Following last season's acclaimed, sold-out extended run of the rarely produced Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, Target Margin Theater (David Herskovits, Artistic Director), has announced their 2009-2010 Season that will continue to focus on the works of the legendary Tennessee Williams.
The focus of the season is an ambitious theatrical event: the world premiere of The Really Big Once, a new play, created by the company, that tells the story of two theatrical giants,
Elia Kazan and
Tennessee Williams, and how they changed American culture. The Really Big Once explores the Kazan/Williams collaboration (between 1948 and 1953) on one of their most celebrated plays, Camino Real, and is based on meticulous research of (and access to) their notebooks, letters and recollections, with the permission and support of the Kazan and Williams estates. The Really Big Once is being produced in association with the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator. Performances will begin April 15, 2010 for a limited engagement through May 8, 2010 at the The Ontological at St. Marks (131 East 10th Street).
Between 1948 and 1953 Williams and Kazan developed one of their most ambitious productions in the context of a crucial moment in their growth as artists and in the life of our country. Target Margin Theater's project incorporates a broad range of documentary sources, as well asselections of dialogue and scenes from the existing versions and drafts of Williams' play- and much of this work has ever been revealed or is unpublished. Ongoing interviews are being conducted by the company with people who saw the original production of Camino Real and artists who have been influenced by it.
In 1952
Elia Kazan wrote to
Tennessee Williams stating, "...When most things are called "new" or "difficult" in the Theatre that means there is some little trick there that hasn't been seen before or hasn't been solved before. When I refer to this job as difficult, I mean it's difficult. I mean I don't know whether it will come off or not, but if it does, we will really be breaking new ground. I think we can do it!"
The Really Big Once has many layers: Camino Real was an extraordinary experiment for Williams and Kazan. Neither had ever attempted such a surreal play, and their shared sense of artistic risk is palpable. The play flopped on Broadway, and yet it has endured and influenced generations of theater makers drawn to its poignant beauty. The work on Camino Real overlapped with Kazan's testimony for the House Un-American Activities Committee and its strange and sad aftermath for him. Kazan was never to regain his standing in the theatrical community he was perceived to have betrayed. The alienation which infuses Camino Real becomes exponentially more powerful when considered alongside the story of Kazan's HUAC testimony.
In announcing this ambitious new work based on an extraordinary moment in theater history, Target Margin's Artistic Director David Herskovits commented, "We secured permission from both the Williams and the Kazan estates to use documentary materials. Our plans have grown out of significant long-term development. Since 2007 we have conducted workshops at New York Theater Workshop,
Lincoln Center Theater and The Chocolate Factory. Our research has ranged through collections at Wesleyan University, The Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas, The Lincoln Center Library, Columbia University's (archives)." He continued, "Earlier this year, we mounted a full production of Williams' earlier play Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, the starting point for Kazan's subsequent involvement. From January 25 through February 5th we will work in residency at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. Later in February 2010 we will present some of our work at the Columbia Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection, and we will present a work-in-progress back at NY Theatre Workshop before the play premieres in April at The Ontological-St. Marks."
To begin the Williams exploration, Target Margin Theater launches the season in March 2010 with a three-week festival, TMT Laboratory: The Unknown Willams. The festival will focus on the exploration of the lesser known works of
Tennessee Williams, as well as taking a startling new look at his familiar plays. The three-week festival is scheduled to run from March 11-27, 2010 at The Bushwick Starr (207 Starr Street between Irving & Wyckoff in Brooklyn).
Season membership is priced at $75 for both events and may be purchased by calling the Target Margin at (718) 398-3095, or by visiting the website at www.TargetMargin.org.
TMT's 2009/2010 season is being created with the cooperation and support of the Estates of
Elia Kazan and
Tennessee Williams.
Target Margin Theater for more than 18 years has been at the forefront of New York's alternative theater scene and has been praised for its bold and sometimes wild interpretations of classic dramas and lesser-known works. Target Margin Theater has presented ambitious re-thinkings of plays by Shakespeare, Chekov, Brecht,
Gertrude Stein, and Beaumarchais, among others. The company's production of Mamba's Daughters received an Obie Award and was a sensation of the 1999 Spoleto Festival, and its recent epic production of Goethe's Faust received critical acclaim.
www.targetmargin.org
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