PRESS MATERIALS NEWS & BLOGS PODCASTS REVIEWS ALUMNI UPDATES

Life for our productions doesn't end just because the festival is over.
Here is where we get a chance to share further successes and news about our Festival participants.

Be sure to check back often for updates.

An update from Full Circle Theatre Co.


Full Circle Theatre Company proudly announces the

Off-Broadway debut of Unaccustomed to my Name;

a solo play by Marta Rainer.

The one-woman play that Wendy

Wasserstein called “Very exciting,”

and Garrison Keillor hailed as

“Terrific…so intricate, so intense, so

intimate,” is coming home to New

York after five years of touring.

This July, Unaccustomed to my

Name will be playing Off-Broadway

at The Players Theatre at 115

MacDougal St.

http://fullcircletheatre.com/fullcircletheatre/fullcircletheatre/UTMN.html

An update from Cornelius Jones Jr. of the 2008 MITF production of FlagBoy...


FlagBoy
comes to Wasington, DC
 4 SHOWS ONLY!!!
  
 
Friday - 7/10 @ 5:00PM
Saturday - 7/11 @ 10:00PM
Saturday - 7/25 @ 4:45PM
Sunday - 7/26 @ 5:00PM
 
Warehouse - Next Door
1021 7th St., NW
Wash., DC  20001

Tickets on Sale SOON!

...Cornelius Jones Jr. delivers a wonderful and humbly honest solo performance in FlagBoy."

 
 

 

An update Lisa Ramirez of the 2008 MITF production of Exit Cuckoo


 
 
Exit Cuckoo
written & performed by Lisa Ramirez
directed by Colman Domingo
April 17-May 17, 2009
 
at the Clurman Theatre (410 W 42nd St.)
 
Tickets only $25!
Buy Online at 
www.ticketcentral.com or Call 212.279.4200

For Special Group Rates of up to 30% off
call Mark or Laura at 212-244-3300 or email
mark@theworkingtheater.org or laura@theworkingtheater.org


Exit Cuckoo is Lisa Ramirez's funny, sad and satisfyingly complex one-woman show. Ms. Ramirez brings fresh insight to the picture, smartly revealing the characters' interwoven fates and fortunes and distinctive personalities. - Anita Gates, New York Times 

A sort of one-woman 'Nanny Diaires,' the likable Lisa Ramirez's solo show about extreme babysitting has some interesting tricks up its sleeve. Ramirez is really onto something good. Colman Domingo's smooth staging keeps the piece moving steadily." - Sam Thielman, Variety 

Under Colman Domingo's fluid direction, Ramirez is able to bring each character to credible, encapsulated life. Exit Cuckoo's depiction of the world of modern-day Manhattan nannying benefits from the clear ring of truth. - Patrick Lee, Theatermania.com

 

An update from Lisa Dozier, MITF's Artistic Director for Plays...


Damon Krometis, the Artistic Director of Examined Man Theatre, wanted me to let you know about his new show opening this month.
Examined Man, the producer of the piece, will be submitting a one-man show developed last year to MITF for our 10th Anniversary season.

Examined Man Presents

When in Disgrace
(Haply I Think on Thee)

January 23-February 8, 2009

at the Theater at St. Clement's

Written and Directed by Damon Krometis

Featuring Alex Brown, Brian Cheng, Dan Cullen, Chelsey Donn, Danelle Eliav, Lauryn Fay Sullivan and Patrick Vaill

Designs by Cesar Alvarez, Rebecca Bernstein, John Sundling and Paul Toben

Inspired by a true story and originally developed at both the Williamstown Theatre Festival Workshop and the Examined Man Artistic Retreat, When In Disgrace (Haply I Think on Thee) tells an unbelievable tale of shattered hope and personal destruction as three close friends are torn apart by jealousy, neglect, guilt, and ultimately, love. These forces combine to drive a young man towards a terrible decision. Fusing rock music, iambic verse, and video games, When In Disgrace explores what leads youngsters to extreme acts of violence, and the eerie similarity between teenage melodrama and classical drama.

Detailed schedule and tickets available through Theatermania.

An update from Clayton Phillips, MITF's Artistic Director for the Commercial Division...


I have been nominated for two awards at the New Hampshire Theatre Awards:

Best Direction of a Musical for FALSETTOS at Second Stage in Manchester NH

Best Supporting Actor in a Play for Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Advice to the Players

Also, my productions of FALSETTOS and BASH were both nominated for Best Musical.

You can find out more at official New Hampshire Theatre Awards web site.

An update from Susan Rankus, MITF's Artistic Director for International Shows...


Please save the date!

Previous Tenants, a short film I was a Producer on, returns to NYC as part of the New Filmmakers' New years Festival! Plus FREE after party with drink Specials!

Hope to see you there!

New Filmmakers
(corner of 2nd ave and 2nd St)
Jan 2nd @7pm

Admission is only $5
8pm FREE After Party w drink Specials - location TBD

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=38280157503

http://newfilmmakers.com/NewFilmmakers Schedule 0901.htm

http://www.previoustenants.info

An update from Jess Kearney of the 2005 MITF production of New Words, Old Words...


Exciting News!

Just wanted to let you know that over the weekend, I received notification that I won 1st Place in the 2008 Kernodle New Play Competition for my one-act play, Dinner For Two.

Many blessings and happy holidays,

Jesse Kearney

An update from Lisa Ramirez of the 2008 MITF production of Exit Cuckoo...


coming up in 2009...

Exit Cuckoo

written & performed by Lisa Ramirez

directed by Colman Domingo

April 17- May 17, 2009

at The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row

410 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036

www.exitcuckoo.com

Working Theater is pleased to present Lisa Ramirez's Exit Cuckoo, to be produced in association with Eve Ensler and directed by Colman Domingo April 17-May 17, 2009.

This one-woman show explores the myth of motherhood in the jungle of Manhattan.

Lisa Ramirez takes us into the homes of, and sits us on the park bench with, nannies, mothers and the children they both leave and care for.

An update from Daniel Gallant of the 2008 MITF production of Gerald's Method...


An update from Sara J. Asselin of the 2008 MITF production of By the Light of the Silvery Moon...


My short play, WEIMARHOLE, is opening soon! It's being presented by Emerging Artists Theatre as part of the Fall EATFEST 2008. It's a night of short plays. WEIMARHOLE is a really funny play about experimental theater gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Here are the details:

WEIMARHOLE
by Sara Jeanne Asselin
directed by Jonathan Warman
with Deb Armelino*, Moe Bertran*, J. Stephen Brantley, Vinnie Costa*, Maya Rosewood, Matthew Shawlin*

WHERE: Roy Arias Theater Center, 300 W. 43rd Street 5th Floor.

WHEN: Series B: Nov. 6th-16th Thursday and Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 4:30 pm, Sunday at 7:30 pm

TICKETS: $18, visit their website at www.eatheatre.org or through nytheatre.com at this link: http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/showpage.php?t=eatf7617

I hope to see you there.

An update from On the Square Productions of the 2008 MITF production of Quake...


We hope that you will join us this coming Wednesday, November 5th at 6pm at the Bowery Poetry Club for Ingenue: An Original Musical by Deborah Gross.

Is being the "Ingenue" really all it's cracked up to be? Come and join our heroine Valerie Finkel as she faces off with the evil producer Jiminy Roach to find out!

Directed by Michael Swartz, Musical Direction by Kristofer Barber, Produced by Rachel McPhee and Jackie LaVanway, Book/Music/Lyrics by Deborah Gross

Starring Anna Marquardt, Ari Rossen, Brian Kalinowski, Deborah Gross, Emily Tucker, Erika Smith, John Matthew Myers, Katherine Nellie Brown, Leone Hanman, Maureen Rohn, Monica Niemi, Nicole Winhoffer, Rachel McPhee, Sarah Hutchison, Susannah McLeod

Postcard designed by Duane Tollison

Come and join us for ONE NIGHT ONLY as we perform Ingenue: An Original Musical as a concert reading at the Bowery Poetry Club. It will be Wednesday November 5th at 6pm. The cost is only $10! This will serve as a fundraiser for On the Square Productions and future projects.

An update from Jane Dubin of the 2007 MITF production of Take Me America...


Double Play Connections and Wild Bird Productions are pleased to announce a staged reading of a new musical about asylum

Take Me America

“What are you afraid of?”

Book and Lyrics by Bill Nabel
Music by Bob Christianson

Follow nine refugees in their quest for asylum in the US and three Immigration agents who decide their fate. Do they stay or do they go? How would YOU decide? Get it wrong and you might as well sentence them to death…or worse. Inspired by true stories from the Sundance and PBS documentary “Well Founded Fear”. They are stories of life and death; real, sometimes humorous, but always compelling.

Tuesday, November 11 at 3 pm

The York Theatre
E. 54th St, (Lexington Ave.), NYC

All tickets free but reservations required -- jlandsman@yorktheatre.org or 212-935-5824, ext. 24

Check out the music and more
http://www.TakeMeAmerica.com/

Directed by Susan Russell
Musical Direction by Amy Duran

With a cast featuring many Broadway veterans:

Ana Maria Andricain* (South Pacific, By Jeeves, Beauty and the Beast, Les Miserables, Marie Christine), Eric Chan* (Flower Drum Song, Miss Saigon, Shogun, Anything Goes), Jackie Hoffman* (Xanadu, Hairspray), Aalok Mehta (Bombay Dreams), Natasha Tabandera* (Miss Saigon, Mamma Mia, Bombay Dreams) and others to be announced

*These actors appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

Contact us at
TakeMeAmerica@gmail.com

An update from Nathan Lemoine of the 2008 MITF production of 10-Speed Revolution...


International WOW Company presents

SURRENDER

A simulated war deployment experience in three acts.

October 25th Thru Nov. 16th, Wed-Sat at 7pm Sun at 4pm, additional performance on Tuesday November 11th, (Veteran's Day) at 7pm.

OHIO THEATER
66 WOOSTER ST.

99.5% of all Americans will not serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.The divide between soldier and civilian has never been greater in American history. This is your invitation to get some first-hand experience. Don't pass it up.

Conceived and directed by JOSH FOX
with decorated Iraq War veteran and critically acclaimed author of Just Another Soldier
JASON CHRISTOPHER HARTLEY
and created by
THE INTERNATIONAL WOW ENSEMBLE
Tickets at Smarttix.com

Here's what happens -- When you arrive at the theater we issue you a standard military uniform:

ACT 1: You train in basic combat techniques with Jason Christopher Hartley: a crash course in rifle handling, room clearing and engaging the enemy.

ACT 2: You are deployed: you enter a multi-room installation to put your military training to the test.

ACT 3: You fly home to experience a soldier's reintegration into society. International WOW Company's whirlwind hallucination of homecoming directed by Josh Fox.

Tickets at SmartTix.com 212-868-4444

We also offer a limited number of observer seats for $5 more each night.*

SURRENDER is generously supported by the Rockefeller MAP Fund. Also supported in part by The New York State Council for the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Alliance of Resident Theaters, New York, The Matrix Art Collective,Inc. and many individual donors.

To support or volunteer with International WOW Company info@internationalwow.com

DISCOUNTS:
THE DAY AFTER SPECIAL -- $5 Tix for November 5th performance. Smarttix code: Ivoted
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL Two for One Tickets
STUDENT TIX: 5 Dollars off with ID
BE AN IRAQI discount! Five dollar tix! Play an Iraqi insurgent in the installation... First come first served. Email us at Surrender.usher@GMAIL.COM for details.

An update from Cheryl Harnest of the 2008 MITF production of Sacred is the New Profane...


2008 Women at Work Festival

Sacred is the New Profane

Winner of the 2008 Midtown International Theatre Festival Award for Outstanding Overall Production of a Solo Show, Nominee for Outstanding Performance in a Solo Show

Sunday, October 19th, 8:00pm — In tandem with two Richard Ballon monologues, Wednesday, October 22nd, 8:00pm — On it's own

at Stage Left Studio, 438 West 37th St Suite 5A, New York, NY 10018 (Between 9th and 10th avenues)

Tickets available from SmartTix.com -- 212-868-4444 -- $18.00 tickets, $15.00 with code: *3OFF*

A portion of the profits go to the Young Girls Scholarship Program

Information: stageleftstudio.com

An update from Cornelius Jones Jr. of the 2008 MITF production of FlagBoy...


FLAGBOY/WILMINGTON, DE

On Thursday September 18, 2008. Cornelius premiered his one-man show FlagBoy, at The Christina Cultural Arts Center in Wilmington, DE, a part of their New Works Series. Many came out to support and it was the start of a wonderful movement to continue to discuss issues of HIV/AIDS and Gay/Lesbian identity issues in communities of color. There was onsight confidential HIV testing provided and sponsored by Carlos Montrera-Hicks from EACH ONE TEACH ONE and Tammy Jones from THE DELAWARE HIV CONSORTIUM. Following the performance of FlagBoy was a post show discussion facilitated by artist/educator Benjamin S. Cannon. The performance, post-show discussion, and testing raised much awareness for the Delaware community. We look forward to continuing to bring FlagBoy to communities that are open to discussions that raise awareness around HIV/AIDS, Gay/Lesbian issues, and identity issues. For more info on how you can help keep this movement alive, please email Cornelius at FlagBoyOnline@gmail.com or IamLifeJones@gmail.com.

BRAKING THE CYCLE 2008

On Sunday September 28th Cornelius returned from his 3-day AIDS awareness Bike Ride from Gettysburg, PA to NYC. The ride is called Braking The Cycle and it's NYC's Gay and Lesbian Center's largest annual fundraiser. The Fundraiser supports the HIV/AIDS services provided by the LGBT Center. The entire Braking The Cycle Team raised a total of
$414, 000(and still counting). We are happy to report that approximatley $3,600 of that was part of Cornelius's effort, which you all helped him achieve. THANK YOU!!!
With that being said, and the wonderful experience received, he's planning to do it all over again next year. That's right...the 2009 Braking The Cycle AIDS Ride.
Next year Braking The Cycle travels 275 miles for 3 days from Boston, MA to NYC. He will definitely need your help and support again. We know the state of the economy has some of us strapped and worried, but let's not be a vicitim of that fear. So stay tuned for his second fundraising quest for Braking The Cycle 2009 AIDS Ride.

THE FUTURE OF BLACK GAY NEW YORK CITY!!!

Hot Topic...In your face...BOLD! This is a panel discussion/Networking Event not to be missed. I would say one of the first ever to grace the city of New York. Cornelius serves as a panelist amongst four special guests. The panel will be moderated by promoter/educator/life coach Nathan "Seven" Scott. What is the Future of Black Gay New York City? What does all this mean?
Come find out... Wednesday October 29 - 6:30PM - THE CENTER - 208 W. 13th ST - $10

AND FINALLY....FLAGBOY RETURNS TO NYC IN DECEMBER

FlagBoy, a recent nominee of the Ninth Annual Midtown International Theater Festival for Outstanding Performance in a Solo-Show returns to NYC in December. Please stay tuned as official dates and times will be posted. Updates will be released via email and online at www.corneliusjonesjr.com.

An update from Margaret H. Baker of the 2008 MITF production of My Life as a Bald Soprano...


Hey Guys,

If you get a chance, come and see me in Spoon Theater's current Production of "A Kite Cut Loose In The Middle Of The Sky", a new play by David Greenberg.

Comps are avail. for Industry & Equity Members.

Please see link below:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/gst/theater/tdetails.html?id=1194820113824

Margaret H Baker (SAG, AFTRA)
www.margarethbaker.com

The Flea Theater and Northwestern University present
the world premiere of…

Endoftheworld Lovesong

A new play by Matthew Stephen Smith

Directed by Jeremy Bloom (MITF AWARD NOMINEE)

September 9 - 14, Downstairs @ The Flea

New York, NY (August 14, 2008) – Endoftheworld Lovesong is a timely groundbreaking new play that eerily takes place NOT too far in the future. A triple-digit heat wave has become the norm for an average summer day, the once Texas-sized collection of plastic in the ocean has doubled in mass, and the sun looks redder.
It's a quiet Monday morning. In a hopelessly cramped and secluded construction office tucked below the sun-scored L.A. streets, June Ballard (Amanda Duarte, MITF Best Supporting Actress Nominee) is having another panic attack. On the radio, a crazed host proclaims the end of civilization. In other news, the oceans belch plastic waste, wildfires blaze across the east, the Southland enters its nineteenth day of record-breaking heat, unemployment's shamefully high, and somewhere in the ether, two disembodied voices sing a lonesome lullaby... Before next Monday, June will fall helplessly in love, shaking her world to its core.


The play's lyrical tone and emotional urgency focus on the quiet, anxious toll that our oncoming ecological crisis takes on the human psyche. Too uncertain and too much in mourning for panicked exclamations, the characters at their most desperate resort to singing invented poem-songs while they wait and wait, with their jobs, existence and all humanity at stake.

Performed on the anniversary of September 11th, Endoftheworld Lovesong takes a quiet, reflective look at where we are now (where we feel like we are now), and where we might be headed (where we already are). As Anna (played by Raniah Al-Sayed) points out, "every generation's gotta make its own apocalypse."
The dynamic cast around the office includes: Raniah Al-Sayed as Anna, Amanda Duarte* as June, Ben Masur*, and Jeremy Wimmer as Alan, with the radio hosts: Jimmy Maize as Jay Jay and Chelsea O'Connor as Trish.

(*appears courtesy of Actors Equity)

The acclaimed design team includes lights by Jeanette Yew (Oph3lia), sets by Stephanie Tucci (MITF Best Scenic Design Award Nominee for The Wendy Complex), original music by Andrew Plourde (MIA). Stage managed by Emily Gasser.

Performances:

Tuesday, September 9th, at 7PM

Wednesday, September 10th, at 7PM

Thursday, September 11th, at 9PM

Friday, September 12th, at 9PM

Saturday, September 13th, at 9PM

Sunday, September 14th, at 7PM

Tickets are $15. For advance reservations, or to set up press or industry tkts, email: endoftheworld.lovesong@gmail.com

The Flea Theater is located in Tribeca, at 41 White St., between Broadway and Church St., three blocks south of Canal St. (the closest subway lines are the A, C, and E, the 6, the N and R, and the Q and W, all of which stop atCanal Street, as well as the 1, which stops at Franklin Street.) www.theflea.org

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Jeremy Bloom's favorite directing credits include his original work, A Mikvah (NYFringe), The Wendy Complex (MITF Award Nominee for Best Production), and Speaking Boheme (on a rooftop), as well as Sacred is the New Profane (MITF Award Nominee for Best Solo Show) and ...and the rain (NYU Grad). Upcoming: Leaves of Grass. He has served as assistant to Mary Zimmerman (Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere), Jim Simpson (The Flea), Lee Breuer (Mabou Mines), and Will Patton on Dennis Johnson's Des Moines (Evenstar). Jeremy is a recent alum of Northwestern's Performance Studies program.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew Stephen Smith is a proud graduate of Northwestern University (M.F.A. in Writing for the Stage + Screen) and the University of Michigan (B.F.A. in Theater Performance). His recent plays, including Night in the Land of Gracious Living, Shiver Meek & Mute, and Daedalus/Myth have been performed through PANOPLY PLAB, PROSPECT THEATER, and REMY BUMPPO. This past school year, he taught Northwestern undergraduates in two introductory screenwriting courses. He is now at work on his new play; 7 Ways to Mourn the Dead.

ABOUT THE FLEA
The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Jim Simpson and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading Off-Off-Broadway companies. Founded in 1996, The Flea's mission is to raise the standards of Off-Off-Broadway for artists and audiences alike. From A.R. Gurney to Adam Rapp, from Mac Wellman to Will Eno, The Flea's two intimate spaces are a home for established artists taking new risks, emerging artists developing their ideas, and mid-career artists building sustained identities. The Flea has been awarded a Drama Desk, an Otto, and numerous OBIEs for its commitment to adventurous theater. Past productions include the premieres of Anne Nelson's The Guys, four plays by A.R. Gurney (Post Mortem, O Jerusalem, Screenplay, and Mrs. Farnsworth), Mac Wellman's Cellophane and Two September, Roger Rosenblatt's Ashley Montana Goes Ashore..., Elizabeth Swados' JABU, Karen Finley's Return of the Chocolate Smeared Woman, Yussef El Guindi's Back of the Throat, Julian Sheppard's Los Angeles, Adam Rapp's Bingo with the Indians and Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity.. To learn more about The Flea, visit www.theflea.org.

You are cordially invited to attend the staged reading of my play "Love and War - A Political Love Story."
 For more information click here. Thank you -- Phillip W. Weiss

2 more showings of A NASTY STORY

Thursday August 21st @ 10:15pm    Friday August 22nd @ 8pm

Presented as part of the 2008 New York Int'l Fringe Festival--FringeNYC
a Fine Feathered Friends production
"A Nasty Story"
Written by Sara Jeane Asselin
Directed by Melissa Firlit
Stage Managed by Sarah Ford
Asst. Stage Managed by Annie Ford
Featuring: Sara Jeane Asselin*, Brian Belcinski, Danaher Dempsey, John
Forkner, Keith Foster*, Abe Goldfarb*, Tim McDonough and Sammy Tunis
*AEA member, Equity approved showcase
The Connelly Theater
220 E. 4th Street (between Avenues A and B)
(subway: F,V to 2nd Ave.)
TICKETS: $15, wwwfringenyc.org, or 866-468-7619


Musical "Take Me America" Tested in Chicago -- Playbill Online -- August 15, 2008

Theatre Building Chicago - STAGES 2008: "Take Me America"

Webeime
runs through May 4 at the

Harlem School of the Arts
645 St. Nicholas Ave. (at West 141st St.)
(212) 279-4200

Read the NY Times Review       Buy Tickets Online

INVISIBLE LLC 
presents

WARNING SIGNS
Created and performed by Maggie Surovell
Costume design by Sarah Sophia Turner

NEW YORK MAGAZINE Top Pick from the Midtown International Theater Festival of July 2006

An original, coming-of-age story about a Jewish / Socialist / Vegetarian / Feminist and her extremely big hair. Growing up in a politically left-wing household in Maplewood, NJ, wasn't always easy for Maggie.  With a left-wing father, feminist mother, radical scrabble loving grandmother and an insightful dog who happens to be her best friend, Maggie is forced to face the painful realities of unrequited love, bullies, death, racism, war, vegetarian haters and her extremely big hair.

"Surovell's a solo act in life and a one-of-a-kind on stage. When she speaks, every moment is a surprise... This is not just stand up ... Surovell addresses the issues -- desires, impulses, moments, and events that have collectively shaped this woman who is an American. Who is a citizen of the world." -- Kevin Connell, nytheatre.com

Maggie has performed WARNING SIGNS at numerous venues including: Cherry Lane Theatre's CHERRY PIT LATE NITE, Chashama, The Midtown International Theatre Festival, Stage Left Studios, MadLab Theatre Company, ATHICA, and Camp Kinderland.

The Sanford Meisner Theatre
164 11th Ave (between 22nd and 23rd Streets)

Friday April 4th & Saturday April 5th @ 10pm
Monday April 7th & Tuesday April 8th @ 8:30pm
Wednesday April 9th @ 7:30 PM

Cash Only @ The Door: $18 General and $12 Students/Seniors/Starving Artists
Reserve Tickets: wsigns@gmail.com

DIRECTIONS: Subway: C, E to 23rd Street; Bus: M23 to 23rd and 11th 

Twist -- The New Hit Musical Drama Los Angeles Is Talking About!

Brandon Ruckdashel,
Chris Carlisle,
and the other boys
in the Los Angeles Production
at the Avery Schreiber Theater

Dickens scholars and workhouse tyrants have long appreciated the masochistic element underlying the iconic orphan's plaintive "Please, sir, I want some more." But why settle for subtext? It's a question asked and answered (repeatedly) in the tune-lashed saga of Oliver, here transformed from underage boy into "an attractive youth of indeterminate (but legal) age," convincingly portrayed by Brandon Ruckdashel.

The concept behind Twist is good, dirty, campy fun. You get the feeling that someone got the idea for it when noticing that Oliver Twists' famous "Please sir, can I have some more?" sounds suspiciously like something a masochist might say during a beating session.... But the core - the sad youth who says "It's what I know" - is never too far from the surface of this Oliver. Brandon Ruckdashel plays him (here called Twist) with a simple earnest innocence. Even though the sort of thing that makes his face light up with joy isn't what most would call "innocent." Ruckdashel's Twist is basically just looking for a place where he can feel safe. And putting that sort of heart into the piece, from beginning to end, grounds the entire production.

From the poignant "Bound and Tied," sung beautifully by Ruckdashel , to the Artful Dodger's infectious "Sucker" ("fill up my mouth and I'll be a sucker for you"), to the rousing Act 1 finale "You Can't Choose Your Family," this is one of the best original scores I've heard in a long time. (There's also the Abba-esque "Clothing Makes the Man" and the touching "Reflection," a gorgeous love song for Twist and Dodger, among other winners.)
Director Storiale spent several months casting Twist, and it shows in the musical theater talent he has assembled. The title role was the hardest to fill until, at the end of several months of searching, Ruckdashel arrived from New York and blew the competition away. Looking and singing like an angel (with a naughty gleam in his eye), Ruckdashel is, as they say, "a find."

Contact: Barney Oldfield Management
New York: 143 E 97 Street Ste 3W, New York, NY 10029 -- 212-410-9404
Los Angeles: 6404 Wilshire Blvd Ste 105-1901, Los Angeles, CA 90048 -- 213-840-6224, Fax 213-477-2004
barney@barneyoldfield.com

"Be Yourself As Well As Art" Interview

Friday, October 19th, 2007 at midnight, Emily Moment and Brendan Ryan from Sons of Molly Maguire, and John Kearns appeared on the cable access show, "Be Yourself As Well As Art" on  Manhattan's  channel 34.  Emily and Brendan performed a scene from the play that takes place in a dive bar with some comical background goings on.  John talked a little about the play and about his new book of short stories, Dreams and Dull Realities. The show was also seen outside of Manhattan over the internet at http://mnn.org/en/viewers/watchmnn by clicking the link next to Channel 34.

KadmusArts Interview of Susan Rankus

Artistic Director for International shows at the Midtown International Theatre Festival, Susan is also an actor and was awarded the 2001/2002 Dorothy Haas Acting Apprenticeship at the Walnut Street Theatre. She produced and performed Renaissance at the 2007 Midtown festival, and will be producing and starring in a film titled Previous Tenants. In this podcast, Susan talks about the process of attracting and facilitating non-US. companies’ participation in the festival, and why keeping things simple is a good strategy.