| Oct. 12-15 - "Musical Chairs" - The First Play About Musical Theater @ NY Theater Fest | |
| Last Edit: Official_Press_Release 07:13 pm EDT 10/10/23 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 07:07 pm EDT 10/10/23 | |
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| New York Theater Festival Presents a Dragonfly Transformation, LLC Production of Musical Chairs The First Play About Musical Theater Written by Steve Fogelman Directed by Stewart Harrison October 12-15, 2023 (3 performances) Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2:15 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15 at 6:00 p.m. Teatro Latea 107 Suffolk Street New York, NY 10002 General Admission: $25 (plus fees) VIP Seating: $45 (plus fees) For tickets, visit: htts://newyorktheaterfestival.com/musical-chairs/ At the Doors: $30 (15 minutes before showtimes and cash only) AEA Members: FREE, pending availability. Runtime: 90 minutes with no intermission New York Theater Festival presents a Dragonfly Transformation, LLC production of Musical Chairs, the first play about musical theater, written by Steve Fogelman. Stewart Harrison directs a cast of six, including Kurt Bantilan, Anna Benoit, Corinne Britti, Steve Fogelman*, Alvaro Francisco*, and Danielle Erin Rhodes*. Musical Chairs will be staged for three performances in Manhattan's Lower East Side from October 12-15, 2023, at the Teatro Latea, 107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY 10002. A new LGBT experimental play, Musical Chairs tackles not only subscriptions we have to services, but also intrinsic things like arcane ideologies of gender roles, marriage, and sexuality. Staged in only four chairs, the story follows musical theater enthusiasts and recent transplants, Tory and Nadine Lovett, as new subscribers of a season of touring Broadway musicals at their local historic theater. Even before the move, Tory's begun to question his sexual truth, making Nadine desperate to hold their marriage together. But after the couple's flirtatious collision with neighboring subscribers, denial is no longer an option, in this dramatic yet humorous exploration of balancing dreams, vows, and attraction, through a voyeuristic lens of cultural and sexual evolution. "Dramatic theater influences the way we think and feel about our own lives and encourages us to take a hard look at ourselves, our values, and our behavior; however, musical theater tends to offer a more idealistic view of life in sweeping spectacles," says playwright Steve Fogelman on how he came up his unique concept. "Musical Chairs creates a compelling structural hybrid with characters inspired by musical theater's simple archetypes, juxtaposed in a focused dramatic setting to heighten the characters' stifled existence." Performances for Musical Chairs are Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:15 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2:15 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 15 at 6:00 p.m. Ticket Prices are $25 for general admission and $45 for VIP seating in advance, plus fees. At the door, $30 tickets are available 30 minutes before showtime. AEA members are free with card, pending availability. For tickets, visit https://newyorktheaterfestival.com/musical-chairs/ The runtime is 90 minutes with no intermission. Steve Fogelman (playwright) – Musical Chairs marks Steve's first full-length production in New York, though his short plays, Breeders Cup and Genius, were produced Off Off Broadway through Love Creek Productions. His short play, The Glove, about a couple dealing with their grandchild's trans diagnosis, was featured in Equity Library Theater's 2017 Playwrights Festival, and published through ArtAge. His horror play, Leg of Lam, was a semi-finalist in Headwaters 2018 New Play Festival in Colorado; and his star-crossed lovers play, tran-si-tions, was semi-finalist in the 2014 Vittum Prize for Best New Play and the 2016 Great Gay Play & Musical Contest, both in Chicago. His architecture play, charrette, had its premiere reading at The Dramatists Guild "Friday Night Footlights" in 2018 and was also part of Identity Theater Company's Playwriting Festival the same year. www.stevefogelman.com Stewart Harrison (director) is a director of theatre, film, and radio, currently in Brooklyn, NY. He is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. He directed the premiere indoor production of Will Murdock's Orion and the Goatman as his senior capstone. Film work includes his foreign language fairytale Waterlogged, which was selected for the Chain Film Festival in NYC. For more from Stewart, check him out @stewtruculent on Instagram & Twitter and at stewart-harrison.com. Musical Chairs is presented by Dragonfly Transformation, LLC. Sound Design: Alex Taylor, Projection Design: Qixin Zhang, Costume Assistant: Caroline Kimbel, Movement Coordinator: Anna Benoit, Poster Design: Laura Whitehouse, Additional Graphics: Maeve Chapman, Publicity: Paul Siebold OFF OFF PR, Dramaturg: Rachel Abrams, and Dialogue Editor: Jeremy Stoller. *Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. AEA Showcase. Dragonfly Transformation, LLC is the playwright's company, whose mission is spiritual education, primarily by teaching how to reconnect to self love through his Reiki Lifeprint philosophy. However, theater plays an undeniable role in the spiritual education process, and Musical Chairs marks Dragonfly's first stage production, bringing to life compelling storytelling of spiritual journeys. More original and moving projects are in development. www.reikilifeprint.org Marking its 23rd consecutive year of performances, New York Theater Festival is one of the largest and most prestigious playwright/musical festival/competitions in the country. Offering up to $8,000 in prizes with $3,500 alone going to Best Play, there is no question why the New York Theater Festival has taken the world of playwriting and musical festivals by storm. Participants enjoy staging their plays with the founding playwrights who, after years of staging their own plays in NYC festivals, said: "Why don't we create a festival that includes everything we dreamt of having — for others?" The result is that The New York Theater Festival has caught fire as the number of submissions they receive grows every year, making acceptance into the festival its own achievement. Meet the Cast Kurt Bantilan - Select productions - Theatre: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Billy Bibbit), Dog Sees God (Beethoven), Our Lady of 121st Street (Gail). TV/Film: "Random Acts of Flyness" (HBO/A24), "Tiny Time Travel" (PBS). Best Actor nomination for NY Spring/Summer Theater Festival 2023. Creator and host of Cooking with Kurt, a YouTube cooking channel. Studied acting at Vassar College. www.kurtbantilan.com Anna Benoit is an NYC based actor originally from Springfield, Illinois. Anna received her BMA in Lyric Theatre from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Favorite credits with Lyric Theatre @ Illinois include Cabaret (Sally), The 25th Annual... Spelling Bee (Rona), and Crazy for You (Tess). Regional credits include My One and Only, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, and Our Town. Anna recently made her film debut in "Can't Let It Go," premiering soon! www.annabenoit.com @annabenoit Corinne Britti (Nadine Lovett) is an actor, writer, comedian, and sometime puppet fabricator. That's a wild story you can ask her about at the comedy show she hosts, Almost Therapy. You can catch her most recent film "Condor's Nest" on Amazon Prime. @corinnestagramster Steve Fogelman*(Bernie Hyman) is a New York-based professional actor from Allentown, PA, Steve is also an accomplished playwright, singer, photographer, chef, and Reiki master. A graduate from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in architecture, he studied acting at Lee Strasberg Institute in LA, and continues to hone his acting skill at The Freeman Studio in NYC. Musical Chairs marks his triumphant return to the stage after an eight-year absence. Some New York credits: Festen (Columbia Stages), Beyond Therapy, America the Beautiful (Love Creek). Regional: Circle Mirror Transformation (Theater with a View, PA) An Act of Reparation (The Odyssey Theater, Los Angeles). TV Credits: "Mrs. Maisel," "Boardwalk Empire," "True Blood," "Mad Men." Film: "The Story of Love" (France), "Mutant Ninja Turtles," and "The Wolf of Wall Street." www.stevefogelman.com / @official_stevefogelman Alvaro Francisco* (Pablo Verrida) is a New York singer-actor-model based in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Colombia and raised in Memphis, TN, Alvaro has both commercial and theatrical credits spanning 15 years working with theaters that include The Atlanta Lyric, Playhouse on The Square, and The Springer Opera House. Memorable roles include Fabrizio in The Light in the Piazza, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance , Angel in Rent, and Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet. Danielle Erin Rhodes* (Violet Hyman) is a life-long tap dancer, singer, actor, piano player, and organist keeping busy in various musicals, plays, an a cappella doo-wop group (The Belmont 4); playing and singing for weddings, funerals, church, graduations; and now finally, again, re-visiting her singer/songwriter vibes. Danielle won an award for best new band single from The International Singer Songwriter Association (ISSA) as a vocalist for the Charu Suri hit "Bluesy," which debuted at Carnegie Hall late 2019. There will be another upcoming Carnegie Hall date in April 2024. Her favorite roles have been Fantine in Les Miserables, Rizzo in Grease, Gladys in Pal Joey, The Suspects in Murder For Two, Vi Petty in The Buddy Holly Story, Pippi in Pippi Longstocking, Lorraine Fleming in 42nd Street, and Nancy in Oliver! Theater companies include Networks tours, MSMT, NSMT, Ogunquit Theatre, WB international tours. Original productions at New York theatre festivals include Sophia in Sophia's Fall, and Ivy in Back Home-The War Brides Musical. |
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