| Abingdon Theatre Company Announces Two Special Events in February | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 12:55 pm EST 01/23/19 | |
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| TWO SPECIAL EVENTS IN FEBRUARY! ABINGDON THEATRE COMPANY IN ASSOCIATION WITH PAUL BOGHOSIAN JIM KIERSTEAD, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER PRESENT A CONCERT OF "TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA" BY ELIZABETH SEARLE AND MICHAEL TEOLI MUSIC DIRECTION BY HENRY ARONSON DIRECTED BY RACHEL KLEIN MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH @ 7:00PM ORIGINAL CONCERT CAST RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM BROADWAY RECORDS "THE PROMPTER" BY WADE DOOLEY STARRING ACADEMY AWARD WINNER ESTELLE PARSONS & WADE DOOLEY DIRECTED BY SCOTT SCHWARTZ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH @ 7PM BOTH EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE (121 CHRISTOPHER STREET, NYC) TICKETS NOW ON SALE! New York, NY (1/23/19) - Abingdon Theatre Company (Chad Austin, Artistic Director) announced today two special one-night only events to be presented next month. On Monday, February 4th, the company, in association with Paul Boghosian and Jim Kierstead, Executive Producer, will present a concert of Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, a darkly comedic original musical done with a great deal of heart. This work of fiction, inspired by actual events, utilizes the 1994 Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan media scandal to explore America's obsession with celebrity scandals and its "go for the gold at all cost" attitude. With libretto and concept by Elizabeth Searle and music by Michael Teoli, audiences can expect hilarity, poignant moments, a radical score and non-stop energy in this unique theatrical experience. The show has drawn national media and has played in Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon (where Tonya Harding attended the premiere), and in NYC in a sold-out run at NYMF, as well in Chicago, where it was named one of the Top Five musicals of the year by New City Stages and nominated for two Jeff Theater Awards. The rock opera's 2018 concert at 54Below was produced by Broadway Records for a CD that earned 'high marks' on BroadwayWorld. Future productions of the show are in the works on both coasts. Media coverage for the rock opera has included "Good Morning America," "ESPN Hollywood," "CBS," "MSNBC," Sports Illustrated, NPR and much more. Last year, Broadway.com wrote: "Before there was the new Tonya Harding biopic I, Tonya, there was Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, an uproarious musical." Directed by Rachel Klein, the cast will include Heidi Friese, Chase Kamata, Ryan MacConnell and Colin Barkell, among others. Henry Aronson is Musical Director. For tickets for Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, please email mzakia@abingdontheatre.org. For more information, please visit www.tonyaandnancytherockopera.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Monday, February 11th, the company will present The Prompter, a new play by Wade Dooley, directed by Scott Schwartz. The Prompter follows veteran actress Irene Young, who, after a forty-year absence, is returning to the Broadway stage. But now, she can't do it alone; so, the production hires a young actor to be her prompter. But this isn't her story, it's his. Based on real events, The Prompter is a funny, heartfelt, untold, behind-the-scenes looks at Broadway through the eyes of a young dreamer. The cast features Oscar Winning Actress Estelle Parsons and the playwright in the title role. Tickets for The Prompter are $26 (in celebration of the company's 26h Anniversary Season Off-Broadway) and may be purchased online here . "I'm thrilled to bring these special events to the Abingdon audience, in celebration of our 26th season," says Chad Austin, Abingdon Theatre Company's Artistic Director. "Tonya and Nancy is just as dramatic as the real thing, packed with hilarious and touching moments from this American tale of triumph and tragedy. Wade Dooley's play, The Prompter, has been an aspiration of mine since I first read it, over a year ago. Now, in this one night only event, directed by the gifted Scott Schwartz and starring the brilliant Estelle Parsons, Abingdon is proud to share in shepherding this new American work to the stage." BIOS Elizabeth Searle (Book, Lyrics, Original Concept -Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera) wrote about 'Tonya and Nancy' in her novella Celebrities In Disgrace, which the New York Times called 'a miniature masterpiece.' Before writing the Book and Lyrics for Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, Elizabeth created the concept of telling this Olympic scandal story onstage in the chamber opera Tonya & Nancy: The Opera (music by Abigail Al-Doory Cross) which has been produced in Boston, Houston and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Elizabeth joined forces with composer Michael Teoli to create Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, which has been produced in Chicago, Boston, LA, Dallas and Portland, Oregon-where Tonya Harding enthusiastically attended the premiere-- and at a sold-out run in NYC at NYMF. It has drawn national and international media attention. Its 2018 concert at 54Below was produced as a CD by Broadway Records. Elizabeth is the author of five critically acclaimed books of fiction, including her novel A Four-Sided Bed which has been optioned for film and is in development. Celebrities In Disgrace was produced as a short film which has screened at multiple festivals, with script by Elizabeth. Elizabeth has a One Act Play, Stolen Girl Song, which was most recently performed in 2019 at the Act One: One Act play festival in NY in Long Island City. Elizabeth is developing a new musical revue on 'Teen Idols,' which will premiere at Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Massachusetts in May, 2019, produced by Exit Dance Company. She teaches fiction and scriptwriting at Stonecoast MFA and lives with her husband and son near Boston. Michael Teoli (Music - Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera) is an award-winning Film and Theatre Composer based in Los Angeles. Before graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he worked on Howard Shore's Music Team for The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Since then, he has scored or worked on the music for over 60 films. His score to the feature 41 won Best Original Soundtrack at the Director's Chair Film Festival in Staten Island, NY. Teoli has composed three full-length musicals: Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, CarnEvil _ and The Werewolves of Hollywood Boulevard. Michael provided music direction, arrangements and additional music for Doomsday Cabaret and Exorcistic: A Rock Musical Parody each winning Best Musical at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2012 and 2013 respectively. After an overwhelmingly positive response to his score for the play Absolutely Filthy, (which won Top of Fringe/Best Overall at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival and the 2014 New York Fringe Festival respectively), Michael released his first album, Absolutely Filthy Trax. Michael has recently been arranging and music directing Skulduggery: A Musical Prequel to Hamlet_ at Sacred Fools Theater in LA. Rachel Klein (Director - Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera) is a NYC based director, of whose work The New York Times has praised: "What makes this show pop is the bracing vision of its director, Rachel Klein." Off-Broadway Direction: Red Roses, Green Gold (Minetta Lane Theatre/featuring the music of the Grateful Dead); Around the World in 80 Days (The Davenport Theatre); The Anthem (The Lynn Redgrave Theatre/starring Randy Jones, the Original Cowboy from the Village People); Gay Bride of Frankenstein (iStar Theatre Lab). Selected NYC Theatre: Tink! (New York Musical Festival); More Than All the World (adapted from Marlowe's Edward II); Symphony of Shadows (Jerome Robbins Foundation commission); A Midsummer Night's Dream; Circus of Circus (The House of Yes); The Tragedy of Maria Macabre (Tides Foundation recipient.) Selected Regional and Workshops: Hairspray (Jenny Wiley Amphitheater); Snow (Playwrights Horizons); 54 The Musical (Axelrod Entertainment); The Happy Hooker (Adapted from Xaviera Hollander's best-selling novel); Dracula (JWT); Where Angels Fear to Tread (THML Theatre Co.) Educational Theatre: The Snow Queen; A Little Princess; The Wizard of Oz; Peter Pan; Alice in Wonderland. Ms. Klein directed the roast of Michael Musto which raised money for the Callen Lorde Community Health Center, featuring Rosie O'Donnell, Bruce Vilanch, Bianca Del Rio and Jinkx Monsoon. Rachel is the Artistic Director of Belle Reve Productions (immersive theatrical entertainment,) and is a proud member of the SDC. For more info: www.rachelkleindirector.com Henry Aronson (Music Director - Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera), in an over-30-year career on Broadway, has been music director and/or conductor for shows including Rock of Ages, Grease, The Times They Are A-Changin', In My Life, Little Shop of Horrors, Rent, Rocky Horror Show, Starmites, Cry Baby, Good Vibrations, Parade, Saturday Night Fever, Mail, Prince of Central Park, The Who's Tommy and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. He is currently piano soloist and associate conductor of the classical/rock fusion group "Rocktopia," and composer/lyricist of Loveless Texas, which was produced by Boomerang Theatre Company at the Sheen Center in New York in 2017 Scott Schwartz (Director - The Prompter) is the Artistic Director of Bay Street Theater. He directed the Broadway productions of Golda's Balcony and Jane Eyre (co-directed with John Caird). His Off-Broadway work includes Murder for Two, Bat Boy: The Musical (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards, Outstanding Off- Broadway Musical; Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), tick, tick…BOOM! (Outer Critics Circle, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Drama Desk nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), The Foreigner starring Matthew Broderick, Rooms: A Rock Romance, Kafka's The Castle (Outer Critics Circle nomination, Outstanding Director of a Play), Gigantic , and No Way to Treat a Lady. He directed the World Premiere of Séance on a Wet Afternoon starring Lauren Flanigan at Opera Santa Barbara and subsequently at New York City Opera. Schwartz's directed the US premiere of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame at La Jolla Playhouse and Paper Mill Playhouse, and also in Japan and Germany. Other recent credits include the world premiere of The Prince of Egypt at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and Fredericia Teater in Denmark. Regional theaters include: Alliance, Arizona Theatre Company, Asolo Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theatre Center, Denver Center, Geffen Playhouse, Goodspeed, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, PCPA, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Rubicon, Signature Theatre, Theatreworks, Virginia Stage Company, Westport Country Playhouse and others. Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an Associate Artist at the Alley Theatre and a graduate of Harvard University. Wade Dooley (Playwright/Actor - The Prompter) is a writer/actor living in Jackson Heights, Queens. Some favorite writing credits include: Broadway Bares Rock Hard, On Demand, and Strip U with co-writer Hunter Bell, Stars in the Alley for host Tituss Burgess, The Diary of a Dancer (Best Solo Show 2010 DC Fringe Fest). Wade is an alum of Running Deer Theatre Lab, Goodspeed's Johnny Mercer Writers Colony, Finger Lake's Musical Theatre Festival's The PiTCH. You can catch his hit web series, "Pzazz 101," starring his original character, Mary Shennanbargger, along with Broadway stars like Laura Osnes, Beth Leavel, Jenn Colella, Tony Yazbeck, and many more on the YouTube. As an actor, some favorite credits include: Film: The Last Five Years. Theatre: NEWSical The Musical (Off-Broadway), The Awesome 80s Prom (Off-Broadway), La Cage Aux Folles (Goodspeed), The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd (Goodspeed). Tour: Jersey Boys, The Trip to Bountiful, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Wade is represented by Ben Izzo at Abrams Artists Agency. He is a graduate of Bradley University. Find out more at www.thewadedooley.com. @thewadedooley Estelle Parsons (Actor - The Prompter) was last seen on Broadway in The Velocity of Autumn for which she received her fifth Tony Award nomination. Although she has spent most of her professional life in the theater, she is most widely known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Bonnie and Clyde, and her decade-long, recurring role of Beverly, mother of the title character in the hit sitcom "Roseanne." In the theater, she has appeared in plays by the great writers of our time, including Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Dario Fo, and Horton Foote. She appeared in Roberto Athayde's classic Miss Margarida's Way on Broadway, all over the United States and in London, Dublin, Turkey and Australia. She starred in August, Osage County by Tracy Letts on Broadway for a year and on the road for a year. Recently she played in Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire and the Gershwin musical, Nice Work If You Can Get It with Matthew Broderick. Her latest New York City appearance was in Israel Horovitz' Out of The Mouths of Babes which was written for her and Judith Ivy at the Cherry Lane Theater. She appeared in the second season of Netflix' "Grace and Frankie" with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. As a director, she created the New York Shakespeare Festival Players for Joseph Papp in the 1980s. For two seasons they performed Shakespeare On Broadway for New York City school students and their families in an effort to develop a multicultural audience for New York City. She also directed Al Pacino in Oscar Wilde's Salome; The Reading on Broadway and on tour. Last season she presented the Actors Studio developed The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis at La Mama Experimental Theater in the East Village. Estelle Parsons is a member of the Actors Studio and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2004. She has received four Lifetime Achievement Awards: a Lilly, an Obie, a LaMama and the Cherry Lane Award. The Abingdon Theatre Company is dedicated to developing and producing brave, new American work by emerging and established artists. The company provides a safe home where playwrights, directors and actors can collaborate within a supportive and nurturing environment. We search for stories about the human experience that reflect our social, political, historical and cultural diversity. We are acutely aware of the theatre's power to unite disparate population groups through stories about common human interests, and we strive to shed light on a variety of perspectives. In January 1993, a group of five professional theatre artists eager for ongoing collaboration and greater control over their creative lives gathered in a brownstone near New York City's Abingdon Square Park for a series of bi-weekly readings of new plays. After a few months of informal meetings, enthusiasm swelled and the artists pooled their theatrical experience to establish an open-door home where they could collaborate, invite their colleagues to join the process, and develop new plays. Twenty-two years later, Abingdon has collaborated with more than 200 playwrights, produced 85 New York and World Premiere plays, presented more than 700 readings, staged 175 ten-minute plays, and commissioned 6 one-act plays. |
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