Below are the shows chosen for the 10th anniversary of the Fringe Encore Series, debuting September 10th at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street), selected from both the New York International Fringe Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe.
FRINGE NYC ENCORE
The American Play
The Dirty Blondes
Writer: Ashley J. Jacobson
Director: Darren Johnston
Cast: Michael DeBartolo, Jen Jacob, John Charles Nagy
Performances: 9/17 at 7pm, 9/18 at 9pm, 9/20 at 5pm, 9/21 at 7pm, 9/25 at 9pm
Two college students let their obsession with American Psycho and Patrick Bateman lead them down a rabbit hole of destructive and violent behavior. An in-depth look at modern masculinity, entitlement and false idol worship. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Playwriting.
Beware The Chupacabra!
Mind The Art Entertainment
Writer: Music: Christian De Gré, Lyrics: R. Patrick Alberty
Director: R. Patrick Alberty and Christian De Gré
Musical Director: Aaron Butler
Performances: 10/1 at 9:30pm, 10/4 at 4pm, 10/10 at 9:30pm
The award-winning production team behind the festival hits FATTY FATTY NO FRIENDS, and WHISKEY PANTS: THE MAYOR OF WILLIAMSBURG – is proud to announce the premiere of their brand-new musical, BEWARE THE CHUPACABRA. Seeking to impress his future father-in-law, innocent dressmaker Teddy Baskins embarks on a dark and musical journey from 1920’s New York to the dangerous jungles of Mexico in pursuit of the legendary Chupacabra, a mythical, goat-sucking beast.
The Boys Are Angry
Maineland Productions – Maridee Slater producing
Writer: Jillie Mae Eddy
Director: Sam Plattus
Producer: Maridee Slater
Cast: Jillie Mae Eddy, Nate Houran, and Xander Johnson
Performances: 9/30 at 8pm, 10/1 at 7pm, 10/3 at 7pm
AJ’s angry. Quinn’s in love. And The Girl might just be perfect. From a small, dark corner of a large, run-down compound, three young millennials try to make a connection. Through conversations both real and imagined, they confront on- and off-line communication; present-day American masculinity; and the violent hatred of women at the dark heart of the ‘Manosphere’—all without ever leaving the living room. The Boys are Angry is a warning against a growing and too often underestimated hate group. We are in the midst of an ongoing epidemic of violence against women “Woman is no better than an animal. Parasite and predator, she is Eve: born of Adam’s rib, or she is Delilah, Jezebel, Yoko: pirating our strength, perverting our faith, and breaking up the fucking Beatles.” Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Acting.
The Commedia Rapunzel
The Spaghetti and Meatball Players
Writer: Sam LaFrage (Book and Lyrics)
Director: Sam LaFrage and Dennis Corsi
Choreographer: Sam LaFrage
Cast: Natasha Nightingale, Andy Dispensa, Conor McGuigan, Joe McGurl, Billie Aken Tyers
Performances: 9/12 at 3pm, 9/19 at 3pm, 9/26 at 3pm & 7pm, 10/2 at 7pm
Expect the unexpected as the Spaghetti and Meatball Players, a troupe of poor traveling “Italian” actors, present a zany musical romp through a twisted version of the fairytale “Rapunzel” done in the style of Commedia dell’ Arte!
Coping
Audra Arnaudon Presents
Writer: Jacob Marx Rice
Director: Anna Strasser
Cast: Dinah Berkeley, Lauren LaRocca, Lauren Hennessy, Scott Thomas, Lipicia Shah
Performances: 9/24 at 9:30pm, 9/27 at 7pm, 10/7 at 8pm, 10/8 at 9:30pm
The artists behind last year’s hit Chemistry return to the New York International Fringe Festival with Coping, a pitch black comedy about love, family and the absurdity of death. Coping follows the aftermath of 25-year-old Connor’s suicide, as his friends and loved ones try to piece together the smoking remains of his life. His girlfriend, Sarah, struggles with the guilt of inadvertently handing Connor the means to kill himself. His sister, Jessica, attempts to control every detail of the funeral and punish anyone who questions her, while her girlfriend plays peacemaker. His roommate, Lucas, wanders through life in a stoned haze to avoid the horror of what has happened. As each of them tries desperately to make things right, place blame, and confront their own battles with mental illness, they must find a way to come together and accept the unacceptable, or destroy the memory of the one person they all loved. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Acting.
Divine/Intervention
sbgProductions & Faux Real Entertainment
Writer: E. Dale Smith, Original Concept by Mimi Imfurst
Director: Braden Chapman
Cast: Bobby Goodrich, Ryan Walter, Terrell M. Green, Cosimo Mariano, Nicholas Scheppard
Performances: 9/11 at 7pm, 9/12 at 9pm, 9/19 at 9pm
Glenn Milstead skyrocketed to stardom as drag queen Divine in John Waters’ cult films. Alone, on the night of his untimely death, the quiet man behind the mascara struggles with his inner demons and his larger-than-life creation, Divine. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence for Plays.
Far From Canterbury
Dana M. Lerner in Association with Far From Canterbury, LLC
by Danny K Bernstein
Director: Juliana Kleist-Méndez
Choreographer: Ilana Gilovich
Producer: Dana M. Lerner
Cast: Hannah Richter, Coleman Hemsath, Katie Drinkard, Josh Archer, Bianca Di Cocco, Luke Hoback, Emily Austin, Chandler James Waggoner, Sarah Coffey, T.J. Wagner
Performances: 10/12 at 9:30pm, 10/13 at 8pm, 10/14 at 8pm, 10/16 at 7pm,10/18 at 5pm
Once upon a time, in a land where fairy tales are considered current events, a shy young knight has just one year to find the one thing women desire most, or his fairy tale will be over before it begins! Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence for Musicals.
Feelings: because why pretend the show is about anything else?
Writer/Cast: Tim Manley
Director: Peter Aguero
Performances: 9/25 at 7pm, 9/26 at 7pm, 9/28 at 9pm, 9/30 at 8pm, 10/4 at 7pm
Things ended with the girl I hoped to marry, so I decided to fall for my male best friend. My search for a safe place to rest my too-many emotions, told with hand-drawn gifs to pretend it’s less sad.
HICK: A LOVE STORY, The Romance of Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt
Lilith Theater San Francisco
Writer: Terry Baum with Pat Bond
Director: Carolyn Myers and Adele Prandini
Cast: Terry Baum
Performances: 9/10 at 8pm,, 9/13 at 5pm, 9/16 at 8pm, 9/18 at 7pm, 9/19 at7pm
When Eleanor Roosevelt became First Lady in 1933, she had a lesbian lover — Lorena Hickok, a famous journalist. 2336 letters, from Eleanor to Hick, document their relationship. It changed both their lives. “A compelling one-woman show.” SF Examiner. “Brilliant.” SF Guardian
Loose Canon
No Refunds or Exchanges Co.
Writer: Brian Reno & Gabriel Vega Weissman
Director: Logan Reed
Cast: Becky Baumwoll, Grant Chamberlin, Cynthia Nesbit, Todd Rizley, Tamara Sevunts, Daniel Tepper
Performances: 10/19 at 7pm, 10/20 at 8pm, 10/22 at 9:30pm, 10/23 at 7pm
From Moliére in IKEA to Chekhov in a Tex-Mex restaurant, this series of short comedies satirizes the world of the American consumer in the style of canonical playwrights. It’s a walk through history…if history was a strip mall. Winner of the TheaterMania Fringe Audience Favorite Award.
Lucky Chick Productions
Writer/Cast: Felicity Seidel
Director: Padraic Lillis
Producer: Danielle Gautier
Performances: 10/15 at 9pm, 10/17 at 7pm, 10/18 at 7pm, 10/19 at 7pm, 10/21 at 8pm
Guys with guns. HOT! Plucked from the crowd by Bob Weir at a Dead show. CRAZY! On tour with the band: Lear jets, pythons, Hells Angels. WOOHOO! A pissed-off drug-kingpin boyfriend. UH-OH. Buckle up, sweetheart. It’s one helluva ride.
Maybe Tomorrow
The Poet Acts, Inc.
Writer: Max Mondi
Director/Producer: Tomer Adorian
Producers: Danielle Bourgeois, Jessica Wanamaker
Cast: Jennifer Bareielles, Harrison Unger
Performances: 9/15 at 8pm, 9/17 at 9:30pm, 9/19 at 7pm, 9/20 at 5pm, 9/23 at 8pm
A woman chooses to live exclusively in her boyfriend’s bathroom. Their otherwise “normal” relationship is thriving until someone else enters the scene. Inspired by true events, Maybe Tomorrow is a tragicomical, meta-theatrical experience about love, fame, and a toilet. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence for Plays.
Naked Hamilton
Naked-On-the-Run Productions
Writer: Sky Gilbert
Director: Sky Gilbert
Cast: Scott McCord and Suzanne Bennett
Performances: 10/3 at 7:30pm, 10/4 at 5pm, 10/5 at 7pm, 10/6 at 8pm, 10/7 at 8pm, 10/10 at 7pm, 10/11 at 5pm
Naked Hamilton is about working class people – everywhere — and about cities – everywhere — cities that put massive corporate profits above quality of human life. The raw story of an aging sex trade worker (Tee) and her ex-lover (Tom) getting kicked out of their favorite bar. Hamilton is a small city just outside of Toronto — analogous to Queens. Who wins — real people or gentrification? They share a dialogue that is frank, and obscene. And what we realize after spending 40 minutes with them is that despite the yelling, swearing and manipulations they also share a kind of love.
POPESICAL
Tilted Windmills Theatricals
Writer: Adam Overett
Director/Choreographer: Drew Geraci
Cast: Stephen Christopher Anthony (Book of Mormon), Alexa Green (Wicked), Jason Veasey ( Lion King), Lucas Thompson (Cats), Rachel Coloff (Urinetown), David Perlman (Baby, It’s You!), and Susan Jacks (Forbidden Broadway)
Performances: 9/28 at 7pm, 10/5 at 9:30pm, 10/12 at 7pm, 10/19 at 9:30pm, 10/26 at 7pm
The Pope is dead. The Cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to choose a new Pope. No one has ever seen what happens – until now. The backbiting. The sacrilege. The hilarious song-and-dance. An over-the-top musical comedy, POPESICAL suggests that love can be the most powerful form of faith. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence for Musicals.
SCHOOLED
The All-Americans
Writer: Lisa Lewis
Director: James Kautz
Cast: Lilli Stein, Quentin Maré, Stephen Friedrich
Performances: 10/5 at 7pm, 10/9 at 9:30pm, 10/10 at 7pm, 10/11 at 7pm, 10/17 at 7pm
From acclaimed storyteller Lisa Lewis comes SCHOOLED, a fiercely funny and gripping new play about privilege, ambition, and the lengths we’ll go to succeed. Two students and their professor find themselves in a taut threesome that tests their relationship and their ethics. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Playwriting.
The Submarine Show
Slater and Jaron
Writer/Director/Choreographer/Cast: Jaron Hollander (Cirque Du Soleil) and Slater Penney (Emmy Award winner)
Performances: 9/21 at 9pm, 9/22 at 8pm, 9/23 at 8pm, 9/24 at 7pm, 9/25 at 7pm, 9/26 at 9pm, 9/27 at 5pm
Two men crash their submarine on the ocean floor. You laugh as they cry, swim, fly and go insane, a madcap journey from the ocean to the sky.
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again
Writer: David Foster Wallace
Director: Suzanne Weber
Cast: Christopher Duva (The Elephant Man, Beauty and the Beast)
Performances: 9/13 at 7pm, 9/16 at 8pm, 9/18 at 7pm, 9/20 at 7pm, 9/22 at 8pm
David Foster Wallace barely survives the “insanity-producing pampering” provided while on assignment aboard a 7-Night Caribbean Cruise. Meet solicitous fun-managers, Dickensian crewmen, beautiful Petra and Captain Video in this adaptation of his tragicomic tale of Americans adrift.
Your Love, Our Musical!
Writer/Director/Cast: Rebecca Vigil and Evan Kaufman
Performances: 9/14 at 8pm, 9/21 at 7pm, 9/28 at 7pm, 10/1 at 9:30pm, 10/16 at 7pm
Rebecca Vigil and Evan Kaufman interview an unsuspecting couple in the audience and improvise a brand-new musical based off their love story! It’s adorable, romantic, and no two shows are the same! Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Acting.
EDINBURGH FRINGE ENCORE
Writer/Director: Josie Long
Cast: Josie Long
Performances: 10/23 at 9pm, 10/24 at 9pm, 10/25 at 3pm, 10/27 at 7pm, 10/28 at 7pm, 10/29 at 7pm, 10/30 at 9pm
The three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and cult optimist is back with her new one-man show about love and being outdoorsy as a bear. This is by far her most personal show to date: with a new niece in the picture, Josie reflects on her own childhood and the resilience of an older sister. Oh, there are also some mentions about the Quakers and Walt Whitman too. Cara Josephine enjoyed a total sell-out run and was the overall best-reviewed comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014.
No Prophet Theatre Company
Writer/Director: Kat Woods
Cast: Will Merrick (Skins, About Time) and Serena Jennings.
Performances: 10/15 at 7pm, 10/16 at 9:30pm, 10/17 at 9pm, 10/18 at 7pm, 10/21 at 8pm, 10/22 at 7pm, 10/25 at 7pm
Based on true events. An engaging and unsettling drama in one act. Wasted explores the grey area in consensual sex and how outside pressures can blur the lines of what did happen and what we think happened. This dark drama puts the audience in the jury seat and forces us to make a judgment on a crime which is based on feelings and emotions rather than fact and evidence. From the writer of Belfast Boy, a winner of the 2014 Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award.
21st Century Jew
Writer/Director: Daniel Cainer
Cast: Daniel Cainer
Performances: 9/26 at 3pm, 9/30 at 3pm, 10/2 at 7pm, 10/7 at 7pm, 10/11 at7pm
Brand new stories-in-song from this award-winning master songwriter. Fringe favourite Cainer explores the challenges and contradictions of being Jewish in 21st century Britain. A show for anyone who has ever wrestled with their heritage, their history, their home and their heart… Jewish or not. ‘At times heartbreakingly poignant, at others laugh out loud funny. Utterly charming, thoroughly recommended’ (Edinburgh Festivals Magazine). ‘Does on stage what I do on the page’ (Howard Jacobson). ‘Must see’ (Daily Mirror). ‘Fast-paced, incredibly amusing, and even a little bit naughty. Genius… an unsurpassed storyteller’ ***** (ThreeWeeks). **** (Time Out).
Writer/Cast: Erin Layton
Director: Julie Cline
Performances: 10/4 at 7pm, 10/6 at 8pm, 10/8 at 7pm, 10/9 at 7pm, 10/11 at 5pm
The little known stories of the women and girls who were sent to wash away their sins in commercial laundries run by orders of nuns in mid twentieth-century Ireland are revealed in a singular, compelling, multi-character performance. Erin Layton swiftly transitions in and out of time periods, voices and images that ‘breed anger, compassion, sorrow and mistrust’ (TheatreReviews.com), ‘embodying with ease all of these many disparate characters and making them all flesh and blood people in this one-woman show. The performance of the festival’ (HuffingtonPost.com). Magdalen was the recipient of the Best Documentary Script at the United Solo Festival in 2013.
Writer: Alexander Wright
Director: Joe Hufton
Composer: Jim Harbourne
Producer: Brian Hook
Performances: 10/20 at 8pm, 10/23 at 7pm, 10/24 at 7pm*, 10/25 at 7pm, 10/27 at 7pm, 10/28 at 7pm, 10/30 at 7pm
J runs so fast she bursts into a million tiny pieces, her atoms unknitting themselves and spreading across the universe. Blair stands on a broken pier with a glass of white wine in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other, looking up at the stars. A story about two very different people who change each other profoundly. Following folk-hit hit Beulah (***** Scotsman) and Babylon (‘Ruddy gorgeous’ Guardian) we return with a tale of freedom, immortality and planting trees for those who come after us. A show wound from spoken word, storytelling, soaring live music and good, honest heart and soul. The Flanagan Collective are critically acclaimed, national company based ay York Theatre Royal, UK. They make work about people, about who and where we are and about how we can change each other profoundly. Their work is wound from live music and spoken word – taking influence from Kate Tempest to Tom Waits. They have taken their work to pubs, railway arches, empty warehouses and London’s West End.
