Feasting on Cardigans, Mark Eisman's "comedic sci-fi parable about love, family, exterminators and moths," will be performed from
July 22nd to August 6th at the WorkShop Theatre's MainStage Space (312 West 36th Street) as
part of the Sixth Annual Midtown International Theatre Festival. Presented by the Oberon Theatre Ensemble, the show is directed by Amy Henault.
"Set
during the 2005 Great Moth Clothing Infestation of New York City,
(where the slogan is 'Be Safe, Wear Cotton'), Haff thinks he has it all. He's
working regularly, the current emergency has made people more
respectful of his profession, and he has a loving fiancée in Lenah. Haff
and Lenah believe they have found the perfect relationship and agree on
almost everything, including the fact that neither of them wants
children. However, Haff finds his paternal feelings awakened when, on
an extermination call, he meets a somewhat troubled teenager named
Duncan and his eccentric aunt, Crescent. Bonding with
Duncan during a series of visits, Haff begins to question his decision
about fatherhood, a change of attitude which does not sit well at all
with Lenah. Complicating things further, Haff's
exterminating partner Rose-Marie wants to have a child of her own and
feels Haff would be the ideal contributor. Faced with these events and the questions they raise, Haff is forced to reexamine his deeply held priorities. Meanwhile, there's still an infestation to control and a city of clothes to save!," as the show is described in a press article.
Ian Pfister*, Kate Sandberg*, Katie Barrett*, Andrea Gallo* and Tyler Samuel Lee are featured in the production, which is an Equity Showcase.
Eisman
has had plays produced and workshoped at various regional theatres
across the United States including The Magic Theater (San Francisco),
Center Stage (Baltimore), the Y.E.S. Festival at Northern Kentucky
University, U.S. West TheaterFest (Denver Center Theatre Company),
Boston Theatreworks Unbound Festival and Charlotte Repertory Theatre's
New Play Festival. His work The Guy Upstairs (Charlotte
Repertory Theater), received a nomination for the Best New American
Play Award of the American Theatre Association. He has
written questions for Jeopardy and the children's shows The Great Space
Coaster, Reading Rainbow and the Ramona series for PBS. He has also
received two daytime Emmy nominations, a NY state playwriting
fellowship, the Beverly Hills Theater Guild/Julie Harris Playwriting
Award, the Charles MacArthur Friendship and a playwriting scholarship
from Primary States. He recently completed two novels for children.
Henault's recent
directing credits include Patience and Monster Tales (Published in
Martin Denton's Plays and Playwrights 2004) for Boomerang Theatre Co.
For Oberon, she's directed Funeral Parlor and The Stronger, as well as
various readings. Assistant Directing credits include Of Mice and Men,
directed by Eric Parness (Top 10 plays of 2003, Theatremania.com) and Moonchildren, directed by Tim Errickson (OOBR Favorite Production).
Founded
in 1993 (and revitalized in 1997), the Oberon Theatre Ensemble is a New
York based, not-for-profit theatre group committed to cultivating and
invigorating a diverse theatre community by confronting contemporary
issues through classic and original works and by employing
non-traditional casting and supporting the process of developing
original material.
Show times are: Friday, July 22nd at 5:30pm, Sunday, July 24th at
1:30pm, Monday, July 25th at 9:30pm, Saturday, July 30th at 8pm,
Thursday, August 4th at 5:30pm and Saturday, August 6th at 1:30pm.
Tickets to Feasting on Cardigans are $19 and $15 for students and seniors. Reservations can be made at Smarttix.com by calling 212-868-4444 or by going to www.smarttix.com. The running time of the show is approximately 90 minutes.
Further information on Feasting on Cardigans can be found at: www.oberontheatre.org.
