School of the Arts , 721 Broadway, 5th Floor

This romantic and shocking play about human and political borders starts with a young American painter encountering a frightened Iranian college student waiting alone for a ferry that won't come until morning. Both a love story and an exploration of colliding cultures, Mahida's Extra Key To Heaven speaks in a language painfully eloquent, timely and timeless.

Thursday, MAY 22, 7pm

MINSTREL SHOW, or THE LYNCHING OF WILLIAM BROWN by Max Sparber

Directed by Rob Urbinati

with Jacob Ming-Trent and Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr.

Bruce Mitchell Room @ ART/NY, 520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor (*please bring picture ID for Security)

This searing and provocative play is based on a true story:  in 1919, a black man accused of molesting a white woman in Omaha, Nebraska is dragged from the courthouse by a riotous mob of 5000, and lynched.  A week later, two black minstrel performers who shared the cell with William Brown are called to testify. They are forced to decide whether to tell the truth and suffer the consequences or hide behind the subversive entertainment of minstrelsy.  They discover that the techniques of minstrelsy are inadequate to tell the story, and are forced to transform their craft, and their lives.

MINSTREL SHOW, or THE LYNCHING OF WILLIAM BROWN received a critically-acclaimed production at New Jersey Repertory Company in October 2007.

Readings are FREE. LIMITED SEATING - RESERVATIONS ARE NECESSARY.

To make a reservation, please call 212-479-0848 or email EpicTheatreCtr@aol.com. Please include your name, email, and the number of seats you need. Thank you!

Previous Sunshine Series 08 Writers and Collaborators include: Todd Almond, Lear de Bessonet, Marcus Gardley, Jeanne Sakata, Jim Wallert

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TICKETS NOW ON SALE for Sunshine Series Alum: 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Winner, PALACE OF THE END by Judith Thompson, directed by Daniella Topol, featuring Teri Lamm, Heather Raffo, and Rocco Sisto. June 11-July 23 at the Peter J Sharp Theatre at Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street. www.ticketcentral.com or www.epictheatreensemble.org

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More on Epic's Sunshine Series:

Every great play has the potential to bring diverse communities together to celebrate and challenge the world we share, to be a collective experience that inspires discussion and spurs action.

With this in mind, Epic Theatre Ensemble commissions and nurtures new socially-minded work by pre-professional, early-career, and well-established writers. Through a comprehensive script development process that includes readings, workshops, and retreats, Epic supports playwrights exploring timeless social, political, and ethical issues by providing extensive artistic resources while simultaneously cultivating a diverse and responsive audience eager to discuss the key themes and questions within each play.

The SUNSHINE SERIES is our flagship new play festival presented each spring and sponsored annually by Bill and Kumi Martin. The Series shines a light on important new political writing and plants the seed for future productions by Epic and other likeminded companies.

Highlights from past festivals include:

• Nilaja Sun's No Child...
  Commissioned by Epic and first developed during our 2005 inaugural Series, this astounding solo-piece about the problems in our public schools received critical acclaim and an extended Off-Broadway run before a commercial transfer and national tour.
• Beauty on the Vine by Zak Berkman
  Also developed during our inaugural Series, this dark fable about the fatal impact of our beauty culture received a successful Off-Broadway run in 2006. The script has been optioned to be turned into a film and will be published by Dramatist Play Services in 2008.
• Palace of the End by Judith Thompson
  Commissioned by Epic and developed during our 2006 Series, this outrageous and haunting exploration of three lives transformed by the wars in Iraq recently won the 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and received rave reviews for its productions in Toronto and Los Angeles. Epic will present the New York Premiere in June 2008.
  

For more information: www.EpicTheatreEnsemble.org

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

Lark Play Development Center
presents
A Roundtable Reading of
CUSTOMARY MONSTERS
by Kyle T. Wilson
directed by Rob Urbinati

Thursday, May 15 6:30pm
939 Eighth Avenue, Suite 301
(between 55th and 56th)

Frederick Furnivall, a "Scholar Gypsy" of Victorian letters, moves a young Shakespeare enthusiast into his home in order to educate and seduce her. Meanwhile, his friend and colleague, London diarist Arthur Munby, begins a secret romance with his servant, who happily continues to sweep his floors and clean his boots. How long can these two educated men balance their progressive ideals and their romantic desires? Customary Monsters is a history play about the limits of love, equality, and biography.

ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF
WEST MOON STREET
By Rob Urbinati

Click here for more information

Dramatists Guild of America
Friday Footlights Series
presents

Body of Words
By Vincent Sessa

With
Christian Baskous and Jeremiah M. Maestas
Stage Directions: David Arthur Bachrach

Directed by Rob Urbinati

Friday, April 11
7:30 pm.
Dramatists Guild
1501 Bway, 43/44th Streets
The Frederick Loewe Room, 7th Floor, Suite 710
Reservations not required
 
At sunset on a deserted stretch of beach, two strangers meet; one weary with labor and travel, one fleeing the confines of adolescence and home.  A sexual contract is negotiated and put into effect.  In the ensuing hours together until first morning light, violence is the ever-present undertow. But it is the unspoken word between them that will change their lives forever.