Horse Trade Theater Group & The Management Present Lonesome Winter 12/2-19

LONESOME WINTER is a melancholy Christmas comedy about Winter, a lonely hoarder who lives alone with her mean spirited cat, Sparkles. Just when Winter is about to throw in the towel, a mysterious stranger in an adorable skirt suit shows up just in time to teach winter how to shine. A hilarious send-up of Cathy comics, lifetime movies, and Christmas clichés.

LONESOME WINTER will feature Megan Hill* as Winter, Nicole Beerman* as Debbie Metzger-Bolger, Kristen Hopkins* as Avery, Nick Lewis as Bobby, and Joshua Conkel as Sparkles The Cat.
*Appearing courtesy of the Actors' Equity Association

The creative team will include Costume Design by Joshua Conkel, Set Design by Jason Sims, Sound Design by Meg Sturiano, and Lighting Design by Grant Wilcoxen. The production will be Stage Managed by Chiara Di Lello.

The production, presented by Horse Trade Theater Group and The Management will play at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A), December 2-19, Thursday through Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets ($18/$15 students & seniors) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info.

MEG STURIANO (Director) is a teacher and director. Some recent directing highlights include Joshua Conkel's I Wanna Destroy You for EST's Bloodworks '09, the world premier of Julia Brownell's Extraordinary Circumstances, Pia Wilson's End of the World for New Perspectives, and her own adaptation of The Love of Three Oranges. Meg is currently part of the Women's Work Lab at New Perspectives Theatre and is returning for her second year to direct in Manhattan Theatre Source's Estrogenius Festival. Additionally, her one act play One for More Options was recently produced at the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis. Meg studied theater at Connecticut College, the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Lee Strasberg Institute, and the Moscow Art Theatre School. She holds an MA in English Literature from Hunter College. Currently, Meg teaches and directs at Hunter College High School in Manhattan and at Acting Manitou in Maine. For The Management she has assistant directed Dorothy Fortenberry's Caitlin and the Swan, directed Joe Tracz's Song for a Future Generation and the first episode of Joshua Conkel's soap opera, Sinking Hearts. From there, she went on to direct for their Salon Series. She is now proud to be considered Management Material.

JOSHUA CONKEL (Co-Writer) is a playwright, director and occasional actor. He is also the Co-Artistic Director of The Management, now in their sixth season. His plays have been performed all over the country and include MilkMilkLemonade, The Chalk Boy, and I Wanna Destroy You among others. His play, The Sluts of Sutton Drive will have a workshop production at Ensemble Studio Theatre in January of 2011. Josh is a member of EST's Youngblood as well as The Dramatist's Guild.

MEGAN HILL (Co-Writer) grew up on a little island in the middle of Lake Washington connected by a floating bridge where she first acted in a production An American Tale as Fievel.That production was in her bedroom and that floating bridge is a section of I-90. It's all perspective. Credits include: THIRST(Y) (Incubator Arts Project and Target Margin); The Chicago Project (Theatre Seven of Chicago); Fissures at the Humana Festival (Actor's Theatre of Louisville); Cherry Cherry Lemon and Plants and Animals (North American Fringe Circuit); Babes in Toyland (Ohio Theater); The Little Dog Laughed (Intiman Theatre); Sin and Holidays Uncorked (Bohemian Archaeology Productions); Stupid Kids (Empty Space Theatre); Laura's Bush (WET); The Room and Grey City (A.R.T. Institute); she has also worked at Seattle Children's Theater, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Rep, and Theater Schmeater, among others. Upcoming projects include the web series "Me Plus You" co-written with Carter Roy; Scarlet Woman performing in this year's FRIGID Festival; and performing with Implied Violence at the Guggenheim as a part of their Works and Process Series, curated by Robert Wilson.
Megan holds a BFA in Acting and Original Works from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA from The American Repertory Theatre/ Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University

THE MANAGEMENT creates a haven for a community of artists and patrons to experience relevant, moving, unpretentious, aesthetically and financially accessible theater. We are known for our dark whimsy and critical exposés on American culture, while building rock-solid, visceral entertainment. Welcome to the building.

Praise for the award winning MilkMilkLemonade:

"If John Waters were to make an after-school special, it might look like this."
Backstage (Critics Pick)

"Brilliant, hysterical, surreal and mind-blowing are a few words that do come to mind. To be more specific, it is a performance piece that defies all expectations and preconceived notions of what theater is or should be." Queens Gazette

" Playwright Joshua Conkel and director Isaac Butler have taken the limitations of the space and their budget and transformed them into theatricAl Gold. This is the kind of political show from up-and-comers you want but rarely get when you think Downtown theater." New York Press (Best Off-Off Broadway Show of 2009)

"Clearly the show is on to something. And that something is old-fashioned stuff like, you know, a funny and poignant play, inventive direction and ace acting. In the end theater isn't much more than this, and it shouldn't be any less."
New York Post (Best Ensemble of 2009)

"Conkel and director Isaac Butler are unafraid to go for the belly: They want you laughing, nauseated or both. It's proof of how desperately comedy needs audacity"
Time Out NY (Four Stars)

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.