MITF Presents THE STARSHIP ASTROV, Begins 7/17

Oberon Theatre Ensemble in association with The Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival is pleased to present the World Premiere production of THE STARSHIP ASTROV by Duncan Pflaster, directed by Eric Parness. THE STARSHIP ASTROV will play 5 performances at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W 42nd St). Performances begin Saturday, July 17th and continue through Saturday, July 31st.

Award-winning playwright Duncan Pflaster (Prince Trevor Amongst The Elephants) returns to the Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival with another classic-bender fantasy, a mashup of Chekhovian comedy and science fiction.

The year is 3047. A diplomatic mission brings a professor, his lovely alien wife and his faithful doctor aboard The Starship Astrov, where unspoken love and misunderstandings abound between the ship?s crew and guests. Asking the question, will humanity stay the same, or will the future change us?

Mark Richard Caswell is the costume designer, Isabella F. Byrd is the lighting designer, and Nick Moore is the sound designer. Jenna Lazar is the production stage manager, and Jaime Carrillo is the assistant director.

THE STARSHIP ASTROV plays the following performances through Saturday, July 31st:

Saturday, July 17th at 9:00pm
Tuesday, July 20th at 8:00pm
Friday, July 23rd at 8:00pm
Thursday, July 29th at 7:00pm
Saturday, July 31st at 2:00pm

Tickets are $18.00. Visit www.ticketcentral.com to purchase online, or call 212-279-4200. Tickets are also available at Theatre Row?s box office open from 12pm ? 8pm.

For more information visit: www.OberonTheatre.org
For more information about the festival, visit www.MidtownFestival.org

*Appearing Courtesy of Actors? Equity Association.

BIOGRAPHIES

DUNCAN PFLASTER (Playwright) is the author of several critically-acclaimed plays, including the multi-award-winning fantasies Prince Trevor Amongst the Elephants (2008 MITF Awards, Outstanding New Script, Outstanding Production, Outstanding Lead Actor; 2007 Spotlight On Award, Best New Script) and Eternity: Time Without End (2006 Spotlight On Awards, Best New Script, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Featured Actor), as well as The Thyme of the Season, Suckers, The Empress of Sex, Sleeping in Tomorrow, Admit Impediments, The Wastes of Time, Dik and Jayne Are Not The Same, Amazing Dædalus, book and lyrics for the musicals Eskimo and Wilder & Wilder, as well as a panoply of shorter pieces that have been seen in festivals all over the place (including 9/10 of the Law, winner of Best Script in Phare Play's 21-hour play festival 2010). He is also an award-winning actor (2009 MITF Award, Outstanding Supporting Actor, I Hate Love) and theatre reviewer (2nd place, Stage and Cinema's 2010 Theater Review Contest). www.duncanpflaster.com

Eric Parness (Director) is the Artistic Director of Resonance Ensemble, where he has directed productions of Strange Bedfellows, Antigone, The Lower Depths, La Tempestad, The Mail Order Bride, The Cherry Orchard, Sherlock Solo, 23 Knives, and The Master Builder. Other directing credits include Rachel Reiner Productions? Embraceable Me, Jean Cocteau?s Crazy for the Dog, Oberon Theatre's Finding Louise, The Winter's Tale, Of Mice and Men, Measure for Measure, and Ghost on Fire, Hypothetical Theatre's Kryptonite City and Faith, Blood Wedding, Zimmerman, Fit to Kill, and new work with adobe theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Vital Theater. Eric is a graduate of Brandeis University and a member of Lincoln Center Theatre?s Directors Lab.

OBERON ENSEMBLE THEATRE (Producer) Founded in 1997, Oberon is an off-off Broadway ensemble theatre company. Just out of our critically acclaimed 14th season, we have produced 50 full-length productions and more than 50 staged readings of original plays. Oberon now has about 20 active members and many more regular collaborators, including award-winning actors, playwrights, directors and designers.
The Oberon Theatre Ensemble is an active player in New York?s independent theatre community. Each season we combine classic, contemporary, and new works in a format that allows each to highlight and enhance the other. We juxtapose new against old in a single evening or in a repertory schedule, with our ensemble of actors and directors nimbly jumping from one world to another to draw our audiences fully into the experience.

MIDTOWN INTERNational Theatre FESTIVAL (Presenter) The Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival?s 2010 Season runs from July 12 ? August 1, 2010 at the Beckett Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd Street, NYC; the June Havoc Theatre, 312 W. 36th Street, 1st floor; the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, 312 W. 36th Street, 1st floor; the Main Stage Theater, 312 W. 36th Street, 4th floor; and the Jewel Box Theater, 312 W. 36th Street, 4th floor. Tickets are $18 ($15 for Short Subjects). Tickets for shows at the June Havoc Theatre, the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, the Main Stage Theater, and the Jewel Box Theater are available at www.midtownfestival.org or by phone at 866-811-4111. Tickets for shows at the Beckett Theatre, Theatre Row are available at www.ticketcentral.com or by phone at 212-279-4200.

The Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival, now in its eleventh year, celebrates the diversity of theatre. The MITF welcomes theatrical storytelling across a broad spectrum of genres, forms, identities, cultures, and appetites. The MITF seeks to nurture these new ideas, perspectives, and stories on its stages, with an eye set on guiding these productions toward future success and longevity. The festival, traditionally held in summer, represents a fantastic, often paradoxical, adventurous and intriguing cross-section of the forefront of the Theatre World. The MITF proudly hosts production companies from across the country and around the globe, uniting talent in one of the biggest theatre capitals in the world.

Mr. Chatterton created the MITF, a Midtown alternative to other theatre festivals, in 2000 as a way to present the finest off-off Broadway talent in convenience, comfort, and safety. In 2008, the Festival added two 99-seat theatres and inaugurated the Commercial Division for upwardly mobile shows with commercial ambitions. The MITF?s artistic emphasis is on the script itself and therefore the Festival requests minimal production values.

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