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New York: Babel Theatre Project (Geordie Broadwater, Artistic Director, Jeremy Blocker, Producing Director) will kick off its new season with the World Premiere of A Great Place to Be From, by Norman Lasca, directed by Geordie Broadwater. A Great Place to Be From will begin performances on Thursday, September 4; opening on Monday, September 8 and will run through September 27 at The Kraine Theatre (85 East 4th Street)
In heat like this, the world gets louder and rules don't apply. You can't trust anyone and sometimes, suddenly, everything becomes clear. The Midwest is struck by a monstrous heat wave -- the kind that makes cows keel over and chickens explode. In A Great Place to Be From, four people tell the stories of how their lives change forever in ways so absurd, tragic and transporting that they only make sense through a haze of scorching sun bouncing off the asphalt.The cast includes: Kim Martin Cotton (Mermaid, States of Undress), Matthew Johnson (American Buffalo, Oleanna, Camino Real – Edinburgh Fringe), Jacques Roy (NY: Julius Caesar, The Dumb Waiter), Andrew Zimmerman (Babel’s Stomp and Shout, Medea on the Argo/Medea in Iolcos).
Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at Theatermania.com or (212) 352-3101
For more info please visit www.babeltheatreproject.org BIOSNORMAN LASCA (Playwright,) holds an MFA in playwriting from Brandeis University and has had plays work-shopped and produced in Boston, Milwaukee and New York. While at Brandeis, he was a finalist for the Heideman Award, as well as a winner of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award for Best Original Play. Two of his plays are published in anthologies of the best of the Boston Theater Marathon. Norman’s play “Dogs” was selected for a “New Voices” fellowship at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and work-shopped at the Director’s Lab at Lincoln Center before being produced off-off Broadway by the Grid Theater Company in December, 2007. Norman also has poetry appearing in the Spring 2008 edition of Karamu.Geordie Broadwater (Director) is the co-founder and artistic director of the Babel Theatre Project. Directing credits include: Macbeth, Othello, Death and the Maiden, The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket for the Brown/Trinity Consortium, Temptation, The Conduct of Life, Much Ado About Nothing, and Baal at Harvard University. In addition to his productions with Babel, Geordie has directed the following new plays: Food Porn by Andy Bragen, Big John and Little Ben by Sam Marks, The Passion Sell by Emily Carmichael. Favorite acting roles include: Guildenstern (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead), Constantine (Big Love), Marty (The House of Yes), Larry (Closer) and the title role in Strindberg’s The Father. Geordie has a BA from Harvard and an MFA in Directing at the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium.
BABEL THEATRE PROJECT (Producer) In 2005, Babel produced the World Premiere of Jamie Carmichael’ s Pilgrims The production played both New York and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to warm acclaim. The Scotsman called Pilgrims, “a vivid confidently written play,” and went on to say, “the young ensemble is first rate.” TheaterMania.com said of Babel, “If there’s such a condition as simultaneously seasoned and wet behind the ears, this crowd exemplifies it.” In 2006, the company produced its second season of new work for the stage. The Insomnia Play by Jessica Brickman, of which OffOffOnline said, “Brickman and [Geordie] Broadwater keep the audience members on edge, reeling them in,” and The Calamity of Kat Kat and Willie by Emily Young which NYTheater.com called the “finest piece of choreographed mayhem [they had] ever seen.” Babel opened its 2007-2008 season with Bekah Brunstetter’s Innovative Theater Award-Nominated play, You May Go Now, of which New York Theater.com said, “Babel has lovingly produced this play with skilled direction, a smartly detailed set, and fine lighting; and judging by this play, a writer with the skill and smarts of Bekhab Brunstetter well deserves such fine treatment. The season concluded with James Carmichael’s Stomp and Shout (an’ Work it All Out) of which BroadwayWorld.com said, “Babel has really hit the nail on the head with this hugely exciting piece. Be there or be square.” Babel is dedicated to supporting playwrights at every stage of their process. The company has given more than a dozen readings to works in development. In the coming seasons, Babel will give writers the opportunity to showcase their works in full productions, workshop productions, and readings.
KIM MARTIN-COTTON NEW YORK: 59 East 59th Theaters;Premier of Mermaid by Ellen McLaughlin, States of Undress. REGIONAL: The Goodman; Goneril in King Lear with Stacy Keach, Ghostwritten by Naomi Izuka (New Play Workshop Series) Actors Theatreof Louisville; Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Bake-off (Humana Festival of New Plays) The Shakespeare Theatre Company DC: Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra Kansas City Repertory: A Winter¹s Tale, Secret Rapture, The Deputy, Julius Caesar Great River Shakespeare (Company Member); A Winter¹s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer¹s Night Dream; Perseverance Theatre; The Crucible Other; The Laramie Project, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi. AWARD: KC Drama Desk Award for Kate in Taming of the Shrew. FILM: Funny Money with Chevy Chase. OTHER: Recent directing includes: Death of A Salesman, Cabaret, Proof and Taming of the Shrew; Assisted Anna Deavere Smith on House Arrest; First Edition.
MATTHEW JOHNSON has appeared in productions of Mamet's American Buffalo and Oleanna, Tennessee Williams' Camino Real (at the Edinburgh Fringe), Pitchfork Disney, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He has performed several readings for Babel Theatre Company.JACQUES ROY is excited and honored to be making the leap from the Babel audience to the Babel stage. New York credits: Julius Caesar (Guerrilla Shakespeare Project) The Dumb Waiter (The Mint). Other theatres: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, American Players Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Trinity Repertory Company. Jacques is a founding member of the Guerrilla Shakespeare Project, and serves as resident Technical Director. Jacques holds a BA in theatre from Macalester College and an MFA in theatre from the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium.ANDREW ZIMMERMAN previously for Babel, Stomp and Shout (an’ Work it all Out) by James Carmichael; Fiona Templeton’s Medea on the Argo/Medea in Iolcos on Governors Island, The Relationship; Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Allentown Shakespeare in the Park; Odyssey, Looking Glass Theater; The Trial, Egress Theatre; 365 days/365 plays, Clubbed Thumb (wk 10); Things Beyond Our Control, Grid Theater; Girl Blog from Iraq, Six Figures; Troilus and Cressida. (Chattanooga, TN): Theatre I, Polaroid Stories; directing/design: Edward Bond’s Red Black and Ignorant, WASP (set); current--finance associate, Theatre for a New Audience; past--internship/resident handyperson, New Dramatists; BA, Univ. of TN-Chattanooga.
