The Representatives Latest Site-Specific, Politically-Charged Production of PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON Extends
By: A.A. Cristi
The Representatives latest site-specific, politically-charged production of PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON, which imagines a secret meeting between transgender Army whistle blower Chelsea Manning and President Barack Obama, has added more performances to its limited run, now playing through Sunday, 12/18 at The Studio @ 345 in the Meatpacking District 345 (345 West 13th Street - west of 8th Avenue) NYC. As with all productions by The Representatives, the performance is followed by a party sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery. Tickets are only $40 and $20 for students. They are on sale at therepresentatives.org and brownpapertickets.com.
The play, written by Stan Richardson, and starring Matt Steiner & E. James Ford, is being co-produced by Donny Repsher, with design by Paul Hudson, projections by Thomas Kavanagh, dramaturgy by Jordan Schildcrout, stage management by Zachary Tomlinson, outreach by Caitrin Sneed, hospitality design by Lindsay Maiorana and production assistance by Maren Lavelle.
The production was recently featured in the Village Voice article "Co-Directors of PMGTW on Freedom, Information and Activist Theater", and was named one of the "5 Out-of-the-Box Shows" to see this past winter by Playbill.
The play, which played to sold out houses and glowing international reviews this summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, follows the journey of Internet pioneer and hacktivist Aaron Swartz, as he tries to construct a piece of theatrical activism to free Manning while he himself is fighting his own federal indictment for data theft. PRIVATE MANNING GOES TO WASHINGTON is a timely and trenchant new play about the power of theatre to create empathy, understanding, and justice in an age of virtual realities and manufactured truths.
The Representatives is the collaboration of playwright Stan Richardson and actor Matt Steiner. Since 2012, they have presented 15 original works, ranging from their signature apartment plays to larger site-specific productions; on subject matter ranging from the global financial crisis to mass shootings in the US.
They have been performed in apartments, churches, restaurants and other alternative venues as well as in theatres and festivals. TDF Stages dubbed The Representatives "an underground theatre sensation" and they were also recognized as one of the "Top 10 Theater Experiences" by BroadwayWorld.com Their production of Stan Richardson's VERITAS, the tragic true story of a secret gay witch-hunt at Harvard in 1920, was featured in the American Theatre Magazine's "Deaf Talent, Seen and Heard" and was praised as "agonizingly vivid" by The New York Times.
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