Present Company News

Gideon Productions, LLC presents VIRAL, a play by Mac Rogers, directed by Jordana Williams, at the New York International Fringe Festival, a production of The Present Company.

Adam Blanshay & Lyric Productions, in association with The Present Company, presents the U.S. Premiere of multi Award-winning playwright Daniel MacIvor's HIS GREATNESS - based on a potentially true story about two days in the last years of the life of playwright Tennessee Williams - as part of the 13th Annual New York International Fringe Festival with five performances only, between August 14-30 at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) in Manhattan.

TOSOS (Doric Wilson, Mark Finley and Barry Childs), in association with The Present Company, presents the New York premiere of AND SOPHIE COMES TOO -- Meryl Cohn's new play about three very different Jewish sisters and their sometimes-too-loving mom Sophie, in a contemporary comedy, with both heart and brains -- as part of the 13th Annual New York International Fringe Festival, with five performances only between August 15-29 at The Cherry Pit Theater (155 Bank Street). Mark Finley directs.

Dallas' Bootstraps Comedy Theater presents THE BOXER: A Silent Film Onstage at the New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC. A production of The Present Company from August 26th to August 30th. Tickets cost $15. For tickets visit www.FringeNYC.org.

Executive producer David Rambo and producer Christopher Massimine will present Jay Sefton's award-winning play, The Most Mediocre Story Never Told!, as part of the 13th annual New York International Fringe Festival August 14-30.

Broadway's Sean Bradford (The Lion King) and Adam Kantor (RENT),in association with The Present Company, will present the world-premiere of A Contemporary American's Guide to a Successful Marriage © 1959 written by Robert Bastron and directed by Adam Fitzgerald at the Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street, as part of the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival.

The 13th annual Philly Fringe, which runs in conjunction with the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival from September 4 - 19, will host 185 artists during sixteen days of performances in over 80 venues throughout Philadelphia. The 2009 Festival is the largest Philly Fringe in Festival history, topping 2008?s record breaking number of artists. Showcasing the work of Festival veterans and first-time participants, the diverse line-up includes theater, dance, comedy, performance art, music, poetry, puppetry, visual art, and work that incorporates multiple genres and disciplines, offering audiences the excitement of discovering new work from the region?s vibrant performing arts community as well as artists from around the country.

Broadway's Sean Bradford (The Lion King) and Adam Kantor (RENT),in association with The Present Company, will present the world-premiere of A Contemporary American's Guide to a Successful Marriage © 1959 written by Robert Bastron and directed by Adam Fitzgerald at the Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street, as part of the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival.

Justin Allen Pifer, in association with The Present Company, presents the World-Premiere of THE BOYS UPSTAIRS - Jason Mitchell's new comedy about and sex, dating, friendship and all the blurry lines in between - as part of the 13th Annual New York International Fringe Festival with five performances only, between August 14-30 at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street) in Manhattan.

Wide Eyed Productions proudly presents their first children's play: an original commissioned work, JACK AND THE SOY BEANSTALK, as part of The 13th annual New York International Fringe Festival (a presentation of The Present Company) - FringeJR - Downtown Manhattan, August 14th - 30th, 2009.

Justin Allen Pifer, in association with The Present Company, presents the World-Premiere of THE BOYS UPSTAIRS - Jason Mitchell's new comedy about and sex, dating, friendship and all the blurry lines in between - as part of the 13th Annual New York International Fringe Festival with five performances only, between August 14-30 at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street) in Manhattan.

Kampfire PR is pleased to introduce their line-up of 2009 FringeNYC productions. Four shows guaranteed to set FIRE to your summer theatre experience. From a dark comedy that examines the experience of sex in the modern age (The Books), an arctic chronicle of a woman's journey down below (The Antarctic Chronicles), a woman who's unexpected illness challenges her relationships (Look After You), and an indestructible man's leap into love (Eli and Cheryl Jump).

The Jamal Lullabies is a musical tribute and lament written and scored by Emily Conbere and directed by Paul Bargetto. In the piece four young, white women sing about Jamal, a beloved black student at their school who was killed at a gang shooting during a party. As the women unfold their stories it becomes clear that each of them loved him in profound ways that altered the course of their lives. The Jamal Lullabies is a potently ironic exploration of love and race in the popular cultural imagination. It stars Bekah Coulter, Debbie Friedman, Kristina Teschner, and Nicole Stefonek

The Jamal Lullabies is a musical tribute and lament written and scored by Emily Conbere and directed by Paul Bargetto. In the piece four young, white women sing about Jamal, a beloved black student at their school who was killed at a gang shooting during a party. As the women unfold their stories it becomes clear that each of them loved him in profound ways that altered the course of their lives. The Jamal Lullabies is a potently ironic exploration of love and race in the popular cultural imagination. It stars Bekah Coulter, Debbie Friedman, Kristina Teschner, and Nicole Stefonek

The Flea Theater (Jim Simpson, Artistic Director; Carol Ostrow, Producing Director) presents a Frances Black Production: Even Maybe Tammy (Or, a Cockamamie Bucket of Ruckus, conceived and directed by Christopher Bayes, written by Christopher Bayes and The Company, music by Alex Knox with Barret O?Brien, lyrics by Christopher Bayes and The Company, lighting design by Adrian Rooney, June 3-13 at The Flea Theater (41 White Street, New York, NY).

Tony Winner Dan Fogler premiered his directing debut at the Tribeca Film Festival last week. The movie, Hysterical Psycho, is a spoof of cabin in the woods movies, made with his theater group, Stage 13.

Manhattan Community Boards One, Two, Three, Four and Five are coming together for an unprecedented joint Public Forum on Small to Mid-Sized Theaters, which are an important part of the sustainability and resilience of NYC small businesses and local economies.

The Hairy Ape follows the saga of Yank, a maritime laborer who questions his place in society when branded as 'a filthy beast' by the rich daughter of a steel industrialist. In a series of eight scenes, O'Neill chronicles Yank's struggle with 'the human condition,' caught somewhere between his own primitive nature and the more intellectually based-and emotionally vacant-upper classes. Rejected by the bourgeois of Fifth Avenue as well as his fellow workers, Yank finally seeks solace from the only creature with whom he finds kinship: an ape in the Central Park Zoo. The Provincetown Players premiered The Hairy Ape, O'Neill's sixth play, in March 1922 under the direction of frequent O'Neill collaborator Robert Edmond Jones. That production, featuring Louis Wolheim's powerful performance as Yank, moved that April to Broadway's Plymouth Theatre. In 1944, a film version of the play featured William Bendix and in the ensuing decades the play has received dozens of notable revivals around the country; perhaps the most celebrated of these was The Wooster Group's 1996 production, featuring Willem Dafoe as Yank.

Two of Chicago's acclaimed off-Loop theater troupes join Goodman Theatre's 21st century exploration of Eugene O'Neill in February and March. The Hypocrites perform The Hairy Ape February 7-21, directed by Artistic Director and Founder Sean Graney, 'one of the most insightful directors now at work in Chicago' (Chicago Sun-Times), who transforms Goodman's three-tiered Owen Bruner Theatre into the various strata of an ocean liner. The Neo-Futurists, 'one of the most imaginative experimental theater ensembles in the country' (The Economist), perform Strange Interlude March 6-8, directed by Founder Greg Allen, in a production which unites audience and actors on the stage.

Two of Chicago's acclaimed off-Loop theater troupes join Goodman Theatre's 21st century exploration of Eugene O'Neill in February and March. The Hypocrites perform The Hairy Ape February 7-21, directed by Artistic Director and Founder Sean Graney, 'one of the most insightful directors now at work in Chicago' (Chicago Sun-Times), who transforms Goodman's three-tiered Owen Bruner Theatre into the various strata of an ocean liner. The Neo-Futurists, 'one of the most imaginative experimental theater ensembles in the country' (The Economist), perform Strange Interlude March 6-8, directed by Founder Greg Allen, in a production which unites audience and actors on the stage.