Emmy nominated actor and director David Schwimmer has just signed on to direct the developmental workshop of Stephen Belber's Fault Lines (August 2–3) during Vassar and New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater season. Also included in the workshop series are Alan Zweibel's one-man show The History of Me, directed by Ron Lagomarsino (July 18–20) and Dael Orlandersmith's Horsedreams, directed by Gordon Edelstein (July 25–27). This workshop series, called Inside Look, is intended to bridge the gap between a reading and a full production; works are presented with script-in-hand, with minimal production values.
Playwright
Stephen Belber describes Fault Lines this way: "Whole Foods. Enlarged prostates. The proactive delineation of loyalty and conviction. A play that approaches what it means to approach 40." This workshop presentation will be directed by
David Schwimmer (August 2-3). The cast of the four-character play will be announced shortly. Belber's Geometry of Fire premiered on the Powerhouse Mainstage last season and will receive its Off-Broadway debut in the fall.
David Schwimmer recently directed Little Britain USA for HBO and acted in the film Nothing But The Truth for Rod Lurie. He is the cofounder of Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company, where he has acted in and directed many productions. Schwimmer starred in the premieres of Roger Kumble's D Girl and Turnaround, Warren Leight's Glimmer Brothers in Williamstown, and
Neil LaBute's Some Girl(s) in London as well as The Caine Mutiny Court Martial on Broadway. Notable television and film credits include Madagascar I & II, Duane Hopwood, Big Nothing, Band of Brothers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Days Seven Nights, Apt Pupil, The Pallbearer, and the hit comedy series Friends, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. His film debut as a director is the UK hit comedy Run, Fat Boy, Run starring Simon Pegg.
Stephen Belber's upcoming credits include the film Management, which he wrote and directed, starring
Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and
Woody Harrelson, and the play Geometry of Fire (first produced at Powerhouse) at Rattlestick Theater (New York) this fall. Some of his plays include Match on Broadway, McReele at Roundabout, and Tape produced at Naked Angels in New York City, Los Angeles, and London, for which he also wrote the screenplay for the film directed by Richard Linklater (Sundance; Berlin), as well as for McReele, which is currently being developed by
Will Smith's Overbrook Productions.
Directed by
Ron Lagomarsino, The History of Me (July 18–20) is a one-man show, written and performed by award-winning writer Alan Zweibel. This work traces Zweibel's career from apprenticeship (selling $7 jokes to Catskill comedians), through his years as a member of the original Saturday Night Live team (including his wildly popular collaboration with his friend Gilda Radner), and the ensuing adventures of his professional and personal life.
Ron Lagomarsino's Broadway directing credits include Last Night of Ballyhoo (Tony Award, Best Play) and the musical My Favorite Year at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. He also staged the world premieres of Driving Miss Daisy (Pulitzer Prize; Outer Critics Circle Award), Beth Henley's Abundance,
John Patrick Shanley's Women of Manhattan, and Joseph Dougherty's Digby. Lagomarsino was recognized by the Outer Critics Circle for his productions of
Christopher Durang's Laughing Wild and
Timothy Mason's Only You and received the Directors Guild Award for the pilot of the Emmy Award-winning television series Picket Fences.
An original Saturday Night Live writer, Alan Zweibel has won multiple Emmy, Writers Guild of America, and TV Critics awards for his work in television, which also includes It's Garry Shandling's Show (which he co-created and executive produced), Monk, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He co-wrote the screenplays for the films Dragnet, North, and The Story of Us. In addition, he wrote the popular children's book, Our Tree Named Steve and the 2006 Thurber Prize winning novel, The Other Shulman. His humor has appeared in such diverse publications as Esquire, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times' Op-Ed page, MAD Magazine, and have been reprinted in numerous anthologies around the world. His theatrical contributions include the play Bunny Bunny – Gilda Radner: A Sort of Romantic Comedy, adapted from his best-selling book, that premiered at Powerhouse in 1995. Zweibel collaborated with
Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning play 700 Sundays, as well as
Martin Short's Broadway hit Fame Becomes Me.
HORSEDREAMS (July 25-27)
OBIE Award-winner Dael Orlandersmith's Horsedreams (July 25–27) is directed by Gordon Edelstein. Orlandersmith will also portray Mira, the nanny of Luka (
Sean Curley - Fiddler on the Roof, Beauty and the Beast), son of Loman (
Scott Cohen - Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, Losing Louie) in this work that explores a story of addiction that crosses class, race, and gender lines to find a ten-year-old child who must invent an adult within in order to confront the devastation that surrounds him.
Director Gordon Edelstein has directed over 100 plays, musicals, and operas across the United States and Europe. He is currently in his sixth season as Long Wharf Theatre's artistic director and previously served as artistic director of ACT Theatre in Seattle, as well as associate artistic director for both Long Wharf and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. His recent productions of
Arthur Miller's The Price and Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (which he also adapted) were on numerous best of 2007 lists, including the Wall Street Journal. As a director, he has garnered three Connecticut Critics Circle Awards.
"An otherworldly messenger, perhaps the sorcerer's apprentice, or a heaven-sent angel with the devil in her" is how the New York Times has described playwright Dael Orlandersmith. She received an OBIE Award for Beauty's Daughter, which she wrote and starred in at American Place Theater. Orlandersmith was awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Yellowman, which was commissioned and received its premiere at McCarter in a coproduction with the Wilma and Long Wharf Theatres. Her film and television credits include Hal Hartley's Amateur and the film Get Well Soon, starring
Courtney Cox. Orlandersmith has toured extensively with the Nuyorican Poetry Café throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia.
The Powerhouse program is the result of a unique partnership between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College. The program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus during which more than 200 professional artists and some 40 apprentices live and work together to create new theater works. Powerhouse steadfastly supports both emerging and established artists.
Since its inception in 1985, Powerhouse has played a significant role in the development of hundreds of new plays, provided a home for a diverse group of artists free from critical and commercial pressures, and established itself as a vital cultural institution for the Hudson Valley, the New York metropolitan area, and the surrounding region.
Founded in 1985 by Producing Directors
Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer and Leslie Urdang, and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer, New York Stage and Film is a not-for-profit company dedicated to the development and production of new works for theater and film.
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861. Consistently ranked as one of the country's best liberal arts colleges, Vassar is renowned for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the natural and architectural beauty of its campus. More than 50 academic departments and degree programs -- from Anthropology to Cognitive Sciences to Urban Studies -- encompass the arts, foreign languages, natural sciences, and social services, and combine to offer a curriculum of more than 1,000 courses.
For more information including ticket purchase please visit http://powerhouse.vassar.edu
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