All That Chat - PREMIERES ANNOUNCES 2014 "INNER VOICES" SERIES -- "GRACE" & "THE OTHER ROOM" -- PERFORMANCES BEGIN OCTOBER 4 AT TBG THEATRE

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PREMIERES ANNOUNCES 2014 "INNER VOICES" SERIES -- "GRACE" & "THE OTHER ROOM" -- PERFORMANCES BEGIN OCTOBER 4 AT TBG THEATRE

Posted by:	Official_Press_Release 06:04 pm EDT 09/10/14

PREMIERES (Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director) ANNOUNCES 2014 INNER VOICES SERIES “GRACE" BY CHARLAYNE WOODARD MUSIC BY KIRSTEN CHILDS DIRECTED BY SHIRLEY JO FINNEY “THE OTHER ROOM” BY MARK CAMPBELL MUSIC BY MARISA MICHELSON DIRECTED BY ETHAN HEARD THE TBG THEATRE (312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor) 30 PERFORMANCES ONLY OCTOBER 4-NOVEMBER 1, 2014 PREMIERES (Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director), the New York based music theater organization whose mission is “to bring new music theatre to light,” is pleased to announce the double bill that will comprise this season’s Inner Voices, the biannual series of solo works featuring news teams of playwrights and composers. Performances will begin on Saturday, October 4th at 3pm at The TBG Theatre (312 West 36th Street – between 8th & 9th Avenues). Opening Night is Saturday, October 11th at 8:00pm. Performances will continue through November 1. Grace, a haunting and soulful tale about brilliant, arrogant, award-winning novelist, Grace Monroe, as she faces the most devastating challenge of her life, forcing her to reassess her past, present and future. Libretto by award-winning actress and playwright Charlayne Woodard and score by Kirsten Childs. The Other Room is a moving and often humorous solo piece celebrating the power of friendship and political engagement in the midst of the AIDS crisis. Lena reflects on her profound love for her friend Steve at a critical point in their relationship when he becomes seriously ill. Libretto by Mark Campbell and score by Marisa Michelson. Paulette Haupt describes the evening as “two intimate explorations of loss, courage and triumph. I could not be more thrilled with the work that these new collaborative teams have created. The tapestry of words and music in both pieces is exceptional, full of poetic reflection and introspection, passion, melodic and inspiring. Both Grace Monroe and Lena face their challenges with valiant and bold acquiescence.” Inner Voices will play the following performance schedule: Monday through Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 3pm & 8pm. Tickets are $25 and are available through Smartix.com/(212) 868-4444. Tickets will also be available at The TBG Theatre box office one hour before performance time. The cast and creative team for both productions will be announced at a later date. Bios Charlayne Woodard (Libretto, Grace) Ms. Woodard’s first solo play, Pretty Fire, was produced at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, where it received LA Drama Critics and NAACP awards for best play and best playwright, Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Rep (directed by Dan Sullivan), and La Jolla Playhouse (directed by Michael Greif). Her second solo play, Neat, was developed at Seattle Rep, and subsequently produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, where it received the Irving and Blanche Laurie Theatre Vision Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination; Seattle Rep and the Mark Taper Forum (both directed by Dan Sullivan), where the play received a Backstage West Garland Award. Her third solo play, In Real Life, was commissioned by Center Theatre Group and Seattle Rep, and developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab. In Real Life (directed by Dan Sullivan) was produced at Seattle Rep; the Mark Taper Forum, where the play received a Backstage West Garland Award and NAACP Awards for best playwright and actor and Manhattan Theatre Club, where Ms. Woodard received an Audelco Award and was nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for best solo performance. Her fourth solo play, The Night Watcher, was developed at the Ojai Playwrights’ Conference and La Jolla Playhouse’s Page To The Stage. The Night Watcher, directed by Dan Sullivan, was produced at Seattle Rep; Primary Stages; and the Kirk Douglas Theatre, where the play received LA Drama Critics and NAACP Awards for best solo performance, as well as nominations from both for best play. Flight, Ms. Woodard’s multi-character adaptation of African and African- American folktales, was commissioned by Center Theatre Group and produced at the Kirk Douglas Theatre and ACT in Seattle. Her plays are all published by Dramatists Play Service and performed at regional theatres around the country. As an actress, Ms. Woodard’s recent theatre credits include the revival of The Substance of Fire at Second Stage Theatre; The Witch of Edmonton at the Red Bull Theatre Company (Obie Award); the world premiere of In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by David Esbjornson (Obie Award); Stunning by David Adjmi at LCT3; and Fabulation by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whorisky at Playwright’s Horizons. Other notable performances include Sorrows and Rejoicings written and directed by Athol Fugard at Second Stage (Audelco Award); The Good Person Of Setzuan, adapted by Tony Kushner, directed by Lisa Peterson; and The Caucasian Chalk Circle directed by George C. Wolfe at the Public Theatre. On Broadway, Ms. Woodard was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her role in the original company of Ain’t Misbehavin’. Regional credits include Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Chris Ashley at La Jolla Playhouse; The Taming of the Shrew (Kate), directed by Rebbecca Taishman at Shakespeare Theatre Company; and Purgatorio by Ariel Dorfman, directed by David Esbjornson at Seattle Rep. Kirsten Childs (Composer, Grace) is a musical theater writer whose show The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin won an Obie, a Kleban, a Larson, a Richard Rodgers, an Audelco, and a Gilman/Gonzalez-Falla award, as well as Lortel and Drama Desk nominations. She’s currently developing her own show exploring the African-American experience in the Old West at Playwrights Horizons as well as working with Rajiv Joseph and Bill Sherman on the musical Fly. Her show Miracle Brothers was produced at the Vineyard Theatre, her show Funked Up Fairy Tales was workshopped at both the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab and at NAMT, and produced at the Depot Theater in Westport, NY. Kirsten has also written works for Disney Theatricals, the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center, the New Electric Company, Works and Process @ Guggenheim Museum and City Center Encores! She’s a professor at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, and a member of both the Dramatists Guild Council and the Dramatists Guild Fund. She is proud to be a mentor in Theatre Development Fund’s Open Doors program. Shirley Jo Finney (Director, Grace) is an award winning and critically acclaimed international director who has been honored with The Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly and NAACP awards for her directing work. Most recent works include Facing Our Truth, The Trayvon Martin Project at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Los Angeles, the Lark Foundation’s rolling world premiere of the road weeps by Marcus Gardley at the Los Angeles Theater Center and Tarell McCraney’s Brother/Sisters Plays. Her work has been seen at the McCarter Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, Goodman Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, LA Theater Works, Crossroads Theater Company, Actors Theater of Louisville Humana Festival, The Mark Taper Forum and The Kennedy Center. In 2011 Miss Finney was proud to helm the critically acclaimed World Premiere of the new Musical Opera Winnie Mandela in Pretoria, South Africa. For Television, she directed several episodes of “Moseha” and she garnered the International Black Filmmakers “Best Directors Award for the Short film Remember Me. She is the recipient of the African American Film Marketplace Award of Achievement for Outstanding Performance and Achievement and leader in Entertainment. She is an alumnus of the American Film Institute’s Director Workshop for Women and holds an MFA degree from UCLA. She is also a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the Director’s Guild, and the Screen Actor’s Guild. She has been Artist in Residence at Columbia College in Chicago, and a guest director lecture at USC and UCLA. Mark Campbell (Libretto, The Other Room) is most known for writing the libretto for the opera Silent Night, which garnered the 2012 Pulitzer in Music for composer Kevin Puts. The opera has received many productions since its premiere at Minnesota Opera and was broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances last Christmas. Other successful operas include: Later the Same Evening, Volpone, Bastianello/Lucrezia, Rappahannock County and A Letter to East 11th Street. As a lyricist, Mark penned the lyrics for Songs from an Unmade Bed, which premiered at New York Theatre Workshop and has since been produced around the world. Other musicals include: The Audience, Chang & Eng, and Splendora. Mark also worked with the musical monodrama form when he wrote Three Lost Chords, which premiered at the Zipper Factory in 2008. Awards include: the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, two Richard Rodgers Awards, a NYFA Playwriting Fellowship, three Drama Desk Award nominations, a Rockefeller Foundation Award, and a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award. Recordings: the Grammy®-nominated “Volpone,” (Wolf Trap Recordings), “Later the Same Evening” (Albany Records), “The Inspector” (Wolf Trap Recordings), “Bastianello/Lucrezia” (Bridge Classical), “Rappahannock County” (Nonesuch) and “Songs from an Unmade Bed” (Sh-k- Boom Records). Upcoming projects include: The Manchurian Candidate (Kevin Puts, Minnesota Opera), As One (Laura Kaminsky, American Opera Projects at BAM), Burke+Hare (Julian Grant, Music-Theatre Group), The Shining (Paul Moravec, Minnesota Opera), The Trial of Elizabeth Cree (Kevin Puts, Opera Philadelphia), and Dinner at Eight (William Bolcom, Minnesota Opera). Marisa Michelson (Composer, The Other Room) is a composer, singer and voice teacher passionate about the human ability to express and communicate through singing/sound-making. Marisa’s music has been called “exquisite,” “challenging, tonally complex, unique and beautiful,” “rich and distinctive,” “haunting and ethereal,” “original, but accessible and never derivative.” Marisa’s opera/music-theatre piece Tamar of the River was recently produced by NYC’s Prospect Theatre Company, where it was directed by Daniel Goldstein and choreographed by Chase Brock. Tamar of the River was also produced as a theatrical oratorio by New York Theatre Barn and Choral Chameleon. The world premiere album is being released on Yellow Sound Label this September. Marisa and playwright Jason Grote were commissioned by Montclair University’s New Works Institute to write Scheherazade – a musical adaptation of Grote’s acclaimed play, 1001. Scheherazade has been developed at Theatreworks, Palo Alto, and New Dramatists, and is currently in development at the York in NYC. Other music-theatre pieces include The Grid (NAMT-awarded residency with Millikin University); Still Life with Toe Shoes (Old Deerfield Productions; Musical Theatre Society of Emerson College); Hotel Sarajevo (CAP 21; hotInk Festival; Smith College); The Lovers (Prospect Theater Company; Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard; Calliope Theatre Company.) Her songs have also been featured at the Kennedy Center, the York, New World Stages, the Flea, in people’s homes, and outdoors under the great sky. Awards: Jonathan Larson; American Musical Voices: The Next Generation; St. Botolph Award; Grant to study Indian Hindustani singing in India. Residencies: Theatreworks Palo Alto; New Dramatists; Montclair University; Millkin University. Marisa sang with Meredith Monk in Songs of Ascension at BAM and was invited to perform her two-person experimental vocal piece, Voice Becoming at the Basillica in Hudson, NY and the Goetheanum in Switzerland. Recordings: “Broadway Lullaby Project” (“All New “ singer: Nikki M. James); upcoming Tamar of the River album produced by Yellow Sound Label. www.marisamichelson.com Ethan Heard (Director, The Other Room) is a director of plays, musicals, and opera. He is Founding Co-Artistic Director of Heartbeat Opera and Resident Director of Cantata Profana. Recently he directed Kate Baldwin and Gregg Edelman in A Little Night Music (Berkshire Theatre Festival), a workshop of The Seven Deadly Sins (Heartbeat), and assisted writer/director Steve Cosson on The Civilians’ The Great Immensity (Public). While earning his MFA at Yale School of Drama, he directed Sunday in the Park with George, Julius Caesar, and Lottie in the Late Afternoon. He also served as Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret where he directed Pierrot Lunaire and All This Noise, and co-created Basement Hades and Trannequin! Other directing: The Cat and the Canary (BTF), L’incoronazione di Poppea and The Producers (Princeton), The Gay Ivy (Dixon Place), Proof and Iphigenia and Other Daughters (Santa Fe Theater Festival), Ardo Ardo and L'Orfeo (Yale Baroque Opera Project), and Pullman WA and in a word (Williamstown Workshop). Assistant directing: Our Town (Nicholas Martin), Pregnancy Pact (Mark Brokaw), and Broke-ology (Thomas Kail). Ethan received his BA in Theater Studies from Yale College, where he won the Sledge Prize for Performing Arts. He has taught theater at Princeton University and Friends Seminary and is a proud member of SDC. www.ethanheard.com PREMIERES (Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director) is a not-for-profit New York based music theater organization founded by Edward Trach and Paulette Haupt in 2001. The company’s mission ‘to bring new music theater to light’ supports the development and promotion of works by exceptional playwrights, lyricists and composers whose creative visions move the art form forward and enrich the lexicon of the American musical theater. They present staged readings and workshops of works in progress as well as create new collaborations through commissions, development and full productions of its INNER VOICES initiative. INNER VOICES was inspired by Alan Bennett’s ‘Talking Head’ series on PBS. After seeing the PBS series and later the stage version off-Broadway, Paulette Haupt decided to explore the concept as a musical theater form. Teams of playwrights and composers who have not worked together before are commissioned by PREMIERES to create an original monologue and a tapestry of the sung and spoken word. Each character they create is fictional and the storytelling from a single point of view. The premiere of INNER VOICES in 2008 featured works by Ellen Fitzhugh and Michael John LaChiusa, Laura Harrington and Jenny Giering, and Michele Lowe and Scott Davenport Richards. Subsequent productions in 2010 and 2012 featured works by Cheri Steinkellner and Georgia Stitt, David Simpatico and Josh Schmidt, Martin Moran and Joseph Thalken, Victor Lodato and Polly Pen, and Nilo Cruz and Jim Bauer. www.premieresnyc.org

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