KIN @ Playwrights Horizons

Bathsheba Doran's KIN is a joy. It's a smart, complicated, adult play - the likes of which you've come to expect from the invaluable Playwrights Horizons and the likes of which you rarely, I mean really rarely see on Broadway. The ensemble cast is uniformly perfect under Sam Gold's expert direction. Mr. Gold is batting a thousand in NYC!

See this show!

For tickets and info: CLICK HERE

Opening This Week: THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G

The Obie-Winning Vampire Cowboys are back with an all-new adventure!

THE INEXPLICABLE
REDEMPTION
OF AGENT G
by Qui Nguyen
directed by Robert Ross Parker

It’s been 10 years since Agent G has last been in Vietnam where his family and friends were all viciously slain. He’s now come back looking for answers and a good bit of revenge, however mysterious forces are at hand trying to stop him as well as the playwright from finishing this brutal task.

After 8 years of exploding movie genre after movie genre onto the live stage, Vampire Cowboys now takes their irreverent pop-culture aesthetic and applies it to a true story in their most daring and risk-taking venture yet.

He lost his country, his family, and his soul. But what he hasn’t lost is his taste for revenge!

March 24 - April 16, 2011
(Thurs, Fri, Sat, & Sun @ 8pm)

At INCUBATOR ARTS PROJECT
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Avenue)

For Tickets & Info: CLICK HERE

Soho Rep: Writer/Director Lab

Soho Rep's awesome Writer/Director Lab is back for 2011.

Writers & Directors pairs create plays from scratch.

Free. First come, first served. All readings are at 7pm at Soho Rep.

FORT LEE
A new play by Lloyd Suh
Directed by Sarah Rasmussen
Monday, March 28 at 7pm

LOOP TAPE
A new play by Andy Bragen
Directed by Mike Donahue
Monday, April 4 at 7pm

TAKARAZUKA!
A new play by Susan Soon He Stanton
Directed by Alice Reagan
Monday, April 11 at 7pm

THE DEAD, INC.
A new play by Michael Yates Crowley
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Monday, April 25 at 7pm

WHEN I HAD THREE SISTERS
A new play by Jason Pizzarello
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Monday, May 9 at 7pm

Writer/Director Lab Co-Chairs: Daniel Manley & Rob Marcato

Soho Rep is located at 41 White Street, between Church Street & Broadway.

For more info: Click Here

Opening This Week: JEWQUEEN

After taking on Eugene O’Neil, Little Lord moves on to The Bible - The Book of Esther to be specific. Expect broad humor, cross dressing, irreverence, free liquor, and a lot of fun.

Little Lord’s

JEWQUEEN
Directed by Michael Levinton!

Dramaturgy by Sarah Bishop-Stone!

Created and performed by Julia Arazi! Sarah Bishop-Stone! Das Elkin! Diana Konopka! Michael Levinton! Rodney Pallanck! Laura von Holt!

March 17 - April 2, 2011 @ UNDER St Marks - 94 Saint Marks Place

Thursdays - Saturdays at 8pm, Special added matinee on Saturday, March 19th at 5pm

For Tickets: CLICK HERE
For Info: CLICK HERE

A Good Week: The Method Gun & Invasion!

Ludlow Lad sees a lot of theater. Much of it isn't very good - or at least isn't work that Ludlow Lad enjoys. That is why seeing two pieces as good as The Rude Mechs' The Method Gun and The Play Company's Invasion! in the same week can be a revelation...and inspiring.

At the center of The Method Gun is the missing (and fictitious) Stella Burden, whose high-concept production of A Streetcar Named Desire that omits the characters of Blanche, Stanley, Stella and Mitch she has abandoned. The Rude Mechs "recreate" the post-Stella rehearsals, her unique acting techniques, her rituals and ultimately the production itself. Its two coup-de-theatres - one physical and one emotional are worth the price of admission alone.

The Play Company's Invasion!, by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, translated from Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles, begins with a a coup-de-theatre and takes off from there telling the story of Abulkasem from multiple points of view. Invasion! is about language, terrorism, misunderstanding, and about twenty other things and it is expertly directed by Erica Schmidt and the cast of four is outstanding.

Like Ludlow Lad said - a good week.

The Wooster Group does Tennessee Williams

Liz LeCompte and The Wooster Group's ongoing trek through the theatrical canon has now landed at Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre. William's mostly-expressionistic slice of life is set in a New Orleans boarding house, where the Williams-like writer (think Tom after he leave The Glass Menagerie) crosses paths with a cross-section of characters, including and elderly homosexual, the landlady and a woman and her drunk boyfriend among others.

As much as The Emperor Jones is Kate Valk's show, and Hamlet is Scott Shepherd's show; Vieux Carre is Ari Fliakos' show and he does a fine job. Shepherd, in the duel roles of the drunk boyfriend (Tye McCool, seriously) and the old homosexual (Nightingale, I kid you not) dives in to both parts head first with terrific results. Only the usually amazing Kate Valk seems adrift, going for broad humor and even broader accents as both the Landlady and Jane Sparks, the lost lady with the crappy boyfriend.
Clocking in a just about two-hours without an intermission, the show grabs the audience and doesn't let go until the final thirty minutes, especially during what felt like a very long scene between the embattled couple. That scene could use a touch of the usual Wooster Group magic, inspired tricks.
But these are all minor quibbles, for Vieux Carre is still better than just about anything happening in New York theater right now. Given that the Group is based in New York, we don't seem to see enough of them. Don't miss this or any chance.

The Wooster Group's Vieux Carre has just been extended through March 13 at Baryshnikov Arts Center.

For Tickets: CLICK HERE

Ohio Theater Goes West

According to an article in The New York Times, Robert Lyons announced that the Ohio Theater will relocate to the Archive Building at 666 Greenwich Street in the West Village. A ten-year lease has been signed on what will now be known as OHIO WEST. While the Ohio Theater presented great work, it was the former space at 66 Wooster Street that made it very, very special - and still a huge loss.

The full NY Times article is HERE.