Theater for the New City and the Textile Co. Present BUTTERFLY HOUR, Now thru 12/14

Theater for the New City and the Textile Co. in December are presenting Butterfly Hour, a new play about soldiers returning and adjusting to life on the home front. This production stars Tom Ashton, Christina Germaine, Scott McIntyre and Paul Wallace and is directed by Daniel Higgins.

Performances of the play, written by Claude Solnik, are today, Dec. 4-6 and 11-13 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 7 and 14 at 3 p.m. at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., between 9th and 10th Streets.

Butterfly Hour mixes realistic dialogue with a dramatic plot, telling the story of three soldiers (including one engaged to be married) who get together for an "operation" at home -- after spending years at war. We follow Matt (Tom Ashton), Rick (Scott McIntyre) and Oats (Paul Wallace) once they return from Iraq with big ambitions and very little money. When Matt and Bethany (Christina Germaine) decide to get married, the couple's economic problems become more pressing. The friends try to solve their financial problems with a plan that could set them up for years to come -- or destroy their lives.

"The play looks at life after soldiers leave the battlefield," Solnik said. "We look at what happens when people come back and have to rebuild their relationships."

Solnik developed the script with the help of Higgins and actors who made suggestions and improvised scenes. He said the performers brought experiences and points of view that make the script more powerful.

"Actors can get to know their characters as well or better than the writer," Solnik said. "They can be a big part of the writing process as well as the performance."

The plot follows friends and a fiancée in Florida through a world of MAMs -- military aged males -- memories, music and even brushes up against Jimi Hendrix's guitar.

"We want audiences to feel as if they're seeing stories come to life," Higgins said of this show presented in an intimate setting. "We don't want them to feel like they're watching from a distance."

The Theater for the New City production is being presented along with the Textile Co., a new group that seeks to weave story and character into riveting theater.

"We're trying to bring the audience's attention to the human condition of soldiers and their families," Higgins said. "Just because the uniform is gone doesn't meant the war is."

The group plans to present the show using video footage, to give the play additional texture and further bring the story to life.

This is the third play by Claude Solnik and second directed by Daniel Higgins and co-produced by Deborah Kruel Rupy that Theater for the New City has presented, following Lady From Limerick and The Falls.

Tickets are available for $15 general admission and $12 students and seniors online at the Theater for the New City website at www.theaterforthenewcity.net and by phone at (212) 254-1109.

Theater for the New City was founded in 1971 by Crystal Field, George Bartenieff, Theo Barnes and Lawrence Kornfeld, Also known by the acronym "TNC," the theater has presented the work of many playwrights, directors and actors. Its productions have won 43 Obie awards ante the Pulitzer Prize for drama. A 4-theater complex in a 30,000-square-foot space, TNC today remains a vibrant part of the New York City theater scene.

The Textile Co. - A new theater group, The Textile Co. seeks to weave both true and fictional stories into plays, often dealing with larger issues. Butterfly Hour is the group's third co-production with TNC, following Lady From Limerick and The Falls.