PTP/NYC's Summer Program Opens Tonight

PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project), in association with Middlebury College, will open its summer program tonight, as part of its 34th year, running July 9 - August 16, 2021.

Three unique streaming productions will premiere virtually on Fridays at 7:30pm ET (July 9, July 23 & August 13). After the Friday premiere the stream will be available On Demand for four days - then disappears. Reservations are required to receive a link and password, reserve at https://ptpnyc.org. Viewing is free, but donations of any amount are most welcome and support the ongoing work of PTP/NYC.

July 9 - 12

LUNCH

By Steven Berkoff, directed by PTP's Co-Artistic Director Richard Romagnoli.

A man encounters a woman whom he finds enormously attractive. Introductions ensue and the subsequent exchange of "viscous bodily feelings" is a contest of wit that spirals into a unique seduction. In this wham-bam 40-minute encounter, histories are revealed, clichés avoided and a unique post-coital recognition is achieved. Steven Berkoff's language is visceral, humorous and provocative, while always authentic and honest.

Filmed in its entirety, the cast includes Bill Army (The Band's Visit on Broadway, PTP's Scenes from an Execution) and Jackie Sanders (Shakespeare in the Park's The Taming of the Shrew, NBC's The Blacklist).

Steven Berkoff hails from Stepney, London. After studying drama and mime in London and Paris, he entered a series of repertory companies and in 1968 formed the London Theatre Group. Berkoff's plays and adaptations have been performed in many countries and in many languages. He is the author of East, Decadence, Greek, West and numerous other plays. His adaptations for the stage include Kafka's The Penal Colony, Metamorphosis and The Trial, Agamemnon after Aeschylus, Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, and Strindberg's Miss Julie. Berkoff played Lieutenant-General Orlov in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy.

July 23 - 26

STANDING ON THE EDGE OF TIME

A compilation and juxtaposition of the work of multiple writers including David Auburn, Caryl Churchill, Tony Kushner, Mac Wellman, Steven Dykes and others, directed by PTP's Co-Artistic Director Cheryl Faraone.

Standing on the Edge of Time begins by calling the ghosts of a vanished theatre to life. All theatres are haunted - by history as well as the immediate life outside their doors. The door of our theatre tonight opens to look at meanings - home, the Internet, community, no community, power, loss, love. The experiences of our company come from many different decades, many different Americas, many different life trajectories. All of these stories in some way illuminate our present.

Interweaving dramatic text, music, poetry and current news, this evening looks at our present and our options, with hilarity, fury and hope. A living tapestry of paranoia, beauty and belief. Each segment is filmed and presented with a running time of 90 minutes.

The cast includes Alex Draper (PTP's Arcadia & No End of Blame), Tara Giordano (PTP's Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth & The After-Dinner Joke), Stephanie Janssen (Death of a Salesman on Broadway, PTP's Arcadia), Christopher Marshall (PTP's Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth & The Possibilities), Aubrey Dube (PTP's Serious Money & Pentecost), Sheyenne Brown, Maggie Connolly, Gabrielle Martin, Wynn McClenahan, Madison Middleton and Francis Price.

August 13 - 16

A SMALL HANDFUL

Directed and conceived by PTP's Co-Artistic Director Jim Petosa.

Sharing the experience of life in the extreme is the stuff of poetry. Expressed through the voice - an experiment in speech and song - we can discover something about the endurance of Anne Sexton's complex journey. The enfleshment of her poetry through speech, song, and performance breathes life into those words, even as the poet, herself, makes an ultimate exit.

Composer Gilda Lyons wrote this set of unaccompanied songs to text by Anne Sexton (1928-1974). A filmed piece, spoken by Paula Langton (PTP's Monster & A Question of Mercy) and sung by Kayleigh Riess. Running time is approximately 30 minutes.

Anne Sexton was one of the most widely-read poets of the 20th century, publishing nine volumes of poetry before her death in 1974. She was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, the 1967 Shelley Memorial Prize, the 1962 Levinson Prize, and the Frost Fellowship to the Bread Loaf Writers Conference.

The production team for all three events includes Courtney Smith (Production Designer, Light Design, Cinematographer & Company Production Manager), Kevin McCord (additional Light Design for A Small Handful), Madison Middleton (Sound Design), Brianna Beach and Bella Costantino-Carrigan (Costume Design) and Devin Wein (Stage Manager).

For more info visit https://ptpnyc.org, like them on Facebook at https://www.Facebook.com/pages/Potomac-Theatre-Project-PTP/32709392256, follow on Twitter at @ptpnyc (https://twitter.com/ptpnyc), and on Instagram at @ptp.nyc (https://www.instagram.com/ptp.nyc).