Metropolitan Playhouse to Present EAST SIDE STORIES: INSIDE EDITION

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse will present free "screened" readings of four new one-act plays inspired by life and history in the East Village, via live stream video, with talkback to follow, on Saturday, June 26th and 27th, 2020 at 8 PM, EDT.

Running Time: 60 minutes

Available via
Zoom at http://metropolitanplayhouse.org/ess2020zoomlinks
and
YouTube at http://metropolitanplayhouse.org/ess2020youtubelinks

All links available at:
www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/virtualplayhouse

Saturday's program will also be simultaneously broadcast on
WBAI Radio 99.5 FM and wbai.org

Metropolitan Playhouse began presenting new one-act plays about the theater's neighborhood, the East Village, in 2003, and has offered a new crop nearly every season since. 2020 will be the 15th festival of these new works. Adapting them for stay at home viewing, the plays will be presented free, via Zoom and YouTube, as rehearsed readings. The evenings are:

ARRIVALS - 2 lyrical plays about immigrating and belonging
Friday, June 26th, 2020, at 8 pm

"Cola'o"

by Paloma Sierra
music by Pedro Emanuel Franco Fraticelli
directed by Gloria Zelaya
starring Jorge Luis Berrios and Yazmin Morales Vicente

Two lovers with contrary opinions about Puerto Rican national identity uncover how to prepare "authentic" coffee.

Text in Spanish and English with supertitles.

"Fulltime Active"

by Bill Russell
directed by Mark Harboth
starring Ako, Michael Basile, Randy Cordero, and Suzanne Toren

The stories of 4 residents' lives, beautifully interwoven into a theatrical fugue:
a Russian labor organizer; an Italian boxing trainer; a 2nd Generation Japanese American; a young Puerto Rican immigrant.
Based on interviews conducted in the 70's and 80's as a part of The Community Documentation Workshop

EVOLUTION - 2 comedies about gentrification and gentrifiers
Saturday, June 27th, 2020 at 8 pm

"Grassroots"

by Robin Rothstein
directed by John Long
starring Maxwell Bartel, Alia Shakira & Kim Yancey-Moore
Backgrounds by Danny Licul

Two undercover police discover a long-devoted patron of an East Village local well after hours on New Year's Eve, the night it closed for good. She's not ready to go.

"East Village Trader Joe's"

by Jessica Moss
directed by Rachael Langton
starring Ollie Corchado, Lianne Kressin, Jammie Patton, Sushma Saha & Perri Yaniv
Backgrounds by Randy Wong-Westbrooke

The diverse and active East Village Community Coalition meets to discuss the encroachment of that oxymoron: the boutique chain. They have successfully fended off many a corporate interloper, but this one... this one is different.