Mike and Seth by Daniel Talbott will lead off the side project's two-play August repertory. The two-hander, to be directed by the side project's Artistic Director Adam Webster, is a hyper-intimate study of two young men (one gay, one straight) in an all-night discussion the night before one of them is to get married.
As an unexpected snowstorm rages outside, twenty-somethings Mike and Seth pull an all-nighter in a ritzy Dallas hotel on the night before Mike's wedding, hashing through all of life's conundrums, the recent strains on their friendship, and what it means to be alive today. Director Adam Webster says, "I am in love with this play... the untraditional rhythms, the intimacy, the visceral nature of the pent-up rage. As with the other two Talbott plays we have done (2008's Slipping and 2009's What Happened When), there is an immediacy, a rawness, a sudden tenderness, and then a vicious backlash.
"I am thrilled to present the play as well as the work of company members Derek Garza and Michael Manocchio in this two-hander. Their style of acting, and the play itself, are such a great fit for our pressure-cooker space.
"While I love larger casts as well, such as the 11-person cast for Hello Failure or six-person Elsewhere last year, I love working with two actors who have nothing but the words, and the reaction of one other person, to base everything in their performance on. Everything is self-contained, and for the 60 minutes you are in the theatre, in the room with them, everything comes down to the immediacy and honesty of that other person - which I find terribly thrilling and rewarding, and poignant.
"This is our second Midwest premiere of a Talbott play (along with the world premiere of his Slipping - shortlisted for the 2010 Lambda Award). I am so excited to continue our relationship with playwright
Daniel Talbott as he continues to grow and be a name to be reckoned with." The side project's production of Talbott's Slipping was on the Chicago Tribune's 2008 "Best of Fringe" list and described as "exceedingly honest" in that newspaper's review.
Daniel Talbott is an actor, director, playwright, producer, literary manager of New York's
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and artistic director of New York's Rising Phoenix Rep. His play Yosemite premiered in 2012 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. His other plays include Sam and Gus, What Happened When, and Slipping (published by Dramatists Play Service, named one of the top ten plays of 2009 by The Advocate, and a 2011 Lambda Literary Award finalist for drama). He received a 2011 Theater Hall of Fame Fellowship and was named one of the 15 People of the Year 2006 by
nytheatre.com. He is a graduate of Juilliard and of Solano College Theatre's ATP, and teaches at the
Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA).
Mike and Seth will be performed by Michael Manocchio (Kid Brooklyn's The Little Dog Laughed) as Seth and Derek Garza (cofounder and artistic director of Mortar Theatre Company) as Mike.
The August rep will continue with Miles Away - a three character play by Christine Whitley directed by Scott Weinstein - which will begin previews on August 6 prior to a press opening August 10th. Mike and Seth will be performed Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 3pm, while Miles Away will play Sundays through Wednesdays at 7:30 pm plus Saturday matinees on August 9 and 30 at 3pm. Miles Away will not be performed Sunday, August 24 or Monday, August 25.
