Photo Flash: Rising Sun Performance Company's FRIENDLY FIRE

The New York Premiere of John Patrick Bray's critically acclaimed new play, Friendly's Fire, opened on May 3 at the Theater at the 14th Street Y. The critically acclaimed play is produced by the award-winning Rising Sun Performance Company (RSPC), under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Akia Squitieri. Associate Artistic Director Anna Hogan directs.

In a cabin in Alaska, Guy Friendly, a Gulf War veteran and bee-herder, has just had a tooth stolen during casual sex. His best friend Todd, a pawn-shop owner dressed as an astronaut, finds Friendly in a fevered state. Trapped by the snow, Todd has little choice but enter Friendly's fevered dream, to unravel the events of the night before - and the events of the Gulf War that led Friendly to becoming a shut-in. An homage to Western movies, He-Man action figures, and the playwright's belief as a child that the Sesame Street Muppet Guy Smiley was in fact God, Friendly's Fire sho! ws us to what lengths one man will go to preserve the sanity of his friend - a veteran who lost his brother in service to our country.

The cast features Adeyinka Adebola (Our Father/Secret Theater's Unfringed Festival), Johnny Blaze Leavitt (Love Is A Bad Neighborhood/Theater 54), Ita Korenzecher (Éléphant/Planet Connections), Desiree Pinol (Wolf at the Door/New Jersey Rep), Kyle Porter (Crested Butte/NYC Winterfest), William Serri (Èlèphant/Planet Connections Best Actor Nominee), Hannah Taylor (Playwright's Horizon), and Matthew Weitz (88 Cents/Independent Short).

The creative team includes scenic design Daniel Hogan, costume design Janet Mervin, sound design by Janet Bentley, projection design by Taylor Edelle Stuart, lighting design & technical director Zac Goin, stage management by Callie Stribling, dialect coach & fight director Monica Blaze Leavitt. Assistant director & associate producer Chris Goodrich, production Int! erns Xiaoyu Meng and Sarah Manzo.

Performances take place at The Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 East 14th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), New York, NY 10003. Subway: L train to 1st Avenue. Tickets are $15 (students/seniors/veterans/active military), general admission $25 (online in advance), $30 (at door) and are available at www.14StreetY.org/friendlysfire. Running time: 95 minutes.

Photos by David Anthony.

Matthew Weitz.

Matthew Weitz and Adeyinka Adebola.

Matthew Weitz, Desiree Pinol and Adeyinka Adebola.

Ita Korenzecher and Kyle Porter.

Will Serri and Kyle Porter.

Desiree Pinol