The Longest Lunch Presents SATURN NIGHTS, 1/27-2/5

Formerly a project of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, the Incubator Arts Project supports independent, experimental performing artists through a series of programs aimed at offering production opportunities and guidance with long-term growth and artistic sustainability.

Ticketing info: General $18/Student $14 - Cash only at the door. Purchase in advance at incubatorarts.org or by calling TheaterMania at 212-352-3101. Incubator Arts Project (inside St. Mark's Church)

• 131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Ave.)

L to First or Third Ave; R, W to Broadway/8th St.; 6 to Astor Place; N,Q, 4, 5 to Union Sq.

Linda's just come home and Dad is still comatose near a mysterious hole in the backyard. When daughter Dallas climbs down to get a better look at what's happening underground, the inevitable chain reaction of events rocks her dying religious community to its core. Saturn Night s is a meditation on longing, examining ideas of national, sexual and personal identity across a surreal and particularly American topography. Intensely familiar and grotesque characters drawn from the stock of the American media machine expose the fragility of those at the margins in the face large groups and loud voices. Barbagallo's vast, visually and aurally detailed landscapes occasion sound and video design that integrate grit and squalor with lyric elegance. The domestic, humorous and at times obscene vocabulary articulates a world that is political without being pedantic, and pushes the limits of theatrical storytelling.

Saturn Nights features Kristen Sieh (The TEAM), Anna Foss Wilson and Rachel Murdy (originated roles in the New York hit The Donkey Show), Emily Davis (Half Straddle), Laryssa Husiak (Theater of a Two-Headed Calf), Joe(Target Margin), Lucy Alibar (New Georges writer and 2010 Sundance winner), Nic Grelli (Labyrinth), Gregori LaToya Lewis (The Octoroon), Greg Zuccolo (Nurses in New England).

 

Sound Design by Bessie Award winner Chris Giarmo (Big Dance Theater) who the NY Times calls "multi-talented"Lighting by Paul Toben ( Story of My Life on Broadway), Set Design by Mary Chan and Culturebot calls "Fantastic", (Corina Copp's Waltz), Video by Jared Mezzocchi (Big Art Group), Costumes by Mike Deangelis (Nurses in New England). The production is directed by Meghan Finn (associate director of Soho Rep's Blasted) the longest lunch is happy to present Saturn Nights Jess Barbagallo, who began working with longest lunch co-founder Finn as part of the 2009/10 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. the longest lunch was founded in 2002 in Los Angeles. In the past eight years, the company has produced the work of 150 theater, dance, music and visual artists in New York and LA. longest lunch productions have included Misha Shulman's The Fake History of George the Last (Theater for the New City), Valerie Work's A Week at the NJ Shore (Bushwick Starr, October 2009 and Pulse Performing Arts Center, June 2010). E.E. Cummings' HIM (Walkerspace), Trying to Remain Upright (IRT Space, Chelsea with Oh Dear Dance Theater), Pop Art by Joanne Hudson (HERE Arts), Scientific Americans by John Mighton (Vital on 42nd Street), and Bedizen by Zhen Heinemann (Celebration Theater, Hollywood). The company has twice produced eat itin 2005 and 2007 in Downtown Manhattan, featuring the work of theater, dance, music and performance (the festival) artists.

Jess Barbagallo recently appeared in Jet Lag with The Builder's Association and toured Italy in John Turturro's  Fiabe Italiane. She appeared in Classic Stage Company's An Oresteia and toured internationally with Big Dance Theater in their production, The Other Here. Jess has performed regularly with the companies Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf, Half Straddle and Red Terror Squad. Jess's play, Grey-Eyed Dogs, debuted at Dixon Place as a Mondo Cane commission and she is a writer and performer with Room for Cream, a live lesbian soap opera presented at La Mama. Jess developed her play I'll Meet You in Tijuana in the 2009/10 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. She is currently workshopping a new piece, Without Me I'm Something, at a variety of downtown venues (Sugarland, Barbes, Pete's Candy Store, Catch Series) and will premiere her play Saturn Nights in January 2010 at the Incubator Arts Project. She graduated from the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University and received a graduate degree in playwriting from Brooklyn College under the tutelage of playwright Mac Wellman.

More information on the company: www.longestlunch.com