TAPE By Stephen Belber to Play A Limited Engagement At 13th St. Rep Theatre

A very limited engagement of Stephen Belber's TAPE, directed by Leila Berkane is opening next week at the historic 13th Street Repertory Theatre.

Show Business called the play, "a sordid and beautiful take on human relationships." This limited run features Ethan Wayne Smith as Jon, Andrew Tarzia as Vince, and Leila Berkane as Amy. Varvara Ilchenko serves as Assistant Director and Marsh Shugart is lighting and Sound Designer.

The Story: Jon, an aspiring filmmaker on the verge of hitting it big, hooks up for the weekend with his best friend from high school, Vince, a volunteer fireman who makes his money selling dope. Jon's new film is being shown at a festival in Lansing, Michigan, and Vince has come from Oakland to see it. Over the course of the evening, Vince finally gets Jon to admit that ten years ago he date-raped Amy Randall, a girl whom they both dated in high school-only then to reveal that he's taped their entire conversation. And not only that, he's invited Amy to have dinner with them that night. Beneath its suspenseful, high-stakes surface, TAPE examines questions of motive, memory, truth and perception.

The New Yorker described TAPE as, "terrific...Belber has expert fun torturing his characters with the things that never get said, yet the language is uniquely telling and the underlying grief shines through."
The New York Post wrote, "Fascinating and entertaining...a terrific play...real talk, real characters, real situations-a real play."

The performances will run at 7:30pm for 4 consecutive nights, February 5, 6, 7, and 8, 2020.

Director/Actor Berkane describes the character of Amy. "Personally, I really like Amy's character because she's vivacious, She doesn't play victim. She's a strong character to play. She has a fiery personality. I like to play those kinds of roles. And I can relate to her on a personal level because I went through some similar experiences that her character did, so it's relatable to me. I guess that's what attracted me to the play. I also like the dark humor in the play. It's kind of twisted and quirky."

The 13th Street Repertory Theatre is located at 50 West 13th Street in Greenwich Village. Tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets (https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4485719) and on sale at TDF for members. Some tickets will be made available at the box-office for cash paying ticket buyers.