Vineyard Announces Pre-Show 'Program' for 'God's Ear'

Vineyard Theatre, in association with New Georges, hosts THE PROGRAM for Jenny Schwartz's GOD'S EAR. Thursday, May 15 at The Vineyard.
 
Pre-show discussion and cocktail party with THE PROGRAM – featuring Time Out New York critics David Cote and Helen Shaw and playwright/essayist Jeffrey Jones
 
Vineyard Theatre, in association with New Georges, hosts THE PROGRAM for Jenny Schwartz's GOD'S EAR -- a special FREE event featuring a pre-show discussion and cocktail party with critics David Cote and Helen Shaw and playwright/essayist Jeffrey Jones on Thursday, May 15, beginning at 6:45pm, at The Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street) in Manhattan.
 
Recently established by theatre critics David Cote and Helen Shaw and playwright/essayist Jeffrey Jones, THE PROGRAM moves from theater to theater, providing context to audiences at selected productions via pre-show discussions and dramaturgical materials. THE PROGRAM series seeks to help make the widest possible audience feel welcome at the widest range of dramatically ambitious theatre.
 
THE PROGRAM for GOD'S EAR offers theatergoers a casual opportunity to get together before the show for discussion.  In an inclusive, informative and fun setting, audience members will be able to learn about the show and playwright Jenny Schwartz from Mr. Cote and Ms. Shaw, Mr. Jones, and members of the creative team.
 
Directed by Obie Award-winner Anne Kauffman (THE THUGS), GOD'S EAR is a compellingly original, deeply moving and wildly eccentric new play about a young couple struggling through their relationship after the loss of their child. The production, which runs through May 18, was hailed by Charles Isherwood of the New York Times as an "Adventurous new play!  A prime example of the kind of inventive writing that flourishes Off Off Broadway but rarely has a chance to reach a larger audience.  If Off Broadway is to retain a reputation for groundbreaking theater - voices like Jenny Schwartz's need to be heard from more often", and by Helen Shaw in Time Out New York as "a remarkable event… a rare piece of total theatre."
 
The cast of GOD'S EAR includes Gibson Frazier, Judith Greentree, Christina Kirk, Raymond McAnally, Matthew Montelongo, Monique Vukovic and Rebecca Wisocky. The production features original songs by Michael Friedman, with additional lyrics by Ms. Schwartz. GOD'S EAR has scenic design by Kris Stone; costume design by Olivera Gajic; lighting design by Tyler Micoleau; sound design by Leah Gelpe.
 
For GOD'S EAR, Ms. Schwartz was recently awarded a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation.  Ms. Schwartz's play-in-progress, SOMEWHERE FUN, was first developed at Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab and is now under co-commission between Soho Rep and Soho Theatre in London, where she spent a month as playwright-in-residence. Two of her plays, INTERVALS and CAUSE FOR ALARM, were part of the New York International Fringe Festival, in 1998 and 2002. She completed a two-year fellowship in the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School.
 
Performances of GOD'S EAR continue through May 18; Tuesdays at 7pm, Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm. For this production, Front Row Rush tickets will be available for $20 each, thirty minutes before curtain, cash only, first-come-first-served, limit 1 ticket per person. For all mainstage productions, Student Rush tickets are available for $20 each, two hours prior to the curtain at the box office. Students must present a valid student ID (limit of 2 tickets per ID).
 
THE PROGRAM for Jenny Schwartz's GOD'S EAR will be held Thursday, May 15 at the Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street), beginning at 6:45pm. THE PROGRAM is FREE and open to the public. Tickets to GOD'S EAR are $55. For reservations and additional information, call 212-353-0303 or visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.