NICU'S SPOON is pleased to announce their production of A Kite Cut Loose In The Middle Of The Sky, directed by Russell Waldman. A Kite Cut Loose In The Middle Of The Sky will play its World Premiere in a three-week limited engagement at the Spoon Theater (38 West 38th Street, 5th Fl.) Performances begin Wednesday, October 8th and continuing through Sunday, October 26th. Opening Night is Saturday, October 10th (8 p.m.).
A play in real time, which follows Rosie, a quadriplegic, and her struggle to 'remain' a woman although she cannot feel anything. Her friends, all disabled now, gather for a party - unknown to them she is debating whether life is worth living.
The production features lighting design by Tamora Wilson and costumes, sound, and set by Nicu's Spoon. John Trevellini is the technical director, Michelle Kuchuk is the assistant director, and Bonnie Hilton is the stage manager. The disability consultant is Katie Labahn.
A Kite Cut Loose In the Middle of the Sky plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, October 26th:
Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
Thursdays at 8 p.m.
Fridays at 8 p.m.
Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 8 p.m.
Running time is 2 hours with an intermission.
Tickets are $18 and are now available online at www.spoontheater.org or by calling 866-811-4111. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Spoon Theater Box Office, 1 hour prior to showtime.
BIOGRAPHIES
David GreenBERG (Playwright) A resident of Paoli, Indiana, is the author of several full-length plays, screenplays and short stories. Full-length plays include A Kite Cut Loose in the Middle of the Sky (received its first reading by Nicus Spoon in 2006), Life at The End of the Galaxy, Auto de Fe, and Teru'ah. His One-acts include Clear as Clear, Bugs and Delirium Tremens. "Deadline", "Billy Bowlegs", and "Long Time Running" are his screenplays.
Not limited to theatre, his music includes "Wild Man: Nine Songs" (released 2006), "You Can Only Follow" (Best of the Fest: Nashville 2006) and "You Can Only Follow: Señorita" (Indie Artists Alliance, Storyteller CD: Winner, 2007). He is the author of "Traces" (A Novel) and "Notes from Elise's Café" (Short Fiction).
RUSSELL WALDMAN (Director) is a native New Yorker born and raised in Queens. As a one of the first students in Hillcrest H.S. Theatre Education Department he studied under Dr. Steven Posner, spending 6 months of his senior year as an intern to
Wynn Handman and
Julia Miles at the American Place Theater. As happens with artists, life temporarily derailed him. He met a woman, fell in love, got married, had a child, and temporarily joined the ranks of corporate cubicle dwellers. In a flash, at the ripe young age of 42 the acting bug upon him again.
He forged ahead with the "Russell Conservatory System of Acting & Training; i.e. attending workshops, seminars, and acting classes, brushing up with Labyrinth Theatre company members,
Philip Seymour Hoffman,
John Ortiz, and acting coach Florence Young. Russell was last seen as was last seen as Yaveni in Nicu's production of No Niggers No Jews No Dogs, prior to that it was as an Alien in Nicu's Spoon production of Tales of the Lost Formicans and appeared as Ed-Kills-on-Top in Nicu's Spoon staged reading of Spokane as well as directing and narrating last springs reading of Casualties of the Great White Washer.
Russell is Itzak Golem in the indie film titled "Messhugeneh" directed by
Eric Morris Eskenzai for Gum Grove Films. Russell is also set to direct A Kite Cut Loose in the Middle of the Sky in Fall 2008. Additionally he assisted Stephanie Barton-Farcas with Buried Child and was assistant director and General manager for Nicu's Spoons debut (in our own space) of Richard III and Production manager for Kosher Harry and Elizabeth Rex.
NICU'S SPOON: 2001 was our first season with our production of Displaced, a new play written by five women, based on stories, testimonies, songs and poetry of women and children refugees. This was submitted for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize. In 2002 we presented a multi-racial To Kill a Mockingbird, hailed by Back Stage as "Nothing short of inspiring!" We completed our 2002 season with In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe, a story of a woman who is a ghostwriter for hate books. This piece was chosen as a Village Voice "Voice Choice" for 2002. We presented our first plays with American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation that year. In 2003 we presented
George Orwell's 1984 and A Murder of Crows by OBIE Award winner Mac Wellman, both pieces about individuality. We continued to include handicapped actors in both shows. In 2004 we presented SubUrbia by
Eric Bogosian and were awarded the 2004 OOBR award for best production. We were also nominated for the Alliance of NY Arts Organizations' Advancing Cultural Development Award. In 2005 we were profiled in United Stages' "Seeing Stars" series and were Editors Choice in nytheatre.com for our production of The Swan, as well as for our production Stumps, which introduced a new kind of performance for Deaf and hearing audiences, called "co-playing." 2006 produced a hit: the US premiere of Skin Tight, named the High5 pick of the week, as well as Buried Child, which challenged the stereotype that a Deaf actor could not speak on stage. We were given the Thom Fluellen Award by the NYU Community Fund in 2006 for excellence in services to the diverse New York community. Time Warner Corporation has joined us as a 2007 season sponsor in their Diverse Voices program.
During our 2007 season, while producing Tales of the Last Formicans in a theater not our own, we searched for a home; not only to use as a company but also to rent to other artists at reasonable prices. And we FOUND IT! The SPOON Theater located at 38 West 38th Street, 5th floor. For the second Nicu's Spoon production in 2007 we debuted Richard lll (our lead actor differently abled, with polio) in our very own theater - a home! We followed that up with the U.S. premiere of Kosher Harry (co-played with hearing and non hearing/speaking artists) to round out our 7th season. We celebrated our First Anniversary in our space with Elizabeth Rex starting our 8th season in NYC, a show which garnered an Innovative Theatre Award for Best Actress, a nomination for Best Actor, and an Off-Broadway run at
Center Stage - and in between we built and developed a space that just POPS with creativity for other artists and companies to work in. In 2008 we address women and identity issues. Also this year, Snapple has awarded the company the 'Best People to work with in NY City' award. Please come and support our theater in midtown where we are changing the world one play at a time.
www.spoontheater.org
