Jonathan Slaff News

Strindberg's 'Kristina' (1903) is the unacknowledged basis for the Garbo film 'Queen Christina.' In this skillful study of a neurotic and complex woman, Strindberg reveals the power of his dramatic conceptions and the mastery he had acquired of his craft. The play was the last of a series of Strindberg's later historical dramas that are among the most powerful plays of the kind produced in modern times. August Strindberg Repertory Theatre will present the masterpiece at the Gene Frankel Theatre tonight, March 13 to 29 translated from the Swedish by Wendy Weckwerth, directed by Whitney Aronson.

Twenty- and thirty-somethings confront the confusion of technology with identity in 'My Technology,' a new play of ensemble creation conceived and directed by Deena Levy, which premieres March 24 to 29 at 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street. The evening is a composite of ten original one-person pieces interlaced with video projections and stills, choreography and original music.

'Great Kills' by Tom Diriwachter is a darkly comic tale of a get-rich-quick scheme in Staten Island that goes awry. Theater for the New City (TNC) will present the play's debut run March 26 to April 12, featuring Joe Pantoliano (who is noted for his starring roles on Broadway, film and TV), Robert Homeyer and Peter Welch. Jonathan Weber directs.

'Martyrs Street,' a realistic drama by Misha Shulman, is a gripping tale of two houses in the historical city of Hebron, in the Occupied West Bank.

Strindberg's 'Kristina' (1903) is the unacknowledged basis for the Garbo film 'Queen Christina.' In this skillful study of a neurotic and complex woman, Strindberg reveals the power of his dramatic conceptions and the mastery he had acquired of his craft. The play was the last of a series of Strindberg's later historical dramas that are among the most powerful plays of the kind produced in modern times. August Strindberg Repertory Theatre will present the masterpiece at the Gene Frankel Theatre March 13 to 29 translated from the Swedish by Wendy Weckwerth, directed by Whitney Aronson.

For the delight of audiences aged 5 to 105, Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre will perform 'A Christmas Carol, Oy! Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa' from today, December 5 to 14, 2014 in The Club at La MaMa, 74A East Fourth Street. The show is an adaptation of Dickens' classic with Old World accents and New World inclusiveness. Adapted and directed by Vit Horejs, it features over 30 puppets by Milos Kasal and holiday songs in Czech, English, Hebrew & Swahili. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show!

For the delight of audiences aged 5 to 105, Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre will perform 'A Christmas Carol, Oy! Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa' from December 5 to 14, 2014 in The Club at La MaMa, 74A East Fourth Street. The show is an adaptation of Dickens' classic with Old World accents and New World inclusiveness. Adapted and directed by Vit Horejs, it features over 30 puppets by Milos Kasal and holiday songs in Czech, English, Hebrew & Swahili. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show!

From today, October 21 to November 8, August Strindberg Repertory will transport Strindberg's 'Miss Julie' to an antebellum Louisiana plantation in a new interpretation conceived by Artistic Director Robert Greer and adapted by Edgar Chisholm from a translation by Greer. The production will include a ballet sequence, which Strindberg specified in the original manuscript and which has never been performed before. The piece will be directed by Robert Greer and choreographed by Ja' Malik.

Nino, an Italian film maker with a strong resemblance to Federico Fellini, is in an artistic crisis. Every new work is, for him, an artistic crisis. So he goes to bed with a multitude of women, seeking ideas and stimulation, feeding on them both humanly and artistically. Nino is sexually impotent until he gets a good idea, and then he's hellfire. But his sexual partners, all artists in their own right, are not satisfied. Rallied by a wealthy feminist American widow, they decide that to be a muse is to be exploited. So they exact revenge by making a movie of Nino's life and fantasies, Candid Camera-Style. Thus unfolds 'Six Passionate Women' by Mario Fratti, a play inspired by the playwright's personal acquaintance with Fellini, whom he covered closely as a journalist in the late 1950s. It combines a serious disquisition on the creative mind with recurring themes of Fratti's plays: betrayal, jealousy and sexual politics. Theater for the New City will present the piece today, October 9 to 26, directed by Stephan Morrow. Dennis Parlato, as the film maker, heads a cast of eight that is peppered with Broadway vets. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast below!

'Extreme Whether,' a new 'eco-drama' written and directed by Karen Malpede, centers on an embattled American climate scientist living in an idyllic wilderness estate in the Northeast Coast. Set during the record-hot summers of 2004 and 2012, the play pits the scientist against his twin sister in a no-holds barred family struggle over land ownership and the future use of their wilderness estate. In one corner is John Bjornson, a composite of famous climatologists. In the other is his twin sister, Jeanne, an energy spokeswoman married to a skeptical lobbyist. Actor Jeff McCarthy ('Cheers,' 'Urinetown,' 'Chicago') heads the cast of six as the scientist. Theater Three Collaborative and Theater for the New City will present the work at TNC today, October 2 to 26, 2014, directed by the author.

From October 21 to November 8, August Strindberg Repertory will transport Strindberg's 'Miss Julie' to an antebellum Louisiana plantation in a new interpretation conceived by Artistic Director Robert Greer and adapted by Edgar Chisholm from a translation by Greer. The production will include a ballet sequence, which Strindberg specified in the original manuscript and which has never been performed before. The piece will be directed by Robert Greer and choreographed by Ja' Malik.

Nino, an Italian film maker with a strong resemblance to Federico Fellini, is in an artistic crisis. Every new work is, for him, an artistic crisis. So he goes to bed with a multitude of women, seeking ideas and stimulation, feeding on them both humanly and artistically. Nino is sexually impotent until he gets a good idea, and then he's hellfire. But his sexual partners, all artists in their own right, are not satisfied. Rallied by a wealthy feminist American widow, they decide that to be a muse is to be exploited. So they exact revenge by making a movie of Nino's life and fantasies, Candid Camera-Style. Thus unfolds 'Six Passionate Women' by Mario Fratti, a play inspired by the playwright's personal acquaintance with Fellini, whom he covered closely as a journalist in the late 1950s. It combines a serious disquisition on the creative mind with recurring themes of Fratti's plays: betrayal, jealousy and sexual politics. Theater for the New City will present the piece October 9 to 26, directed by Stephan Morrow. Dennis Parlato, as the film maker, heads a cast of eight that is peppered with Broadway vets. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast below!

'Extreme Whether,' a new 'eco-drama' written and directed by Karen Malpede, centers on an embattled American climate scientist living in an idyllic wilderness estate in the Northeast Coast. Set during the record-hot summers of 2004 and 2012, the play pits the scientist against his twin sister in a no-holds barred family struggle over land ownership and the future use of their wilderness estate. In one corner is John Bjornson, a composite of famous climatologists. In the other is his twin sister, Jeanne, an energy spokeswoman married to a skeptical lobbyist. Actor Jeff McCarthy ('Cheers,' 'Urinetown,' 'Chicago') heads the cast of six as the scientist. Theater Three Collaborative and Theater for the New City will present the work at TNC October 2 to 26, 2014, directed by the author.

Theater for the New City's award-winning Street Theater Company opens its 38th annual tour today, August 2 with 'EMERGENCY!!! or The World Takes A Selfie,' a rip-roaring outdoor musical comedy about a New York EMT worker on a workingman's grand tour of the world, who decides to tackle global problems the way he does emergencies of his NYC beat.

Theater for the New City's award-winning Street Theater Company opens its 38th annual tour August 2 with 'EMERGENCY!!! or The World Takes A Selfie,' a rip-roaring outdoor musical comedy about a New York EMT worker on a workingman's grand tour of the world, who decides to tackle global problems the way he does emergencies of his NYC beat. Free performances will tour City streets, parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs through September 14. The piece has book, lyrics and direction by Crystal Field and musical score composed by Joseph Vernon Banks.

To honor Shakespeare's 450th birthday, Bryant Park Corporation and The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot will present 'Hamlet' in Bryant Park today, May 15 to 31, 2014. It is Bryant Park's first Shakespeare production and The Drilling Company's first Shakespeare production outside the municipal parking lot at the corner of Ludlow and Broome Streets, where its intrepid, bare-boned productions have become a New York tradition.

To celebrate its 45th Anniversary, Western Wind Ensemble (www.westernwind.org), the internationally acclaimed vocal sextet, will perform the historically important but rarely heard 'L'Amfiparnaso' by Orazio Vecchi at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., June 6 to 8. The piece is a madrigal comedy from 1594 that sets a commedia dell' arte scenario in the late 16th-century madrigal style. It might be the earliest musical comedy ever written. The singers, singing in Italian and various local dialects such as Venetian and Bolognese, will be joined by a master mime who will help bring the characters and action to life. The production is directed by Gama Valle.

Yu-Huan, of the House of Yang, has been an undiminished subject of literature and fine arts throughout thirteen centuries. Her death marked the end of 130 years of unprecedented prosperity in China's Middle Kingdom and a golden age of artistic outpourings. Her life story is the subject of 'The Story of Yu-Huan' by Joanna Chan, to be presented by Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America May 30 to June 22 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th St.), directed by the author and choreographed by Ashley Liang.