TMT's SECOND LANGUAGE Plays 2/17-3/5

Target Margin Theater (David Herskovits, Artistic Director) continues its 20th Anniversary Season with a new work, Second Language, created by the company in collaboration with LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC). Directed by David Herskovits, and featuring TMT Artists Purva Bedi and Yehuda Hyman, and the students from LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC): Ayhan Aktas, Therese Benoit, Mark Casino, Daniel Glass, Sharif Griggs, Katie Hoffacker, Dana King, Lakia Lewis, Hoi Lun Lui, Bruce Pavia, Michelle Sanchez, Steven Sowell, and Fernando Torres.

Performances begin Thursday, February 17, 2011 for a limited three week engagement through March 5, 2011 at The Chocolate Factory (5-49 49th Ave. Long Island City, Queens).

The challenge of facing a world where we do not speak the native tongue is universal: alienation and the struggle to communicate are our themes. How can people connect? How do we adapt to our failures to connect? How does the world respond to an alien tongue? How can our whole culture grow and adapt to difference? In a certain way, we all speak a second language.

"Second Language will be the premiere of a new company-created work, featuring Target Margin's distinctive artistry and unique process," said David Herskovits. "We have all been foreigners; everyone has struggled to learn a new tongue or express themselves to an uncomprehending world and the comedy and struggle of that challenge is the subject of Second Language." He went on to add, "Our production is rooted in the experiences of a rich community of second language learners in Long Island City, and the personal perspectives of this diverse local population are fundamental to our production. Second Language represents a deepening collaboration with LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Queens: LAGCC students will work alongside professionals to create Second Language."

In closing, he said, "As in our recent success with The Really Big Once, the company will use improvisational strategies, research, and myriad workshop experiments to craft a new play based on existing material; English as a Second Language textbooks, personal interviews and stories from LAGCC students, and journalistic reporting are the key sources. In the end, Second Language is a deeply personal, artistically innovative exploration of language in one of the world's most diverse communities: Queens, New York."

The creative team includes Lenore Doxsee (set), Annie Simon (costumes), Natalie Robin (lights), and Kate Marvin (sound).

Second Language will play the following performance schedule: Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased online at www.chocolatefactorytheater.org, www.targetmargin.org, by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101.

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