FREEDOM HIGH production at Uprooted Theatre

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FREEDOM HIGH will be produced by Uprooted Theatre, directed by Marti Gobel, with a performance on November 17th at the University of Wisconsin and on November 18th at Next Act Theatre.

Inspired by actual events, FREEDOM HIGH takes place in June 1964, when black Civil Rights workers trained hundreds of white volunteers to work in Mississippi registering blacks to vote.  Jessica, a young white volunteer, has no idea has no idea how dangerous – both physically and emotionally – the project will be.  Instead, she throws herself into learning non-violent tactics and stubbornly trying to befriend an angry, wounded veteran of the Movement. 

When three Civil Rights workers who’d been at the training the previous week disappear, the volunteers and their leaders are forced to decide if they can risk their lives for a mission that seems doomed.  Jessica discovers the perilous complexity of her motivations, and those of everyone else involved.

This production is among a number of events across the country commemorating the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer.

DREAM OF A DEER AT DUSK designated Finalist for O’Neill National Playwrights Conference

DREAM OF A DEER AT DUSK was recently designated a Finalist for the 2014 National Playwrights Conference.

The play is a lyrical drama focusing on an idealistic 15-year-old girl trying to rescue a 27-year-old autistic man from the persecution of their small town.  

DREAM OF A DEER AT DUSK was developed at The Playwrights’ Center and New York Theatre workshop.

Ensemble Studio Theatre reading of THE KARPOVSKY VARIATIONS

The reading will be on September 26th at 7:30 pm.  Ensemble Studio Theatre is at 549 West 52nd Street; the reading will be on the sixth floor.

Directed by Tamilla Woodard, the cast includes Molly Carden, Marilyn Chris, Valorie Niccore, Eileen Rivera, James Michael Reilly, Victor Slezak and Joe Urla.

THE PLAY:  Julia Karpovsky’s father is brilliant, talented – and lives half a world away.  Growing up among her eccentric and disparate relatives, Julia navigates her way through a family with a missing piece, searching for the elusive notes of her father’s clarinet.  This musical story traces the Karpovskys’ encounters at airport lounges over two decades as they improvise what it means to be a family.

THE KARPOVSKY VARIATIONS was developed at The Playwrights’ Center, and recently part of the Jewish Plays Project’s OPEN Festival.

“But nowhere is the new Jewish family more strikingly drawn than in Adam Kraar’s “The Karpovsky Variations,” in which disparate family members meet up in airport lounges over the years as one or another flies off to some distant place.” – The Jewish Forward

Theatre Novi Most presents staged readings of DANCING ON THE EDGE

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Theatre Novi Most presents two free staged readings of DANCING ON THE EDGE, about the legendary American dancer Isadora Duncan and her tumultuous marriage to the famous Russian poet Sergei Esenin.  The play brings to life two mythic characters whose outsized artistic and spiritual passions clashed tragi-comically with Russian society, the American Dream and each other.

On August 11th, the play will be presented at 7:30 pm at the Unison Learning Center in New Paltz, New York; and on August 12th, the play will be presented at 8 pm in Buttenweiser Hall at the 92nd Street Y at 1395 Lexington Avenue in New York City.

Read the feature in THE POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL.

THE KARPOVSKY VARIATIONS at Jewish Plays OPEN Residency

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The Karpovsky Variations has been selected for OPEN:  The Festival of New Jewish Theatre at the 14th Street Y.  A workshop of the play will culminate in a reading on June 13th at 7 pm.

Directed by Tamilla Woodard, the cast includes Geoffrey Cantor, Michael Countryman, Kathryn Kates, Christine Toy Johnson, Danielle Slavick and Joe Urla.  Margot Leverett of the Klezmer Mountain Boys will play clarinet.

“But nowhere is the new Jewish family more strikingly drawn than in Adam Kraar’s “The Karpovsky Variations,” in which disparate family members meet up in airport lounges over the years as one or another flies off to some distant place.” – The Jewish Forward

For more information:  Jewishplaysproject.org

 

Dream of a Deer at Dusk reading at New York Theatre Workshop

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On May 10th at 3 pm, New York Theatre Workshop presents a workshop reading of DREAM OF A DEER AT DUSK, directed by Tamilla Woodard.  The reading will be at 83 East 4th Street, 3rd floor.

Previously developed at The Playwrights’ Center and Boomerang Theatre Company, the play is a lyrical drama focusing on an idealistic 15-year-old girl trying to rescue a 27-year-old autistic man from the persecution of their small town.

The cast includes:  Denny Bess, Molly Camp, Doug Harris and Vayu O’Donnell.

The Karpovsky Variations selected for Ruth Easton New Play Series

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THE PLAYWRIGHTS’ CENTER has selected THE KARPOVSKY VARIATIONS for the Ruth Easton New Play Series.

The play will be given a 20 hour workshop culminating in a public presentation on February 4, 2012.  For more information, please click here.

The Karpovsky Variations

Julia Karpovsky’s father is brilliant, talented—and lives half a world away. Growing up among her eccentric and disparate relatives, Julia navigates her way through a family with a missing piece, searching for the elusive notes of her father’s clarinet. This musical story traces the Karpovskys’ encounters at airport lounges over two decades as they improvise what it means to be a family.

Workshop at The Playwrights Center.  Development and readings at The Jewish Plays Project and The New Group.  Finalist, Blue Ink Playwriting Award, American Blues Theater.  Premiere:  May 2022, Boomerang Theatre Company.

Interview with Adam Szymkowicz

Available on the blog “I Interview Playwrights.”

GORGEOUS INTENTIONS reading at Boomerang Theatre Co.

GORGEOUS INTENTIONS will be given a reading at Boomerang Theatre Company on November 20 at 3:00 pm.  The reading will be presented at ART/NY, 520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd floor in Manhattan.

GORGEOUS INTENTIONS is a serious comedy set at an art colony belonging to Anne Goldfarb, a philanthropist who aspires to make life exquisite for everybody.  When Anne’s creative, chaotic daughter shows up at the colony – having fled a sanitorium – splendid ideals about family, friendship and art are exploded.