ESPA Features 23.5, VERANO PLACE, et al. in Fall 2011 Season

Primary Stages Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA), the company's professional training school, has announced its 2011 Fall schedule of classes. ESPA will offer new classes including Acting the Song, Character Acting, and Directing and Producing. New instructors Liz Duffy Adams, Charles Busch, Dominic D'Andrea, A.R. Gurney, Michael Cerveris and Cheri Magid join returning faculty members Tanya Barfield, Karen Braga, Bekah Brunstetter, Michelle Bossy, Denis Butkus, Kara Lee Corthon, Carl Forsman, Jane Guyer Fujita, Jackson Gay, Randy Graff, Adam Gwon, Josh Hecht, Lila Rose Kaplan, Kait Kerrigan, Stephanie Klapper, Primary Stages Artistic Director Andrew Leynse, Linda and David Laundra, Michele Lowe, Rogelio Martinez, Winter Miller, Adam Reist, Richard Topol, Edwin Sanchez, Julian Sheppard, Daniel Talbott, Ken Urban and Kim Weild.

ESPA is a multidisciplinary educational institution with departments in acting, writing, and directing. Since its 2007 inception, ESPA has become a leader in performing arts education through its excellence in training, unique collaboration and networking opportunities, and strong professional community. ESPA is open to all artists, in all stages of their careers.

The Fall 2011 schedule includes specialty five- to ten-week classes and weekend workshops in acting, writing and directing, as well as specialty Master Classes with A.R. Gurney, Charles Busch, Judith Light and Michael Cerveris. Master Classes are free and open to the public with a $5 suggested donation.

Information on classes is available by contacting Director of ESPA Tessa LaNeve at (212) 840-9705 x212, via email at espa@primarystages.org, or by visiting the Primary Stages website at www.primarystages.org/espa.

Alongside a new roster of classes, Primary Stages announces the plays and directors for the 2nd annual ESPA*Drills Reading Series this August.

ESPA*Drills is a developmental program providing staged readings to four ESPA playwriting students. In the weeks prior, the writers workshop their plays at Primary Stages under the guidance of the ESPA staff. The plays are professionally cast and presented at Off-Broadway's 59E59 Theaters, where Primary Stages is the resident company.

In June, Primary Stages launched its first ever ESPA*Drills Crowd-Funding Campaign to cultivate an empowered community of supporters behind the ESPA*Drills writers. With a $4000 goal, the campaign has currently raised over $3300 and continues until August 25th. Visit primarystages.org for more information or to get involved.

The plays and artists involved with the 2011 ESPA*Drills Reading Series at 59E59 Theaters include:

Thursday, August 18 at 12:00 p.m.

The Feminism of a Soft Merlot (or How the Donkey Got Punched)
by Micheline Auger
Directed by Kel Haney
Sam has a lot of dealbreakers when it comes to dating. Working in porn should have been one of them.

Thursday, August 18 at 3:00 p.m.

23.5
by Carey Crim
Directed by Brendon Fox
In a society terrified of children and sex in the same sentence, former high school teacher Tom Hodges is released from prison...but will he ever be free?

Thursday, August 25 at 12:00 p.m.

Verano Place
by Katie Atcheson
Directed by Josh Hecht
It's 1976 and Mommy and Daddy both have boyfriends. So why can't 13-year-old Emily have one, too?

Thursday, August 25 at 3:00 p.m.

Next Time on Spring Valley
by Louise Schwarz
Directed by May Adrales
Two fanatics and their unwitting accomplices board a cross-country train with a mission of grave social and cultural import. How far would you go to save your favorite soap?

Space is limited. To RSVP for any of the readings, contact litassist@primarystages.org.

Primary Stages is an Off-Broadway theater company dedicated to inspiring, supporting and sharing the art of playwriting. We operate on the belief that the future of American theater relies on nurturing individual playwrights and giving them the artistic support needed to create new work. Primary Stages produces new plays at 59E59 Theaters, where we have been the Resident Theater Company since its inauguration in 2004. We support the development of playwrights and their new works through commissions, workshops, readings and through our two flagship programs - The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group and the Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). Since our founding in 1984, we have produced more than 100 new works, many of them world premieres, and engaged more than 2,000 theater artists. Through all our activities, Primary Stages advocates for our artists, helping them make important, and often transformative, connections within the theater community.

 

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