The 4th Annual Carlotta fest Of New Plays Runs 5/8-17 At Yale School Of Drama

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA (James Bundy, Dean; Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean) presents The Fourth Annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays, May 8 to 17 at the New Theater, 1156 Chapel Street, New Haven. The Festival is comprised of three fully-produced plays by graduating playwrights performed in repertory with twelve performances over 10 days.

The Festival is named for Carlotta Monterey, the widow of Eugene O'Neill, who chose Yale University Press as the publisher of her late husband's masterpiece Long Day's Journey into Night. The proceeds from this publication support playwriting at Yale University.

The plays featured in the Fourth Annual Carlotta Festival are: American Catnip by Mattie Brickman, The Bedtrick by Matt Moses, and The French Play by Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco.

AMERICAN CATNIP

By Mattie Brickman

Directed by Becca Wolff

Set design by Elizabeth Barrett Groth

Costume design by Ying Song

Lighting design by Chuan-Chi Chan

Sound design by Katherine Buechner

Things get a little nasty when two women, Nicky and Cassie, reunite at the Romp ‘n' Roller Rink to celebrate a daughter's birthday. Fifteen years of unresolved issues are served up with ice cream, slap bracelets, and glucose tablets. In this cat-eat-cat dark comedy, two women grasp at life, liberty, and the pursuit of property-on roller skates. You're invited to the party. Bring gifts! And Neosporin.

Cast: Alexandra Henrikson, Brenna Palughi, and Rachel Spencer

Mattie Brickman is a third-year playwright at Yale School of Drama. Productions at Yale include The Imaginary Audience; The Redundant Colon; If Found, Please Return to Charles Darwin; Civil War; Bill Clinton Goes to the Bathroom (or It Might As Well Be Spring), which she also directed; and Max Out Loud, a musical adapted from books by Maira Kalman. As a journalist, she has written for Money magazine, The Santa Barbara Independent, and The Montecito Journal. Ms. Brickman holds a BA from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She trained in ballet and modern dance for 16 years. Ms. Brickman is from Santa Barbara, CA.

THE BEDTRICK

By Matt Moses

Directed by Erik Pearson

Set design by Yoon Young Choi

Costume design by Min Sun Jung

Lighting design by Chuan-Chi Chan

Sound design by Nathan Roberts

Four lives are changed forever when one woman trades love for violence, shattering one family and inadvertently forming another. The Bedtrick is a story of love, sex, vengeance-and a woman's desire to control her own destiny.

Cast: John Patrick Doherty, Irene Sofia Lucio, Emily Trask, and Liz Wisan

Matt Moses's Pamela Precious, A Balls Out Love Story, was called "the first great comedy of the Obama era," and named one of the best new plays of 2008 by the New Haven Advocate. The Emperor of Ice Cream or Thirteen Ways of Looking at Donald Rumsfeld was produced by the Hangar Theater and included in The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 2008. Daniella Uses Dirty Words was produced by the Abingdon Theatre. Matt has worked at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and VH1's Best Week Ever and regularly performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

THE FRENCH PLAY

By Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco

Directed by Patricia McGregor

Set design by Paul Gelinas

Costume design by Lisa Loen

Lighting design by Marie Yokoyama

Sound design by Michael Skinner

In the wake of an unsolved murder, a resentful ghost demands retribution when his widow takes a most inappropriate lover. Meanwhile, the heir to the estate has taken up with one of the maids (though he can't always remember which one) and a second killing is in the works. Will things on the DesChamps estate right themselves? Or will this family's illicit desires cause their world to come crashing down?

Cast: Tomas Andren, Stephanie Hayes, Ben Horner, Max Gordon Moore, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Sarah Sokolovic, Shannon Sullivan, and Babak Tafti

Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco is a Peruvian playwright and translator. He has been working in Perú for the last twelve years, where ten of his plays have been professionally produced. Yale School of Drama credits include: Dramatis Personae, Father/Son, and Journey to Santiago. At Yale Cabaret: Gay Play and Threesome. Other works in English: the play Expiration and the short radio play Taxi Scene, broadcast by the BBC World Service in 2003. Plays in Spanish: Un Verso Pasajero, La Manzana Prohibida, Juegos de Manos, Generación Y, Rainbow, Mal Criadas (written with Diego La Hoz), Asunto de Tres, El Musical, TV-Terapia, and the recently produced Spanish version of Dramatis Personae. His translation credits include: Marisol by José Rivera, A Chorus Line by Hamlisch and Kleban, The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O'Brien, and The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam. He has also written for film and television.

The Carlotta Festival productions will be performed in rotating repertory so that all three plays can be seen in two days. The schedule is as follows:

Friday, May 8 8PM The French Play

Saturday, May 9 8PM The Bedtrick

Sunday, May 10 8PM American Catnip

Tuesday, May 12 2PM The French Play

Tuesday, May 12 8PM The Bedtrick

Wednesday, May 13 8PM American Catnip

Thursday, May 14 2PM American Catnip

Thursday, May 14 8PM The French Play

Friday, May 15 8PM The Bedtrick

Saturday, May 16 2PM The French Play

Saturday, May 16 8PM American Catnip

Sunday, May 17 2PM The Bedtrick

A pass to all three Carlotta Festival plays is just $30.00! Tickets to individual plays are $20.00, $15.00 for seniors, and $10.00 for students. Discounted rates for groups of 10 or more are also available. Tickets may be purchased online at drama.yale.edu, or by calling 203-432-1234. They may also be purchased in person at the Yale Repertory Theatre Box Office at 1120 Chapel Street (at York Street). Visit drama.yale.edu/onstage/index for additional information about the Festival and each of the new plays.

To post a comment, you must register and login.