by The Happiest Medium on February 7, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
The Stranger To Kindness
Company: D&A Productions
Directed by: Heather Cohn
Years of routine bind Lena and Nance, two lonely senior women from the Upper West Side. When Nance no longer answers her door, Lena takes it on herself to call the police and her friend’s family. What arrives is a strange dose of animosity and generousness from unlikely places.
Show Times:
- Thu 2/23 @ 6:00pm
- Sun 2/26 @ 2:30pm
- Wed 2/29 @ 9:00pm
- Thu 3/1 @ 7:30pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 4:00pm
Answers by Antonio Miniño
(Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Antonio: The title is a play on words from the famous final lines of A Streetcar Named Desire, “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers”. The characters in The Stranger to Kindness are all figuring out what kindness means, how to give it and how to accept it from others, especially strangers.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 31, 2012
As part of the Board of Directors of MTWorks I’m really proud to be involved with the National Newborn Festival. Part of my job was to help choose the Excellence in Playwriting Award (see below for the winner!) and this year I’ll be introducing one of the plays — but I won’t tell you which one! You’ll just have to come join me at the festival.
So what is Newborn?
Now on its sixth year, The National NewBorn Festival is MTWorks playwriting competition and flagship program created to find talented emerging playwrights from across the US, introduce their work to the New York community, and open new doors to regional voices.
READINGS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS CLICK HERE
(OR VISIT http://tinyurl.com/72h4jfw)
February 2-4, 2012
The City College of New York (map)
North Academic Center, 160 Convent Avenue New York, NY
First Floor Lecture Hall (1/202)
THE 2012 PLAYS & SCHEDULE
Thursday, February 2nd at 7pm
The Tragedy of Dandelion by Duncan Pflaster, directed by Leah Bonvissuto, produced by Jessica Thornhill.
The Tragedy of Dandelion follows a Princess named Dandelion, who attempts to escape, by dressing as a boy, a forced marriage to Ratliff, a man who raped and impregnated her. She collaborates with Prince Crispin, son of Queen Alice, telling him that the baby is his, to gain a place in that kingdom and while waiting in the Queen’s orchard, meets the Queen’s daughter, Princess Cèlie, and shares a kiss with her. She gains a place in Alice’s kingdom, till Ratliff and her father King Stephano, come to Alice’s palace and point out that Dandelion is a female, and drag her away. A new lesbian verse play by Duncan Pflaster.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 4, 2011
If you’ve never directed a show you probably don’t have any idea how many things need to be juggled, handled, addressed, discussed, solved, finessed, smoothed out, put in order … it boggles the mind. I asked my beloved friend Antonio Minino to tell me what a random day is like for him as he directs David Stallings’ The Family Shakespeare for MT Works. I need a nap just reading his answers!
The Family Shakespeare is a magical and dark fictional look into the dangers and consequences of caging innocence. It is inspired by the true story of the Bowdler family and delves into the psyche of a family who thinks it has the right to cross out and modify words with the supposed aim to protect youth and purity.
As the director of this ambitious tale Antonio is busy from (early) morning till night (or … would that be even earlier morning?). Here is a breakdown of how he spent his Saturday …
UP AND AT ‘EM
When did you wake up?
Around 8am today.
The amount of times you hit the snooze button
I actually don’t hit the snooze button, I just check my phone (which is my alarm clock) every 2 minutes to see how many minutes I can get away with – I should probably start embracing the snooze.
The cups of coffee you need to wake up
Two cups will do it! Normally I brew it at home but with rehearsals I’ve been buying it at the closest deli or Starbucks to wherever we are rehearsing that day.
The time you REALLY feel awake
Lately around 11am - I’m normally a good morning person, when I hit the gym I like doing it at 6am – last time that routine happened it was 1985… no just kidding, it was a couple of months ago. The show has changed all my routines and added back the 10 pounds I had successfully lost.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 3, 2011
As the recently appointed Vice-Chair of Maieutic Theatre Works-MTWorks I’m honored to be (just a small) part of the very talented team that brings The National NewBorn Festival to life.
Please join me tonight for the first in the series of free readings dealing with such hot topics as: immigration, sexuality, war and freedom.
Thursday, February 3rd at 6:00pm
The Aronow Theater (First Floor)
**Resident Reading**
THE REEDUCATION OF ARIZONA
by MTWorks Artistic Director David Stallings
directed by MTWorks Resident Director Cristina Alicea
A satirical comedy that dissects the trickled down effect of Gov. Jan Brewer’s immigration bill in Arizona.
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Thursday, February 3rd at 8:30pm
The Aronow Theater (First Floor)
SKIN AND BONE
by Jacqueline Goldfinger (Pennsylvania)
directed by Dev Bondarin
A cannibalistic dark comedy about aging, set in a cozy B&B in the South.
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by Diánna Martin on January 28, 2011
The National Newborn Festival has become, over the last four years, one of the premiere playwriting festivals in the country for emerging playwrights. A flagship program created and produced by MTWorks, an ever-growing, non-profit theatre company, Newborn allows playwrights to have a work never produced in New York be read in a festival setting.
Free and open to the public, this year’s festival is being sponsored by The City College of New York’s Psychology Club & Department and begins Thursday, February 3rd, and runs through Sunday, February 6th. This year we are showcasing the works of Duncan Pflaster, Rich Rubin, Marilynn Barner Anselmi, Riti Sachdeva, and Jacqueline Goldfinger.
David Stallings
The festival will kick off the first night with the reading of The ReEducation of Arizona by MTWorks’ Artistic Director and resident playwright David Stallings, and end the final evening with the Audience Favorite Award ceremony and a raffle, as well as an extra reading of the winning play. For 2011, in addition to the Audience Favorite Award which is selected by those who attend the readings, the MTWorks Board of Directors is presenting the first annual Excellence in Playwriting Award, to be announced prior to the festival.
I have directed a reading in the last two Newborn Festivals, and will be acting in this year’s, so I’m very excited about this brainchild that MTWorks has created…one that encourages playwrights, directors, and actors to come together and celebrate the artistic process. I asked the playwrights to talk a little bit about their work and their thoughts on said process.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on May 13, 2010
There are two kinds of die hard New Yorkers. Those who were born here and will never leave, and those who came here to escape small towns . . . and will never leave. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re one of those two, and if you’re the latter then Barrier Island will remind you of home, but may also remind you how far from home you’ve come.
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by The Happiest Medium on April 14, 2010
Keep reading for a chance to win tickets . . .
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by Antonio Miniño on January 13, 2010
Developed 3 years ago, The National NewBorn Festival is the flagship program of a non-profit theater company very dear to me, Maieutic Theatre Works; or as we like to call it MTWorks – that way we don’t have to get into the whole “Maieutic is pronounced /meɪˈjuːtɪks/”.
New plays that have yet to receive a New York production are read in a festival setting and free to the general public from Thursday, January 21st through Sunday, January 24th. This year we are showcasing new plays by Barrie Kreinik, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Carol Carpenter, Gwydion Suilebhan and Cody Daigle.
The audience also gets to pick and vote for the recipient of the Audience Favorite Award. The winner receives a second reading on Sunday night after the resident reading of A Song for St. Michael’s by one of the NewBorn creators and Artistic Director of MTWorks, David Stallings.
What I appreciate about festivals is the networking opportunities it creates for dramatists, actors, directors and companies. This week I asked all 6 dramatists some questions about their work and inspirations.
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by David Stallings on December 27, 2009
A Film Review by Guest Blogger David Stallings
The question is not is Nine worthy, but can a modern audience sit through 8 ½?
Buzz surrounding Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of a stage musical adaptation of a 1963 film classic, 8 ½ , has been flitting around the industry for many months. From the drama of losing Javier Bardem and gaining Daniel Day Lewis to casting a bevy of Hollywood Divas in ensemble roles, this picture has certainly had the build-up of a blockbuster hit. Unfortunately for this film, it has neither the current American cinematic structure nor the traditional character development to meet the primary requirement of a Blockbuster: the movie does not speak to everyone. That being said, the film Nine will have those who love it and hate it arguing about its validity for years to come. In short, Nine has thus succeeded as a work of art.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 19, 2009
You can tell it’s Fringe Season when theatres ’round the city are suddenly bustling with life at odd hours of the day and escorting people in and out quickly so they can strike a set and get ready for the next show which is happening in, oh, about a minute. Yes, it’s all about endings and beginnings at Fringe which is why it’s rather fitting that I started my rounds this year with two very different plays that both dealt with the same fine line between living and dying, and what you do with that quick snap of a moment in between the two blackouts. Eli and Cheryl Jump takes you off on the wind of fanciful, magical, dreaminess while Look After You shows the realistic portrait of a life interrupted by a flash of illness that comes quickly and takes certainty with it. Both plays speak to the frailty of what we take for granted every day, both highlight what it means to be a survivor.
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