Caps Lock Theatre Stages Site-Specific 'MRS. MAYFIELD'S FIFTH-GRADE CLASS' in the East Village, Now thru 2/1

By: Jan. 15, 2015
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Mariah MacCarthy (Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award, NYtheatre.com's 2012 "Person of the Year") reunites with director Leta Tremblay (The Foreplay Play) on their site-specific hit Mrs. Mayfield's Fifth-Grade Class of '93 20-Year Reunion, this time set in an East Village apartment.

Mrs. Mayfield is a rollicking yet compassionate multi-layered look at what happens when a group of former classmates hovering in their 30s reunite for an evening of partying and reminiscing. Immersively staged and intimately drawn, audience party-goers eat chili and drink beer as calamities, revelations, and battles for affection, power and ownership of memories unfold around them. Awesome 90s music and dance breaks included.

"I've always wanted to do a party play and a show about the loss of innocence," says MacCarthy. "Mrs. Mayfield combines these two ideas. When you're in 5th grade, childhood becomes more complicated." Sold-out during its first run at an apartment in Astoria in 2013, Mrs. Mayfield features five of the original cast members.

With the immersiveness of Sleep No More and the sillyness of Awesome 80s Prom, Mrs. Mayfield digs a few notches deeper. "You'll definitely have a lot of fun," admits MacCarthy, "but there's also a lot of dark soul stuff going on. I was interested in how we carry our damage from childhood into adulthood in ways we don't realize. Plus it's intimate, 30 audience members max."

Mrs. Mayfield features Lindsey Austen, Brian Dunlop, Jesse Geguzis, Lauren Hennessy (FringeNYC Outstanding Excellence in Performance Award for Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Story), Adam La Faci, Christopher Norwood*, Diana Oh (2013 NYTheatre.com "Person of the Year"), Gwenevere Sisco and Jordan Tierney; is written by Mariah MacCarthy in collaboration with the original cast and Leta Tremblay; directed by Leta Tremblay; associate directed by Trent Anderson, stage managed by Kacey Stamats; produced by Caps Lock Theatre; costumes by Orli Nativ.

Mrs. Mayfield, presented by Caps Lock Theatre, plays at an undisclosed apartment in the East Village. Audience members will receive the location, as well as detailed directions, upon reserving tickets. Please note seating is extremely limited! (15 audience members total!)

More information at capslocktheatre.com.

About Mariah MacCarthy (writer): Mariah MacCarthy's work has been presented and developed at Rattlestick, Primary Stages, EST/Youngblood, Culture Project, New Dramatists, La MaMa, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, The Brick, Atlantic Stage 2, Bowery Poetry Club, Jimmy's No. 43, Theater for the New City, Players Theatre, Fringe NYC, as well as site-specifically around New York, and around the country. Plays: Baby Mama: One Woman's Quest to Give Her Child to Gay People (Dixon Place, Provincetown Women's International Theater Festival; upcoming, EST/Youngblood), Mrs. Mayfield's Fifth-Grade Class of '93 20-Year Reunion ("one of the most fun theatre experiences I've ever had" - Exeunt Magazine), Magic Trick (FringeNYC), The Foreplay Play (NYIT Award nominee: Outstanding Production, Outstanding Full-Length Script), Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Story (winner: 20 Looking Glass Forum Awards, FringeNYC "Outstanding Performance"), The All-American Genderf*ck Cabaret ("f*cking brilliant" - Kate Bornstein), Safeword (dev. Flux Theatre Ensemble and Kid Brooklyn Productions), You Like It (dev. EST/Youngblood), The Hazards of Loving While Broken (dev. Mission to (dit)Mars and HUB-BUB), Lysistrata Rape Play (dev. The Theatre Project and Anthem Theatre Company), A Man of His Word (winner, California Young Playwrights Contest; dev. New Dramatists). Winner: Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award, Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences, 2012 nytheatre.com "Person of the Year," PoNY Fellowship nominee. Filling the Well resident artist, Executive Artistic Director and founder of Caps Lock, Associate Artistic Director of The Brick, San Diego native, Skidmore graduate, writer-in-residence of The Propulsion Lab, and a member of Youngblood and Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Leta Tremblay (director): Leta Tremblay is a NYC-based theatre director, producer, and producing artistic director of Caps Lock Theatre and FullStop Collective. She has presented work at 59E59 Theaters, the Cherry Lane Theatre, EST/Youngblood, the Eugene O'Neill National Theater Center, Access Theater, Galapagos Art Space, Manhattan Theatre Source, the Kraine Theater, the Paradise Factory, the Brick, FringeNYC, IRT Theater, the Gym at Judson, the Secret Theatre, littlefield, Jimmy's No. 43, and site specifically. Selected directing credits include {my lingerie play}: Installation 9/10: THE FINAL INSTALLATION (All For One, SoloLab), Mrs. Mayfield's Fifth Grade Class of '93 20-Year Reunion (Caps Lock Theatre), DIANA OH IS GOING ROGUE, the solo show (terraNOVA Collective, soloNOVA), Cause of Failure (FullStop Collective, FringeNYC 2012), The Foreplay Play (Caps Lock Theatre), OTHELLO (Wandering Bark), Snow White Zombie (2010 EstroGenius Festival), Hangman School for Girls (FullStop Collective), and The City That Cried Wolf (State of Play Productions). Upcoming: The Belief Project, a FullStop. LAB supported director driven devised theatrical work with past residencies at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and the Dragon's Egg Studio (production March 2015 at IRT Theater). Leta is a graduate of Smith College and the Eugene O'Neill National Theatre Institute where she trained with the Wooster Group and SITI Company. www.letatremblay.com

About Caps Lock Theatre: Caps Lock Theatre does funny, ugly, human plays. We like plays where people are at both their worst and their best; where people screw each other -- or themselves -- over, and have to find a way to deal with it; where people's hearts hurt, or open, or blossom. We also believe in fun. Our plays will probably make you laugh. Probably more than once. And, we believe in creating art by whatever means necessary. If we are fortunate enough to piece together enough resources for lavish sets and fabulous special effects, awesome. If (more likely) we have to make work on a shoestring budget, on-the-fly, in an unconventional location, then we'll do that and still knock your socks off.

Photo Credit: Kacey Stamats



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