Photo Flash: HOWL!'s THE COMMON SWALLOW Opens Tomorrow, Golden, Jesneck, Rich To Star

HOWL! Festival presents The Common SWALLOW, a new play by David Caudle (THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM) about the locals of a small Midwestern town struggling to maintain a sense of community, as part of its HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: THEATER SERIES, with performances beginning September 25 at 45 Bleecker. Kirsten Kelly set to direct.

In a mythical Midwestern town, locals converge along the banks of the muddy river to sample pulled pork, baked beans, and corn on the cob. Jim, a 19-year-old runaway comes to the fair looking for meth; while Karen, a New Yorker on a rare return to her roots, picks at her barbecued chicken, potato salad, and A VERY OLD would; and her townie brother, Tripp, sharpens his teeth on some juicy ribs -- and simmering sibling rivalry. In The Common SWALLOW, it's the birds living in a muddy nest under the bridge that may be the town's only thriving, cohesive and supportive community.

Annie Golden, whose Broadway credits include HAIR, THE FULL MONTY and XANADU, lead the cast of The Common SWALLOW. Joining Ms. Golden are Matt D'Amico, MacLeod Andrews, Julie Jesneck, and Elizabeth Rich.

David Caudle's new play takes a darkly comic look at the weakening fibers of the American social fabric. "The global information techno-age is dissolving 'community' as quickly as global warming is melting the glaciers. Local newspapers are closing their doors in alarming numbers; and Mom and Pop stores are nearly extinct," says Mr. Caudle, who feels that Americans need of an old-fashioned sense of community to pull through these rough times. "Now is not the time for individuals to feel isolated in this country."

It is fitting, then, that his play was developed in a supportive community of playwrights: The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers' Group at Primary Stages. "It is even more fitting that The Common SWALLOW is getting its first showing in the HOWL! Festival, which has celebrated and defined the arts community on the Lower East Side for the last twenty-five years," add Mr. Caudle. "And it's supremely fitting that this year, more than ever, the HOWL! Festival is taking care of its own with the establishment of the HOWL! HELP fund to make health care available to uninsured downtown artists."

David Caudle's plays include the award-winning THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM (Best Drama of '06, Miami Sun Post), IN DEVELOPMENT, VISITING OURS, DAMSEL, and THE SECOND HOUSE.

The HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009 is an extended series of theater, music, performance art and film with programs running throughout the month of September at 45 Bleecker (45 Bleecker Street), Millennium Film Workshop (66 East 4th Street), New Museum (235 Bowery), Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery) and St. Mark's Church in the Bowery (131 East 10th Street). For full details about HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009 and its various series, visit www.howlfestival.com or www.eastvillagehowler.blogspot.com

Proceeds from the HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009 will benefit HOWL! HELP -- administered by The Actors Fund -- which provides emergency assistance to qualified performing artists in crisis.

HELP (HOWL! EMERGENCY LIFE PROJECT) OF THE ACTORS FUND is a wonderful new community resource created to support artists who have made or continue to make their careers in NYC's East Village a nd Lower East Side and are in need of emergency assistance. Eligible artists include participants in the annual Howl Festival and those in the East Village Arts Community of theatre, music, performance, dance, multimedia, the spoken word and visual arts. Assistance is based on need and qualifying work history. This fund provides emergency assistance to qualified performing artists in crisis and offers other Actors Fund support services.

THE ACTORS FUND is a national human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund - which supports both performers and everyone behind the scenes in theatre, film, TV, music, dance, radio and opera - is a safety net, providing social services and emergency assistance, health services and health insurance information, employment and training programs and housing support for those who are in need, crisis or transition. Learn more about The Actors Fund's services and programs at www.actorsfund.org.

September 18 through September 29, the HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: THEATER SERIES offers limited engagements of seven plays: The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series presentation of PIC-UP: A SUMMER ROMANCE by Stephen Pell (Sept 18-20); GOT YOU by Michael W. Small (Sept 24-25); The Common SWALLOW by David Caudle (Sept 25-27); SOP DOLL! A JACK TALE NOH by Lee Ann Brown and Tony Torn (Sept 26-27); a double bill of TRY! TRY! by Frank O'Hara and CLUTTER by Kristan Prevallet (Sept 28-29); and the return of last season's acclaimed revival of Marc Blitzstein's THE CRADLE WILL ROCK (Sept 21-24) at 45 Bleecker (45 Bleecker Street) in Manhattan.

Performances of The Common SWALLOW run at 45 Bleecker: Friday, September 25 at 8pm; and Saturday, September 26 at 8pm; and Sunday, September 27 at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the box office (45 Bleecker Street, north side of Bleecker Street, between Lafayette & Mott Streets) on line at http://www.brownpapertickets.com. Cash only at the door.

For more information, including complete schedule of events, for the festival and subsequent HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009, visit www.howlfestival.com or www.eastvillagehowler.blogspot.com

Photos by donje' photography

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