Theater For The New City Debuts Joanne Schultz's Dramedy About Perimenopause

 

Theater for the New City Executive Artistic Director Crystal Field is presenting the premiere of "A Tale of Love and Perimenopause - from the East Village and Beyond," a seriocomic theater fable written and directed by Joanne Schultz with original music composed and played live by Ralph Denzer and Susan Hwang.

The show, about the ups and downs of a woman's romantic relationships during perimenopause, is running in the Community Space, at Theater for the New City, at 155 First Avenue at East Tenth Street in Manhattan, Sept. 28 - Oct. 1 Tickets are available by clicking this link.

"It's one woman's unpredictable journey through perimenopause during two romantic relationships," said Schultz, who has gone from working in The Bread and Puppet Theater to a career directing, devising and writing theater. "Perimenopause is the time leading up to a woman's menopause that can last from two to fourteen years."

Following one relationship, we watch the lead character The Woman Without a Clue pursue a romance with The Desperate Artist. With The Man in the Blue Blazer, we see her and those around her cope with symptoms of perimenopause including mood swings, fatigue and much more.

"Can her intimate relationships survive the strain?" Schultz asked of the show, which at once asks, and to an extent, answers this question in the plot.

Desire, anxiety, humor, pathos and a whimsical use of props and information about women's health all combine to make a playful, serio-comic show.

Schultz is a New York City-based stage director and writer who develops and directs theater for social change including new plays, devised theater, music-theater and puppet/object/performance in New York City and around the world. Her work includes "Widowbird" directed for The Street Theatre in Canberra, Australia and "Traces of a Mother" devised for Ninth Street Theater at Theater for the New City.

"I wanted to find a theatrical way to jumpstart a frank, public conversation about perimenopause, outlining some of the struggles middle-aged women face in romantic relationships at midlife and invite audience members to have a point of view on the show and share their experiences," Schultz said. "I'm also advocating for better public education about the menopausal process that might shift public perception so that women and all people who experience menopause can be fully accepted as themselves as they age. There's no way an aging woman can remain forever 39. And why should she?"

"A Tale of Love..." features Isabelle Garbani ("Ourika!" selected for the Sundance Festival and "My Body, My Health, My Choice" for the New York Theater Festival) in the lead role and Peter Welch (A&E's critically acclaimed "Fugitive Chronicles" and the Cannes Film Festival award-winning short "A Bike Ride") in three supporting roles.

Co-composers Ralph Denzer (Richard Schechner/East Coast Artists' "Faust/Gastronome" and Eric Bass's adaptation of Brecht's "The Caucasian Chalk Circle") and Susan Hwang ("Captain John Smith Goes to Ukraine" for Yara Arts Group and "Bushwick Book Club" literary-themed performance series) will play incidental music influenced by jazz, samba, tango, pop and electronic music on trumpet, piano, accordion, synthesizer and percussion to create an array of musical textures and sound effects.

"The production is at once serious and comic," Schultz said. "It scrutinizes themes such as conflicts in relationships, gender inequity, women and reproduction, women and aging, the male gaze and perimenopausal symptoms."

We hear lines about sex as "a time bomb between your legs" and what it's like to lose control of your body in "the boxing arena of the bedroom." "I was never one to define myself solely as a woman," the main character proclaims, "but perimenopause is turning me into one!"

The show weaves together drama and humor as we follow one woman, her relationships and life as well as those around her in a story complete with laughter, love and struggle.

"The goal of the production is to create a seriously fun and audience-friendly theater show to highlight women's changes and challenges during perimenopause in their intimate partnerships," Schultz added.

The production will also include post-show talkbacks designed to promote dialogue, raise awareness and normalize these changes in public discourse.

Joanne Schultz has developed and directed new work with playwrights, performers, composers and musicians at The Street Theatre in Canberra, Australia, and for a decade led the collaborative company Ninth Street Theater in devising socially engaged shows for audiences at Theater for the New City and Performance Space 122 in New York City's East Village as well as in the eastern United States and Germany.

The media has praised her productions as "sparkling theater spectacle ... a fascinating, skillful theater play" (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) and "an endlessly inventive marvel... in an evening of continual surprise for the audience" (The Village Voice).

Schultz began her theater career in her twenties, touring the United States, Canada and Europe for five years with The Bread and Puppet Theater.

The production team includes Isabelle Garbani (set design), Theater for the New City's resident lighting designer Alexander Bartenieff (lighting) and resident costume designer Billy Little (costumes). Stage management is by Ellery Cordes.

"A Tale of Love and Perimenopause - From the East Village and Beyond" is an Equity approved Showcase and Peter Welch appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. The production is made possible in part by funds from Creative Engagement, a re-grant program supported by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council.

"A Tale of Love and Perimenopause - From the East Village and Beyond," The Community Space at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (between 9th and 10th Streets, Manhattan; Sept. 28 - Oct. 1. Thurs. - Sat. at. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18/$12 for seniors and students. Running time is approximately one hour and 15 minutes with no intermission. For tickets, call (212) 254-1109 or visit this ticket link.

Event Listing: https://theaterforthenewcity.net/shows/a-tale-of-love-and-perimenopause-from-the-east-village-and-beyond/

Show Website: https://www.nyfa.org/fiscal-sponsorship/project-directory/view-project/?id=JS1449

 

 

 

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