Happy Valentines Day from The Play Company!

As a loving fan, we’d like to make it super easy for you and your special someone to see THE UGLY ONE on V-Day! Use the code VALENTINE for 2-for-1 tickets.

CLICK HERE TO BUY DISCOUNTED TICKETS and see below for more information!

The Play Company compliments its production season with an eclectic series of stand-alone events, including reading presentations of plays and literature, evenings that examine a particular topic through the work of a variety of prose and poetry writers and/or other media, and panel discussions featuring theatre artists, writers, scholars and community leaders. These events may link to a production, or extend our programming to other ideas or issues of interest to our community.

IDEA LAB EVENTS FOR THE UGLY ONE:
Marius von Mayenburg’s play brings together notions of individualism versus conformity, beauty and capitalism, self-improvement and the group mentality. We delve into these topics with great gusto and detail. All events are free and open to the public and begin immediately after the evening performances.

Saturday, February 4th, 2012 | Marius von Mayenburg in conversation *after the matinee
The playwright in conversation with Dr. Frank Hentschker (City University of New York, Martin E. Segal Theater Center).

Friday, February 17, 2012 | Creative Team Talk
Join members of THE UGLY ONE Creative Team as they discuss the production. Moderated by Soho Rep’s Literary & Humanities Manager Raphael Martin.

Saturday, February 18, 2012 | The World of Self-Betterment
Why do we in America feel an obsessive desire to better ourselves with therapy, pills, surgery and positive thinking? Join an illustrious panel of thinkers and writers in cogitating this issue.

Thursday February 23, 2012 | The Economy of Beauty
Is Beauty spurred by Capitalism? What is the role of big-business and the magazine industry in defining what is beautiful?

All events are free and open to the public and begin immediately after the evening performances unless otherwise noted. More @ www.playco.org/idealab

“People of this world
Notice not its modest blossoms -
The chestnut by the eave.” – Basho

Check out this beautiful video for Shinsai Theatres for Japan and join with us! The Play Company is proud of be a part of this project.

We’re so excited to introduce Charlotte back into the PlayCo community before she heads to Broadway again! Check out the exclusive interview below.

Charlotte Parry . Actress

PLAYCO: How did you first get involved in the RAINBOW KISS production?

CHARLOTTE: I auditioned for Will Frears and Judy Henderson, and got offered the job later that day.

PLAYCO: Tell us about the role (or roles) you played – how did you prepare and which character did you identify with most and why?

CHARLOTTE: I played Shazza – a pretty rough girl from Aberdeen. She was lost, poor, struggling, and had developed a hard, tough outer shell to protect herself. I loved playing her – and welcomed the rather large challenge. As the play was so beautifully written (by Simon Farquhar), it helped immensely in finding out who this girl was, and how to get inside her skin.

PLAYCO: What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on in the last year or so? What did you enjoy most about it? Any challenges?

CHARLOTTE: I very much enjoyed doing The Importance of Being Earnest on Broadway. I loved the role of Cecily – though it was a challenge to do it for so long and keep it interesting. I particularly loved my last job – Bluebird, at the Atlantic. I was playing a prostitute from the north of England – what’s not fun about that?! It was also an incredibly close, lovely cast. The Bridge Project with Sam Mendes came with a world tour, so that takes first prize for adventure!

PLAYCO: Who is someone that inspires you? Or what is your greatest motivator?

CHARLOTTE: Gosh – so many people.My friends, in their individual ways. My mother. In terms of within the industry, I was very inspired by the late Lynn Redgrave, who I worked with the first time I did Importance Of Being Earnest with Peter Hall. Her grace, humor, humility and ability to laugh at herself and make the smallest person feel the greatest was something I aspire to. Not an ounce of ego. Other role models I’ve got to know and learn from in this business have been Tyne Daly, Alfred Molina and Simon Russell Beale – all of whom share those same qualities and don’t make it all about themselves.

PLAYCO: What’s up next for you?

CHARLOTTE: I’m playing Helena in Look Back In Anger at the Roundabout, which runs from mid January.

I’ve also just trained as a Doula (one who gives support to the mother during labor, childbirth and the postpartum period), so I’m currently trying to drum up work amongst those pregnant ladies!

PLAYCO: You can see more about Charlotte’s latest project @ http://broadwayworld.com/article/Charlotte-Parry-Joins-Cast-of-Roundabouts-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER-20111212

Keep on rockin’, Charlotte!

On Sunday, March 11, 2012, the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Japan, theaters nationwide will join together in solidarity with our fellow Japanese theater artists. A menu of 10-minute plays and songs have been donated by major American and Japanese artists such as Edward Albee, Naomi Iizuka, Yoji Sakate,and Stephen Sondheim for this one-day-only event. Each theater will craft their own event, drawing from the donated plays and from work generated by their own resident artists. Presenters will encourage their audiences to donate relief funds (any and all amounts) to the Japan Playwrights Association. The funds will then be disbursed to the Japanese theater community affected by the disaster.

We want YOU to be a part of this important event. To get started: (1) go to www.tcg.org/shinsai/ to register your interest, check out the FAQs, and read the plays; (2) blast this information to your community; and (3) create your own SHINSAI event in your theater/town/university. The event can be fully-staged in a proper theater, presented as a reading, performed in a lobby or public space—anything goes!

If you are interested in getting involved in this exciting event and have any questions at all, please email japan@tcg.org. We will sign you up for our alert list and make sure you are updated as we move forward. If you are looking for other theaters in your area to work with on an event, please inform us and we will do our best to help facilitate that collaboration.

SAVE THE DATE: On Saturday, January 14^th @ 3pm we will be hosting an information session in the LuEsther Lounge at The Public Theater as part of the Under the Radar festival. If you are in the area, please join us to learn more about the event and how to take part.

Contributing artists include: Edward Albee, Fred Ebb, Philip Kan Gotanda, Richard Greenberg, John Guare, Oriza Hirata, Naomi Iizuka, Nen Ishihara, John Kander, Shoji Kokami, Tony Kushner, Toshiki Okada, Suzan-Lori Parks, Yoji Sakate, Kumiko Shinohara, Stephen Sondheim, Toshiro Suzue, Jeanine Tesori, John Weidman, and Doug Wright.

Participating organizations include: Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Atlantic Theater Company, Cooper Union, Dramatists Guild Fund, Japan Playwrights Association, Japan Society, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, The Play Company, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, and Theatre Communications Group.

Looking forward to joining with you on March 11, 2012 for this very worthy cause!

Susan Pourfar

A few years ago PlayCo kicked off the 2007/08 season by producing Bad Jazz written by Robert Farquhar and directed by Trip Cullman at the Ohio Theatre. Bad Jazz chronicles the lives of young artists in pursuit of a shared dream, as an actress takes a role that puts her sanity at risk, an actor struggles to remain true to his artistic ideals and a director drives his company past the point of reason. When the lines between reality and performance begin to blur, relationships are tested and this group of desperate souls is forced to ask themselves how far they’re prepared to go for art’s sake.
We’re excited to welcome back Bad Jazz cast member SUSAN POURFAR as a featured PlayCoPlayer!

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ARTIST PROFILE: Susan Pourfar

How did I get involved with BAD JAZZ?

Trip Cullman. Trip is a director I’ve had the great fortune to collaborate with several times.  We’d been doing readings and workshops of BAD JAZZ for almost a year.  I was in LA when Trip called to say the play was being produced by The Play Co. I packed my bags and got on a plane. No questions asked.

Rehearsing with Trip is like showing up to an art class and they have a bunch of pastels and oil paints and watercolors out, and someone says, “pick one of these to work with today, and see where it gets you.”  Eventually, you settle on your medium, but there’s a lot of experimenting before that.

And he’s a joyful presence to be around.  He once laughed so hard during rehearsal of an Adam Bock play that he fell out of his chair. I mean it literally. He was on the floor. I think I told him he wasn’t allowed to laugh that hard while we were working!  Which probably made him laugh more.

The character I was drawn to in BAD JAZZ is the playwright, Hannah, who is having her first play produced; she is practically suffering a nervous breakdown watching actors “riff” on her material. At one point, the director of Hannah’s play crumples her script pages, right in front of her, and let’s the actors say whatever comes to them “in the moment.” She’s horrified.

In the script of BAD JAZZ, Hannah has a journal.  It’s her security blanket. I would scrawl in the journal at every rehearsal and before every entrance and on stage (which was specified in the stage directions).  At the end of the run, I looked over the entries and they were truly disturbing.  I couldn’t bring myself to throw out the journal, but I didn’t want to hold onto it. So, I went to the post office on 34th Street, across from Penn Station, which seemed very New York-y to me, and I mailed the journal to the actual playwright in England. I attached a note. “Bob.  Feel free to use this as a prop for a future productions of your play.”  I like to think that it made its way into some production. I hope he didn’t hold onto it.  it contained the incoherent ramblings of a disturbed young woman.

My Motivation?

When I was growing up, I used to drag my family to the Berkshires every summer for a pilgrimage to Jacob’s Pillow, Berkshire Theatre Festival and always last stop: Williamstown.  I remember taking my dad to see Marisa Tomei and Reg Rogers in “Rocket to the Moon,” on the Nikos Stage.  Many years later, I was invited to Williamstown to do a new Jonathan Marc Sherman play opposite Reg on the Nikos Stage. Inviting my family up to see it, well, there was great poetry and great blessing in that.  There have been those peak moments of genuine appreciation along the way. They serve as motivation to stay on the path. Especially on days when I’m wondering what the heck it is I think I’m doing!

Acting Inspiration:

I remember a performance of Measure for Measure in the Park, in 2011, watching Billy Crudup very methodically removing a tea bag from a delicate china cup with a spoon.  It was outdoors, in the Park, which is, you know, a huge venue, and this small, everyday gesture was mesmerizing. It actually took my breath away.  The take-away was: the smallest gesture can speak volumes, even under a night sky; the other take away was, “oh, when can I do a play where I get to pull a tea bag out of a mug?!”

Tiny Pet Peeve:

I’m bummed when people say about a stage actor, playwright or director: “Oh we’re losing him/her to the screen.” Really?  What about what we’re gaining? I’m psyched that I get to watch Edie Falco do “House of Blue Leaves” and also “Nurse Jackie.” I loved Adam Rapp’s “Metal Children,” and also loved his storyline on “In Treatment.” The goods are the goods. And if we’re lucky enough to bank something for our hours … why not?More money to afford going to the theatre! But that’s a whole other story!

Next Up?

I’m going to do a reading/presentation of a Wendy MacLeod play for Naked Angels. I love Wendy’s writing. Totally relate to it.

Dream Gig?

I want co-write and participate in the story of the women who are as addled, neurotic and misguided as the men on “Bored to Death.” I love that show. But, I’m also completely longing for those characters in female form. Women who wear Converse and shower every other day and have trouble spelling Manolo Blahnik. That’s something I’d be proud to show my kid one day. “See honey, women can be as drug addled and morally reckless and grungy as men! We’re not always waiting for our men folk to come to their senses and get home in time for the (fill in: wedding, baby delivery, casserole). Women are real fuck ups too! Got it? Ok, nighty night. Sweet dreams.”

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Thanks, Susie! Keep it up

A few years later in the 2007/08 season, PlayCo produced Bad Jazz written by Robert Farquhar and directed by Trip Cullman at the Ohio Theatre. Bad Jazz chronicles the lives of young artists in pursuit of a shared dream, as an actress takes a role that puts her sanity at risk, an actor struggles to remain true to his artistic ideals and a director drives his company past the point of reason. When the lines between reality and performance begin to blur, relationships are tested and this group of desperate souls is forced to ask themselves how far they’re prepared to go for art’s sake.

What do these two completely different productions have in common? Two words: Darren Goldstein.

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PLAYCO: How did you first get involved in the Terrorism and Bad Jazz productions?

DARREN: I got involved with both Terrorism and Bad Jazz in the good-old-fashion way of auditioning.  Terrorism was particularly memorable because it came at a time I wasn’t auditioning too much.

I had switched agents and my new reps were trying to figure out exactly where I fit in terms of the NY theater scene.  I had understudied and done some TV and Off-Off Broadway but I was really struggling to get seen for the theater companies I had wanted to work with since coming out of NYU.  Enter casting director Judy Henderson. As for Bad Jazz, I had known the director, Trip Cullman, peripherally.  We traveled in the same circle, and I had known several people who had nothing but great things to say about his talent and how great he was with actors.

PLAYCO: Tell us about the role (or in your case, the many roles!) you played – how did you prepare and which character did you identify with most and why?

DARREN: I played a few roles in Terrorism.  It was an ensemble piece and everyone played more than one character.  It took the idea of terrorism a bit further than what was in NY’ers consciousness at the time.  When I mentioned to friends that I was doing a play called “Terrorism,” most people assumed it was about the traditional ideas of violent terrorism.    But in reality, the play addressed terrorism on a social level.  How terrorism exists in the destructive ways in which we communicate with one another.  Less violent but more insidious.   But really, the best part of working on this was the cast.  Elizabeth Marvel, Dan Oreskes, Lola Pashalinski—it was very exciting to be in a play with them.  The cast was full of terrific NY actors.

Bad Jazz was a reaction to the “in-your-face” British plays of the 90′s.  A lot of Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill plays were referenced.  Plays that became notorious for their theatrical depictions of drug addiction, torture, and sex in working-class England.  Robert Farquar wrote this play about actors in England putting on one of these type of plays.  I played the boyfriend of the “actress in the play.”  A guy not to keen on his girl performing fellatio on a fellow actor in that play.  Trip (the director) decided to utilize the uniqueness and character of the old Ohio Theater.   It was really the perfect venue to stage the play.  Like a black-box theater with teeth.   The whole thing was gloriously over-the-top.  We had a blast.

PLAYCO: What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on in the last year or so? What did you enjoy most about it? Any challenges?

DARREN:  ”Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson” made it to Broadway last year and that was incredibly rewarding.  Much of the cast had developed that piece over about 4 years and it was very rewarding to actually see it realized on a Broadway stage. Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman had done so much work on it to make it this chiseled, sparkling piece of theater and I’m thrilled that I was associated with it.

PLAYCO: Fantastic that you’re keeping so busy with such great work. How do you make it all happen? Who is someone that inspires you to keep going?

DARREN:  Inspiration: hands down, my wife, Katie Finneran.  A monster talent with a monster work ethic.

PLAYCO: So, what’s up next for you and Katie?

DARREN:  So I’m in LA right now where my wife, Katie is shooting a television show called, “I Hate My Teenage Daughter” which premieres on November 30th on FOX.   I just returned from New Orleans where I did an episode of “Common Law,” a new show on USA.  No word yet on exactly when that will be premiering.  And I’m currently shooting an independent movie called, “Playdate.”

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Thanks, Darren! PlayCo looks forward to seeing a lot more from you. Be sure to check out our Facebook & Twitter all week for updates on this PlayCoPlayer.

Here’s the scoop on the writing process with Erin herself!

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PLAYCO: First off, how did you get involved with The Play Company?

ERIN: PlayCo’s literary associate, Melissa Hardy, introduced me to the company through Ronald Schimmelpfennig’s New York premiere of Arabian Nights.  It was such a captivating production that I made a mental note to keep following PlayCo’s work.

PLAYCO: How did you start working on the book and what was your role in writing it? What was the writing process like?

ERIN: Ironically, given the title of the book, Jim Hormel and I got to be friends on the tennis court. When he mentioned that he was struggling to write his own story, I offered to work with him as a co-author. The partnership took off from there, weaving its way through a highly collaborative process of interviewing, writing, reviewing and re-writing – it took a while to massage nearly eighty years of colorful living into a manageable book! More than a year into the project, we connected with literary agent Gillian MacKenzie, who persuaded us that the story should be constructed differently.  We took her advice and did a major re-write.

PLAYCO: What did you find most challenging in working on this project? Most rewarding?

ERIN: Two things were very challenging: 1) sifting through so many good, interesting experiences and disciplining myself to use only those that told the story, and 2) as a straight, 40-something woman, finding the ability to write in the voice of a gay, 70-something man – getting it right was a matter of time and practice, along with a great deal of patience on Jim’s part!

The most rewarding thing has been the great media interest in the book. When we were looking for publishers, we were told over and over that “gay books” don’t sell. But we’re already seeing otherwise.

PLAYCO: Why is this book important to read? Why is it important to you?

ERIN: Fit to Serve is an intimate story about a man who confronted his fears and kept his insecurities at bay in order to do something remarkable for the world. Although his experience plays out on a national stage, he relates it in a way that underscores the power we all have to live our lives and be true to our most heartfelt desires. The trick, as Jim explains it, is to be brave enough to trust in those desires. That message is important because I need that reminder—my inner critic gets the better of me far too often.

PLAYCO: Who is your favorite novelist and/or playwright and why?

ERIN: Eesh, I could never pick just one!  For novelists, I love Vikram Seth, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zakes Mda, Junot Diaz, A.M. Homes, most of Salman Rushdie, most of Isabel Allende…I could go on. For playwrights, I always find new, revelatory things in Shakespeare (truly!) and I adore Athol Fugard—Master Harold and the boys was the first play to make me cry. I always get a lot of laughs out of David Henry Hwang’s work.  Of course, I can’t wait for Jonas Khemiri’s next play. For a language lover, INVASION was as delicious as the Caribbean in winter!

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Thanks for sharing with us, Erin! For more info on Fit to Serve, please visit: www.jameschormel.com

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PLAYCO: First off, how did you get involved with The Play Company?

NOAH: I actually don’t remember how we were introduced. I assume that it was a connection from one of the other theater companies I work with in NYC via my company Another Limited Rebellion.  The first work I did for PlayCo was design the graphics for The Attic.

PLAYCO: So, what sparked this book? What was the writing process like?

NOAH: Unstuck is an extension of my last book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal and both of them came about from my experiences with my yearlong daily art project Skull-A-Day. For Unstuck my goal was to give people a whole bunch of ways they can get back on their creative path in anywhere from a just few hours to only 30 seconds.

It was a fun to make since it got me talking to lots of cool creative folks about how they’ve dealt with their own internal roadblocks. I also got to mine my own history and rediscover a lot of great projects I’ve encountered over the years. I love having an excuse to refill my own creative tool box while putting together a resource like this for other people!

PLAYCO: What did you find most challenging in working on this project? Most rewarding?

NOAH: It’s one thing to write the tagline “52 Ways To Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing” and quite another to actually come up with them! I definitely did not have 52 ideas already in my head when I started, so it was daunting to imagine where I would find them all. Clearly I needed a book like the one I was writing! The rewarding part was seeing it all come together, including getting some amazing interviews with 12 of the most creative people I know, and of course holding the finished product in my hand after working so hard on it!

PLAYCO: That sounds wonderful! But what if you don’t really consider yourself a “creative” type. Why is Unstuck important to read?

NOAH: Everyone, no matter how creative they already may be, gets stuck at some point. And you don’t have to be an artist to take advantage of creativity. Everyone regardless of age or career can use the benefits that come from innovation. Especially these days, when the economy is bad, good ideas can be extremely valuable.

I’m hoping this book will help people release the creativity that they have always had within them and allow them to achieve their full-potential in their lives. I’ve already seen this happen with people that have encountered Skull-A-Day and taken on their own 365 projects, but so many people are daunted by taking on a big projects, so it’s great to offer a lot of little steps that will hopefully give people the extra push that they need.

PLAYCO: Okay, last question, but with all of your talents we’re dying to know who inspires you. Who is your favorite artist and/or designer and what about their work speaks to you?

NOAH: Wow, it’s so hard to choose. I’m a huge fan of Joseph Cornell. I loved how he took everyday objects, that most people might not consider art-worthy, and would create amazingly engaging little worlds from them. He wasn’t a formally trained artist, just someone who wasn’t afraid to transform elements of the world around him into something new and wonderful.

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Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio is coming out this month from Voyager Press.

Noah will be at Kid Robot on Friday, November 18th from 6-8pm, signing copies of Unstuck and doing a craft workshop. The store is in SoHo at 118 Prince Street. http://www.kidrobot.com/NewYork.html

Noah will also be opening up an exhibition of his artwork at Krause Gallery the night before, Thursday the 17th from 6-9pm. The gallery is in the Lower East Side at 149 Orchard Street. More information can be found at http://www.krausegallery.com/WP/

And even if you can’t make it in person, you can still pick up a copy of Unstuck at your local independent bookstore or online. More details @ http://www.makesomething365.com