The Cherry Lane Theatre will present the 11th season of its Obie Award-winning Cherry Lane Mentor Project with the new play HOUSEBREAKING - written by Jakob Holder, mentored by playwright Charles Mee - with performances set to run March 24-April 4 at The Cherry Lane Studio (38 Commerce Street) in Manhattan. Daniella Topol directs.
HOUSEBREAKING is Mr. Holder's play about a 35-year-old man bored with his job and his life, and what happens in his own family of misfits when he brings a man living on the streets into their home, thus considering the cunning it takes to survive on the streets, or in your own home.
The cast of HOUSEBREAKING includes
Saxon Palmer (Mint Theatre Company's THE GLASS CAGE), Andy Powers ("Oz"),
Evan Thompson (New Georges' STRETCH (A FANTASIA)), and Monique Vukovic (Vineyard Theatre's GOD'S EAR).
The production has scenic design by
Mimi Lien and Amy Rubin, costume design by
Theresa Squire, and lighting design by Nicole Pearce.
HOUSEBREAKING begins performances at Cherry Lane's 60-seat Studio Theatre at 38 Commerce Street on March 24th, the day prior to the March 25th opening of Deirdre O'Connor's play JAILBAIT at the Cherry Lane Theatre's third and newest stage, the 90-seat Cherry Pit located at 155 Bank Street. JAILBAIT debuts at The Cherry Pit following its enormously popular engagement last year as the Cherry Lane Mentor Project's 2008 production. Ms. O'Connor's play was mentored by
Michael Weller.
Cherry Lane Mentor Project 2009 playwright
Jakob Holder's first play, BEDTIME SOLOS, won a new play award at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in 1998, and his second play, THE SHOULDER, went on to win the same award in 2000. Other plays include AMERICAN BEACON, AND THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PAST, DARKTIME IN SKIPLAND, NOT AN ISLAND and SUMATRA MANDHELING. He was a 2002 Dramatists Guild Fellow, a 2003 Lark Theatre Fellow and a member of Circle East Theatre Company and the Dramatists Guild, and has studied playwriting with
Edward Albee.
Director Daniella Topol's credits include Sheila Callaghan's DEAD CITY (New Georges), Peter Gil-Sheridan's TOPSY TURVY MOUSE (Cherry Lane Theatre), Stanton Wood's SNOW QUEEN (Urban Stages), Zakiyyah Alexander's SICK (SPF), and
David Simpatico's MARY (FringeNYC). She has directed numerous readings and workshops at The Lark, New Dramatists, New York Theatre Workshop,
Playwrights Horizons, The Public's New Works Now Series, Rattlestick, and Roundabout Theatre.
Mentor
Charles Mee is the noted author of HOTEL CASSIOPEIA, THE TROJAN WOMEN: A LOVE STORY, BIG LOVE, IPHIGENIA 2.0, QUEENS BOULEVARD, and FULL CIRCLE, among others. He currently teaches playwriting at the Columbia University School of the Arts.
Winner of a 2008 Obie Award and now in its 11th season, the Cherry Lane Mentor Project was founded by Ms. Fiordellisi, playwright
Michael Weller and Susann Brinkley and is the cornerstone of Cherry Lane's development programs, matching, as it does, pre-eminent dramatists with aspiring playwrights in a one-to-one mentoring relationship. Each Mentor works with a playwright to perfect a single work during the season-long process, culminating in a showcase production. Previous accomplished playwrights who have mentored emerging writers include
David Auburn,
Charles Fuller,
Tony Kushner,
Marsha Norman,
Alfred Uhry,
Jules Feiffer, the late
Wendy Wasserstein,
A.R. Gurney,
David Henry Hwang,
Craig Lucas,
Theresa Rebeck,
Ed Bullins and
Lynn Nottage. From the program's outset,
Edward Albee has participated as the Mentor's Mentor by attending readings and performances, as well as conducting a yearly master class.
The Mentor Project has helped one third of its alumni gain both professional and public notice as their works have gone on to Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional and international productions, including, of course, Ms. O'Connor's JAILBAIT, which will enjoy something of a double debut as it premieres on Cherry Lane's newest Off-Broadway stage in March.
As New York's longest, continuously-running Off-Broadway theater, Cherry Lane Theatre is known as "the birthplace of Off-Broadway," having helped to define American drama by fostering theater that is daring and relevant for the past 85 years. Cherry Lane Theatre is dedicated to sustaining a community of playwrights and supporting seasoned and emerging theater artists that work together to reveal the social consciousness of our ever-changing world. In this way, the company serves the cultural needs of the larger New York City community, while developing a dedicated, returning audience. It is Cherry Lane's guiding tenet that "live" theater be accessible, articulate and provide a social mirror through which we gain greater understanding of ourselves, our families, our government and our global community. CherryLane Theatre takes up the challenge to explore the horizons of theatrical content and form, to expand our creative boundaries, and to discover the future of American drama.
Guided by the legacy of iconoclastic writers whose work has been at home at The Cherry Lane since the 1920s -- O'Neill, Saroyan, Auden, Albee, Odets, Orton, Mamet, Lanford Wilson and many more -- along with such distinctive actors as
Ruby Dee,
James Earl Jones,
Colleen Dewhurst,
Cicely Tyson,
Frank Langella,
Tyne Daly,
Estelle Parsons, Dennis Quaid and others who have performed on its stage, Artistic Director
Angelina Fiordellisi set out to revive the theatre's spirit and preserve its history, providing opportunities for bold new voices today when she founded a resident non-profit theatre company in 1997. She also undertook a major renovation of the building (once part of a farm in 19th century New York) and its stages, including the creation of the 60-seat Studio Theatre and the celebrated Cherry Lane Mentor Project in 1998.
Performances of HOUSEBREAKING run March 24-April 4; Tuesdays-Fridays at 7:00pm and Saturdays 3:00pm and 7:00pm at The Cherry Lane Studio (38 Commerce Street). Tickets are $18 ($11 with valid student ID), and are available by calling TeleCharge at 212-239-6200 or visiting www.TeleCharge.com and at The Cherry Lane Theatre box office.
For additional information, visit
www.cherrylanetheatre.com.
.png)
