Gallows Humor

Once again, Custom Made Theatre brings a Kurt Vonnegut novel to the stage with the world premiere of Brian Katz's adaptation of Vonnegut's third and highly celebrated novel, Mother Night.

A dark, anti-semetic joke alluding to cycling made the rounds in Europe between the First and Second World Wars and was the inspiration for a bitter absurdist cabaret called The Last Cyclist written in 1944 in the Terezin Concentration Camp by the young Czech playwright, Karel Švenk. This Chaplin-esque play was seen by many Terezin Ghetto inmates during rehearsals but it was banned by the ghetto's Council of Jewish Elders after its dress rehearsal. Švenk was sent to Auschwitz a few months later and his script was lost forever. Playwright Naomi Patz has reconstructed and reimaged Švenk's integral work and is bringing the The Last Cyclist to New York City audiences for the first time. Performances begin Today May 25 at the West End Theatre at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew (263 W 86th St).

A dark, anti-semetic joke alluding to cycling made the rounds in Europe between the First and Second World Wars and was the inspiration for a bitter absurdist cabaret called The Last Cyclist written in 1944 in the Terezin Concentration Camp by the young Czech playwright, Karel Švenk. This Chaplin-esque play was seen by many Terezin Ghetto inmates during rehearsals but it was banned by the ghetto's Council of Jewish Elders after its dress rehearsal. Švenk was sent to Auschwitz a few months later and his script was lost forever. Playwright Naomi Patz has reconstructed and reimaged Švenk's integral work and is bringing the The Last Cyclist to New York City audiences for the first time. Performances begin Saturday May 25 at the West End Theatre at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew (263 W 86th St).

Playwright Jack Richardson, known for his work on and off Broadway in the 1960s, passed away Sunday, July 1, 2012. He was 78.