APAC Celebrates Its Tenth Season With MilkMilkLemonade And More

The Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) announces their Tenth Anniversary Season featuring the four time 2010 Innovative Theatre Award Nominated play, MilkMilkLemonade by Joshua Conkel, and Galt MacDermot?s (HAIR) musical, The Human Comedy as the mainstage productions. Both works explore the idea of ?home? from a uniquely American perspective. As Artistic Director Tom Wojtunik states, ?both are coming-of-age stories set in 'traditional' rural communities. In MilkMilkLemonade, that community threatens the protagonist, as the play hilariously takes gender roles and life on a farm and turns them on their head. Based on the classic novel by William Saroyan, The Human Comedy celebrates the idea of home as the primary component for a happy life, as the young protagonist is forced to become the man of his family in the absence of his father and older brother. The two pieces juxtaposed together create an interesting contrast on similar themes.?

Reflecting on the past nine years and anticipating the upcoming year, Executive Director Taryn Drongowski says, ?I'm looking forward to celebrating APAC's ten year anniversary throughout the entire season. Reaching this milestone is incredibly gratifying. We haven't just reached the 10-year mark, we've managed to grow each and every year. It's a credit to everyone who has supported us, and certainly to everyone who has ever worked with us. As excited as I am about APAC's artistic achievements, I am also proud of the unique friendship that we've developed with the Astoria community. We're entering our tenth season with more ambition and energy than ever before, and we are looking forward to many, many more.?

The season commences on October 28th with Joshua Conkel?s MilkMilkLemonade, directed by José Zayas (House of the Spirits, Southern Promises). The play, which runs through November 13th, is a comedy about gay children, a parasitic twin, an antagonistic grandmother, a depressed chicken, and our growing bodies. MilkMilkLemonade ran last fall in New York, in a co-production by The Management and Horse Trade Theater Group, directed by Isaac Butler. That production was nominated for four NY Innovative Theatre Awards, was voted Best Off-Off Broadway Show for 2009 by New York Press and received 4 stars from Time Out New York.

Wojtunik explains the significance of MilkMilkLemonade as the opening show of the season: ?For ten years APAC has been almost exclusively devoted to producing revivals. Our ten year anniversary is the perfect time to bring new work to the Astoria community. MilkMilkLemonade premiered Off-Off Broadway last fall to tremendous industry buzz and a criminally short sold-out run. APAC is honored to offer audiences a new look at the critically-acclaimed play.?

In May APAC will produce the musical The Human Comedy, with music by Galt MacDermot (the composer of HAIR), libretto by William Dumaresq, from the story by William Saroyan. The production will be directed by Wojtunik, reuniting the IT Award nominated team from Children of Eden: Christine O?Grady as choreographer, Michael P. Kramer as set designer, and Hunter Kaczorowski as costume designer. The coming-of-age tale focuses on young Homer Macauley, a telegram messenger who is exposed to the sorrows and joys experienced by his family and the residents of his small California town during World War II. Homer's mother Kate is struggling to support her children following the death of her husband, his older brother Marcus is in the Army, his teenaged sister Bess daydreams about romance, and his younger brother Ulysses divides his attention between the passing trains and an unrequited desire to know why his father had to die. An ode to ?home,? The Human Comedy is one of the most enjoyable and moving musicals to have fallen into relative obscurity.

Wendy MacLeod?s (The House of Yes) new play, The Groaning Board, will be presented on December 9th as part of The 15/20s: Staged Readings of New Works series, which begins on September 16th at 7:00pm with Doctoring by Nastaran Ahmadi. Wojtunik remarks on these eclectic and exciting choices by accomplished playwrights, which he is ?thrilled to be sharing with APAC audiences. As we continue to produce more new work, I wouldn?t be surprised if one or more of these plays are a mainstage production in an upcoming season. This is an excellent opportunity for our audiences to watch how works get developed.? Additional readings include Afterglow (A Comedie of Bad Manners) by Sarah Overman on March 28th as well as Alex Goldberg?s It is Done on February 10th.

ASTORIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (APAC), a not-for-profit organization, was founded in 2001 by actress Susan Scannell (?Dynasty?). Our mission is to bring high quality theatre and entertainment to Astoria/Long Island City and to support local youth and senior citizens. We are a professional theatre company that complements a full season of award-winning mainstage programming with dedicated community programming.

In July, APAC was recognized with three IT Award Nominations for last season?s Children of Eden: Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Choreography (Christine O?Grady) and Outstanding Set Design (Michael P. Kramer).

Each year, APAC brings extended networks of artists, technicians, and volunteers together to produce musical revivals and modern plays. Our mainstage productions have been recognized for their quality and exceptional production values. We have received fourteen New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations and two wins (Ragtime, 2009), and an Off-Off Broadway Theatre Review Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical (Is There Life After High School?, 2004). We are invested in bringing visibility to new voices in American theatre, and through our series The 15/20s: Staged Readings of New Works, we present new plays by emerging playwrights. The readings allow writers the opportunity to hear their material with the involvement of professional actors and a director, encouraging the further development of new American plays and musicals. The 15/20s are produced under the AEA Staged Reading Guidelines, which permits 15 hours of combined rehearsal and performance time for AEA actors (20 hours for musicals), hence the name ?The 15/20s?.

Our commitment to local youth and senior citizens is reflected in our annual community programming. Examples include a free annual musical theatre performance program for children ages 8-13 (Summer Stars ? 8 years running) and an after school playwriting program for middle school students (Astoria Playmaking ? 6 years running). In 2005, we launched Senior Stars, a performance program for Queens residents over the age of sixty.