Horse trade Theater Presents THE PRAIRIE PLAYS 11/4-21

Wide Eyed Productions will present an evening of two resonant and eerie fables written by playwright Brian Watkins. THE PRAIRIE PLAYS explore questions of myth, family, heritage, faith and fear in very different ways. These ain't your typicAl Westerns!

MY DAUGHTER KEEPS OUR HAMMER, directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann, is the story of two clashing sisters (Amy Lee Pearsall and Katie Schorr) who agree on only one thing: they hate the family sheep, their mother's only friend. In this eerie tale that treads the line between humor and horror, tradition takes a turn for the worse, as the family attempts to domesticate the last remaining member of their former flock and ends up with a tragic twist of fate.

HIGH PLAINS, directed by Anthony Reimer, is set on the dark and expansive Colorado plains. This one-man confession tells the story of Jake (Brian Watkins*), a young drifter, who is haunted by a cruel childhood secret that has finally caught up with him.

Praise for the 2009 New York International Fringe Production of High Plains

"Thoroughly engaging, expertly acted, and terrifically written piece. A one-man-show, it plays like a modern-day campfire ghost story, only the flames are replaced by the neon lights of a local bar, and the ghosts are not chain-rattling specters, but the mysterious manifestations of a complicated past. Watkins has written a disturbing, thought-provoking tale with an ending that is guaranteed to inspire debate and reflection, and Reimer's direction ensures that we are nothing other than rapt with attention."
Nat Cassidy, nytheatre.com

"Watkins is a gorgeous writer, tightly weaving this Colorado tale of how Jake unwittingly altered the future for his hyperactive, violence-prone brother back when they both were kids."
Beth Greenfield, Time Out New York

The production, presented by Horse Trade Theater Group and Wide Eyed Productions will play at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A), November 4-21, Thursday through Saturday at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets ($18/$15 students & seniors) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info.

BRIAN WATKINS (Playwright) Brian Watkins is a playwright and actor whose most recent plays include My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer, The Bison of Kiowa, Harold and Nettie, and High Plains, which premiered to critical acclaim at the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival. My Daughter... will have its first Chicago staged reading this fall at Route 66 Theatre. Watkins has acted and worked with theatres all throughout the U.S., including: Pasadena Playhouse, the L.A. Philharmonic, The Kennedy Center (D.C.), Curious Theatre Company (Denver), Plasticene Physical Theatre (Chicago), Lewis Family Playhouse (Los Angeles), Cape May Stage, and Little Theatre of the Rockies, among others. Watkins is a former Kennedy Center Guest Artist as well as a National Finalist and Regional Winner of the prestigious Kennedy Center Irene Ryan Award. He is a staff writer for Curator Magazine.

ANTHONY REIMER (Director, High Plains) Anthony is excited to be working once again with both Brian Watkins and Wide Eyed Productions. Anthony and High Plains have a longtime relationship, having directed the workshop with Emerging Artists, and the critically acclaimed New York Fringe Festival production as well. Previous directing credits include Steel Magnolias and The Creation of the World and Other Business with the Theatre Company of Lafayette, and Roomers with Dionysus Theatre of Boulder, Colorado. He was a lead teacher with Joy Newman's Undiscovered Treasure and the Grown Ups Playground at the New York Comedy Club, as well as Director with the Comedy Sketch group, Slow Children Playing, of Denver. As an actor, Anthony has appeared at the Alabama, Pensacola & Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festivals, Gateway Playhouse, Cape May Stage, New York Classical Theatre, & the Brown County Playhouse. Currently, Anthony is an admission representative and workshop instructor for the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, where he travels across the country teaching and recruiting young actors. M.F.A: Alabama Shakespeare Festival/University of Alabama.

KRISTIN SKYE HOFFMANN (Director, My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer) is the Founding Artistic Director of Wide Eyed Productions. She is also a member of the nytheatre.com review squad. Kristin has directed such pieces A Midsummer Night's Dream (Queen's Garden Stage), The Accommodation by Paul Cohen (Endtimes Vignette's for the Apocalypse), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Much Ado About Nothing, Medea (Wide Eyed Productions/Hudson Shakespeare Company), Plays for the Sunni Triangle by Jerrod Bogard and In Sheep's Clothing (Strawberry One Act Festival Finalist). She is slated to direct Euripides' The Trojan Women at the Kraine Theater this July.

WIDE EYED PRODCUTIONS is a New York City-based collective of artists dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in risk-taking, relevant theatre. Our core ensemble is committed to the birth of new works and also the rebirth of the classic texts. Through our collaborative process Wide Eyed discovers and creates theatre that both stimulates the imagination and awakens the public's passion for high standards in the performing arts.

Wide Eyed was born September 8, 2007 and was founded by Kristin Skye Hoffmann, Liz White and Sky Seals, all graduates of University of Northern Colorado's performing arts program. Wide Eyed Productions was built as a platform for talented people to be recognized, and to be a place where quality productions abound. This is Wide Eyed's first season as Resident Artists at Horse Trade Theater Group and their fourth season as a company. In 2009 Wide Eyed Productions was named a 2009 Person Of The Year by nytheatre.com.

"You should certainly keep your eyes wide for whatever they do next." Jack Hanley, nytheatre.com

"Wide Eyed Productions not only keeps the audience interested...but the actors appear to be having a genuinely good time doing so." William Coyle, Off Off Online

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.

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