MESTC Presents Odets Celebration Among Free May Events

A new documentary play by Marc Wolf, a Moroccan play about the topical issue of immigration, and plays by Italian and Argentinean playwrights will be just some of the free programs featured throughout the month of May at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), located at 365 Fifth Ave. (at 34th St.) in NYC.

On June 5, a day-long tribute to Clifford Odets on the centennial of his birthday will also be presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (MESTC). This event is also free.

"MESTC's 2006 spring theatre programs continue the non profit Theatre Center's unique emphasis on world theatre, the fast growing discipline of documentary theatre and the experience of immigration, highlighting the commitment to bridging the gap between the academic and professional performing arts communities. As such, MESTC has become a treasured home to theatre scholars, students, playwrights, actors, dancers, directors, dramaturgs and performing arts managers, as well as the local and international theatre communities," state press notes.

Following is a chronological list of MESTC theater programs for the spring:

--Wed, May 3 at 6:30 pm: "An Evening with Italian Playwright Dacia Maraini will feature readings from the author's Mary Stuart and Dialogue of a Prostitute and Her Client, along with a panel discussion featuring the Living Theater's Judith Malina and Hanon Resnikov, experts on Maraini's work. Maraini is a prominent feminist, novelist, playwright, poet, screenwriter, essayist and commentator, founder of Teatro del Porcospino and Teatro La Maddalena in Rome.

-Thursday, May 11 at 6:30 pm: "An Evening with Marc Wolf" will feature Wolf (author and star of the award winning play Another American: Asking and Telling ) performing excerpts from his newest documentary play, The Road Home: Remembering America, about the author's long drive across the U.S. immediately after September 11. The work portrays the fears and hopes of 20 different characters while documenting a critical moment of change in America's social and political consciousness.

--Monday, May 15 at 6:30 pm: An Evening with Emily Mann will look at the works of one of America's preeminent documentary playwrights. Typically created from extensive interviews, documents and newspaper accounts, Mann's notable works include Still Life (about the Viet Nam War), Execution of Justice (about the murder of Harvey Milk), Greensboro: A Requiem (about the murder of anti Klu Klux Klan demonstrators). Mann is artistic director of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, and has directed extensively there, on Broadway and around the country.

--Tuesday, May 16 at 6:30 pm: The Sheep and the Whale by Ahmed Ghazali. This play by the Moroccan born playwright looks at the issue of the immigrant experience when a boat full of Moroccan stowaways is struck by a Russian freighter in the Straits of Gibraltar. "A singular drama unfolds on ship's deck when neither Spain nor Morocco come to claim the bodies of the deceased." The play is translated by Bobby Theodore.

--Wed, May 24 at 6:30 pm: "BAiT-Buenos Aires in Translation/Argentina," featuring excerpts from works by four dynamic playwrights from Buenos Aires, Argentina --Lola Arias, Federico Leon, Rafael Spregelburd and Daniel Veronese -- will be read. There will also be a sneak preview of the works' fully staged productions (directed by U.S. directors) at P.S. 122 in the fall of 2006.

--Monday, June 5 from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.: "Celebrating 100 Years of Clifford Odets" is a day-long celebration of dramatist Odets' 100th birthday (coinciding with the revival of Awake and Sing! on Broadway), which will feature a screening of the 1989 PBS film Broadway Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre, the legendary company he joined in 1931 and for which he wrote Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing!, Golden Boy and more. Also, the proceedings will feature a symposium with theatre artists and academics about Odets later plays, his years in Hollywood and his politics.

Also that evening from 6:30 to 8 pm: readings of scenes from Odets' plays, the film of his last TV interview and excerpts from an adaptation of his 1940 journal The Time is Ripe.

Daniel Gerould is the executive director of Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; Frank Hentschker is Director of Programs; Jan Stenzel is director of administration.

Admittance to the MESTC spring programs is free, on a first come, first serve basis. To make a reservation, call 212 817 8515 or reserve via email at continuinged@gc.cuny.edu.

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