La Mama Opens New Docu-Drama In September

THE ARTS -- a new docu-drama by Kevin Doyle/ Sponsored By Nobody about the checkered history of public funding for the arts in the U.S. -- will be given its world-premiere production by LA MAMA, the 2018 Tony Award-winning theatre company, with preview performances beginning September 13 prior to the play's official opening September 16 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 E. 4 St.) in Manhattan. This debut of THE ARTS marks the start of the 57th season at La MaMa, led by artistic director Mia Yoo.

Conceived, written and directed by Kevin Doyle, THE ARTS will run through September 30. THE ARTS is co-directed by Mike Carlsen.

Featured in the cast of THE ARTS are Dracyn Blount, Alexander Chilton, Shayna Conde, Nick Daly and Georgia Lee King.

Based in part upon hearings and debates in Congress from 1963-65 and 1989-92 -- with a motley roster of speakers that included Senators Jesse Helms, Al D'Amato and Claiborne Pell, along with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis -- THE ARTS dynamically bridges the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts in the 1960's to the increasingly precarious circumstances that define arts funding today. THE ARTS serves as an urgent reminder that -- despite the numerous controversies that have beset the NEA and the country's artistic community over the past 50 years -- there are long-standing laws that require the federal government to, indeed, fund the arts, with the mission of making arts accessible to all Americans - regardless of who currently occupies the White House.

According to Mr. Doyle, "This work is about the regular citizens and elected officials who argued and fought for arts funding, and created the core language that informs the oft-forgotten arts funding laws. One of the great discoveries we've made in this creative process is to uncover that we are not living within the arts funding system that was originally intended. The original bold terrain has become so eroded that we have become used to living with less, and no one stops to question how we got here."

THE ARTS was developed by Kevin Doyle, and his Brooklyn-based theatre company, Sponsored By Nobody. It was work-shopped at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center and future performances will serve as a theatrical tool to educate and inspire audiences to rediscover the original core language that established arts funding law.

Performances begin September 13, with shows Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m., with its final performance scheduled for September 30, 2018.

General Admission: $25; Students/Seniors: $20; La MaMa also offers 10@$10, these are the first ten tickets for every performance at $10 each, first come first served, advance sales only.

Running time: 85 minutes

For tickets, visit: lamama.org, or call OvationTix at 212.352.3101

Kevin Doyle writes and directs theatre and film in Europe and his native New York. He has written 12 plays that have been presented internationally. His honors include a Thornton Wilder Fellowship at The MacDowell Colony and Artist-in-Residence at The Watermill Center. Doyle wrote and directed the interdisciplinary theatre project W.M.D. (just the low points) examining American intelligence failures prior to the Iraq War; which premiered at the Vooruit Arts Center prior to a national tour of Belgium and The Netherlands. A director of music videos for bands in Europe and the United States, Doyle also works as a contributing writer at Diggit Magazine in The Netherlands.

Photo Credit: Wilson McGrory