Horse Trade Theater Group Presents Little Lord's Jewqueen 3/17-4/2

Little Lord's rough and ready collective of shiksas, queers, and misinformed Jews stage a slap-dash celebration of the biblical Book of Esther. Combining the sincere but awkward rawness of faith-based community happenings with Little Lord's signature "cheap 'n cheerful" style, JEWQUEEN is a holiday party for the haters.

Created and performed by Julia Arazi*, Sarah Bishop-Stone, Das Elkin, Diana Konopka, Michael Levinton*, Rodney Pallanck* and Laura von Holt.
*Appearing courtesy of the Actors' Equity Association.

The production, presented by Little Lord as residents of Horse Trade Theater Group will play a three week engagement at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A), March 17-April 2, Thursday through Saturday at 8pm with a special Purim Eve performance on Saturday, March 19 at 5pm. Tickets ($18/$15 students) are available online at www.horseTRADE.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

LITTLE LORD (a theater company) manipulates classic texts, pillages faulty nostalgias, and celebrates the homemade as a means to create vibrantly bawdy, offbeat, intelligent, queer, funny (and often musical) theater. Past works include: a new adaptation of the musical-extravaganza-turned-recession-spectacular, BABES IN TOYLAND, starring David Greenspan as The Master Toymaker (OHIO Theatre's Ice Factory Festival 2009); the NYC premiere of Tennessee Williams's kinky short play THE PRONOUN 'I' (Bushwick Starr 2010); (oh my god I am so) THIRST(y) - an offshoot of Eugene O'Neill's early melodrama on race and madness (Incubator Arts Project 2010 and The Chocolate Factory/Target Margin Theater 2009); BALABUSTAS (!), a queer yiddishkeit version of Aristophanes' raucous comedies (HERE Arts Center 2007); and THE BARBIE-STEIA: Curse of the House of Malibu, an absurdist take on Aeschylus' classic trilogy "The Oresteia" starring a chorus of Barbie dolls (OHIO Theatre 2007).

"[O'Neill] appears to have met his match...[THIRST(y)] is very much worthwhile. A lot to watch and an enormous amount of cleverness filling this production." Ivanna Cullinan, nytheatre.com

"Created from the stuff theatrical dreams are made of." Obscene Jester

"Babes in Toyland is a satisfyingly gay romp. Michael Levinton's script manages to be poke fun at its own expense." Aaron Riccio, That Sounds Cool

"The gleeful flamboyance of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company."
Jason Zinoman, New York Times (Babes in Toyland)

"Laura von Holt's performance is a highlight: She grabs this bossy, narcissistic, preening adolescent and takes off. Whether stomping about in a huff or hiding behind a ridiculous French accent, she's a hoot."
Backstage (Babes in Toyland)

"The magnificent Laura von Holt, the cheerful pin-up, goes the full Ionesco for Michael Levinton's hot-pink take on Williams French absurdist period." HeLen Shaw, Time Out NY (The Pronoun 'I')

Michael LevinTON (Director, Performer, Artistic Director Little Lord) As Artistic Director of Little Lord, Michael has written, directed and performed in five original pieces for the theater: oh my god I am so THIRST(y) (Incubator Arts Project 2010, Chocolate Factory 2009), Babes in Toyland (OHIO Theatre's Ice Factory 2009), The Pronoun 'I' (Bushwick Starr 2010), Balabustas! (HERE 2007), and The Barbie-steia (OHIO Theatre). He also performed in David Greenspan's Old Comedy (Classic Stage Company) and is an Artistic Associate with Target Margin Theater.

SARAH BISHOP-STONE (Dramaturg, Performer, Associate Producer Little Lord) Production dramaturgy: Loves Labour's Lost and La Ronde (Yale School of Drama), Happy Now and Compulsion (Yale Rep). Before joining Little Lord, Sarah worked as producer and dramaturg for Nerve Ensemble. Previously, she spent several years in the literary office of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and stage-managed new plays for companies such as Soho Rep, Pig Iron, Clubbed Thumb, New York Stage and Film, and New Dramatists. She has also worked with The Civilians, The O'Neill Playwrights Conference, and Second Stage Theatre. BA, English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University (2004). MFA, Yale School of Drama (2010).

Laura von Holt (Performer, Assoc. Artistic Director Little Lord) Laura is a marginally famous writer and performer from Hawaii and serves as the Associate Artistic Director of Little Lord. With Little Lord: THIRST(y) at Incubator Arts Project and Babes in Toyland (Ice Factory) and Target Margin Labs The Pronoun 'I', oh my god I am so THIRST(y) and BALABUSTAS. She is best known as her pinup and performance artist alter ego, von Hottie. Currently, Laura chronicles her adventures in training to be an aerial silks acrobat for SocialWorkout.com in her blog series, The Silk Road. vonhottie.com and lauravonholtinc.com

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.