One Year Lease Presents The Killing Room

Introducing American audiences to one of Australia's most popular playwrights, One Year Lease Theater Company presents the world premiere of Daniel Keene's The Killing Room. This Beckett-style 80-minute dark comedy, inspired by the ancient story of Thyestes, envisions the end of the word and what violence may look like at its last gasp.

When Evil retires, what does it do all day? Imagine the end of the world. Ancient, shrunken and constantly bickering, twin brothers Cy and Ed perpetuate their existence through blood transfusions and organ transplants. As young men, their greed was so insatiable and their capacity for brutality so great, they destroyed an entire civilization. They left nothing behind but the people who care for them: a doctor, a nurse, their wives. They still control the universe, or what is left of it, until their long-dead children reappear...

Cy and Ed are the darkly comic, modern counterparts of Atreus and Thyestes, two brothers who fought each other tooth and nail for the throne of Olympia. In the original story, their acts of treachery escalate, creating a mind-boggling and unending cycle of betrayal. In one infamous moment, Atreus kills Thyestes' sons and serves them to Thyestes for dinner.

Daniel Keene's post-apocalyptic dark comedy,The Killing Room, opens March 10 and runs through April 2, 2011 (Wed-Sat at 8pm and Sun at 3pm) at Teatro Circulo, located at 64 East 4th Street. Critics are welcome as of Saturday, March 12. Tickets are $25. For tickets, call 866.811.4111.

"In The Killing Room, we are looking to explore what the human cycles of greed and violence would look like in their last iteration - at the very end of time," states director Nick Flint. "Keene has created an incredible text -exploring the darker aspects of humanity through the comic and the absurd."

ABOUT DANIEL KEENE
Daniel Keene's multi-award winning plays have been acclaimed throughout Australia, and since the late 1990s, he has established himself as one of Europe's most notable contemporary playwrights. He has won the South Australian Premier's Prize for Drama, the Victorian Premier's Prize for Drama (twice), the Wal Cherry Play of the Year, The New Dramatist's Award, New York, and the 2000 NSW Premier's Prize for Literature (Best Play) three times. The 2002 production of his play Terminus, directed by Laurent Laffargue at the TNT in Toulouse and the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, won the coveted Le Prix Pierre Jean Jacques Gaultier award for best
direction.

"Keene's work reflects One Year Lease's aesthetic with its black humor and hyper-reality. In serving our mission to create contemporary productions inspired by ancient myths, we couldn't have found a better fit than Keene to tackle Thyestes," states Artistic Director Ianthe Demos. "We are thrilled to introduce one of Australia's best known contemporary playwrights to U.S. audiences with The Killing Room."

ABOUT ONE YEAR LEASE
One Year Lease is an ensemble theater company that commissions contemporary playwrights from around the globe to create specific, collaborative theater texts. Each of these new works is inspired by an ancient story. One Year Lease is an international company featuring ensemble members from Greece, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Commissioned works to date include: Teaser Cow by Clay McLeod Chapman, inspired by the myth of the Minotaur and set in the world of Fast Food Nation; Hunger by Sladjana Vujovic, inspired by the epic of
Gilgamesh and set in a graphic novel aesthetic; and The Killing Room by Daniel Keene, inspired by the ancient story of Thyestes and set at the very end of time.

Coming up next: One Year Lease presents a world premiere of Manmade Mistakes by Danny Mitarotondo at Teatro Circulo from May 18 to May 28, 2011. This new work is created in response to Daniel Keene's
The Killing Room and commissioned by One Year Lease.

The Killing Room | Written by Daniel Keene | Directed by Nick Flint | With Christopher Baker, Danny Bernardy*, Sarah-Jane Casey, Babis Gousias, Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris*, Danielle Heaton, Richard Saudek | Set Design by James Hunting | Lighting Design by Mike Riggs | Sound Design by Nathan Leigh | Makeup and special effects by Arielle Toelke | Costumes by Kay Lee | Dramaturgy by Jessica Kaplow Applebaum and Amanda
Culp | Stage Management by Rosy Garner* | Public Relations Riegler Media | Marketing

Equity Approved Showcase. * indicated AEA member

80 minutes | Wednesdays-Sundays, March 10-April 2, 2011 | Wednesday-Saturday at 8:00pm, Sundays at 3pm | Teatro Circulo | 64 East 4th Street, NYC | Tickets: $25 | For tickets call 866-811-4111 or visit www.theatermania.com

 

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