Frances Black Projects & IRT Theater to Present MANIFEST DESTINY, 3/7-21

Frances Black Projects & IRT Theater present, Manifest Destiny, a new comedy about two wounded but charming performers determined to reach their potential. The show is created by Aitor Basauri, Zachary Fine and Lucas Caleb Rooney, performed by Zachary Fine and Lucas Caleb Rooney, directed by Aitor Basauri (founding member of Spy Monkey theatre company), choreography by Caroline Fermin (company member of Galim Dance) and puppets by Annie Worden. March 5-21 at IRT Theater, 154 Christopher Street. Tickets are $18 and available online at www.irtheater.org.

Manifest Destiny is comprised of a series of sketches from American History (mostly) in which the two actors (Rooney and Fine) employ an arsenal of theatrical genres to become better people and thereby manifest their own destinies. Using clowning, improvisation and absurdist humor, Manifest Destiny is a loopy romp, at the heart of which is a show about two friends learning to get along.

PERFORMANCES:
March 5 - Preview 7pm ($10 tix with code FUNNYPREV)
March 6 - Preview 8pm ($10 tix with code FUNNYPREV)
March 7 - Opening Night 8pm, party on stage to follow
March 9,12,16,19 - Performance 7pm
March 13,14,15,20,21 - Performance 8pm

AITOR BASAURI (Creator & Director) was born in Bilbao, Spain. For the past 20 years he has been teaching and performing clown all over the world. He is one of the most sought-after clown teachers in the world, regularly holding sold-out master classes in London and New York. Aitor has been staff tutor at École Philippe Gaulier Paris; taught for Cirque du Soleil/Cirque du Monde Foundation, New York Clown Theatre Festival, Celebration Barn Maine, and at universities, institutes, and festivals to students, professionals and clown doctors all over the world including Madrid, Berlin, Damascus, and Taipei. He is also a co-founder and performer in the internationally renowned clown company, SPYMONKEY. His teachers include Phiippe Gaulier, Cal McCrystal and Pierre Byland.

LUCAS CALEB ROONEY (Creator & Performer) Broadway: Golden Boy, The Country Girl, HENRY IV. Off-Broadway: Regrets (MTC); Much Ado, Measure for Measure, YellowFace (Public Theater); Orphan's Home Cycle (Signature); Regional: Death of a Salesman, God of Carnage, All My Sons, Twelfth Night (Old Globe); Midsummer Nights Dream (LaJolla Playhouse/ Hartford Stage). Film & TV: Magic of Belle Isle, On Broadway, One Last Thing, "Boardwalk Empire," "Person of Interest," "Cold Case," "CSI:Miami," "Journeyman," "Law & Order," "Kidnapped. Education: MFA Old Globe Theatre/USD; Ecole Philippe Gaulier. Co-founder of an NGO that creates theatre and promotes education with the children of Madagascar; www.zaraaina.org.

ZACK FINE (Creator & Performer) Off-Broadway: Two Gentlemen of Verona, Spring 2015 (Theater for a New Audience/Fiasco Theater); Julius Caesar (The Acting Company); The Seagull (New York Classical Theatre); A People (Terranova Collective);Walled In, a clown show based on Henry David Thoreau's Walden, creator/performer (IRT Theater); All Day Suckers (New Feet Productions); Two Noble Kinsmen (Guerrilla Shakespeare Project). Regional: theaters include Folger Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Asolo Theatre Company, Franklin Stage, Fulton Opera House, Great River Shakespeare Festival (2 seasons), Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Clarence Brown Theatre Company, Off-Square Theatre Company. Television and Film: Person of Interest, Blackbox, Heartland, One Life to Live, A Midsummer Night's Dream (NewBookPress), Z-Rock. Teacher of Clown and Games, Department of Dramatic Art/Professional Actor Training Program, UNC-Chapel Hill; Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory; University of Tennessee; resident artist and teacher at IRT Theater (NYC).Training: BA, Oberlin College; MFA, University of Tennessee ; Ecole Philippe Gaulier; Funny School of Good Acting (Christopher Bayes). Teacher of Physical Theater at PATP UNC Chapel Hill.

Frances Black Projects (Producer), established in 2009, produces comedy, commedia dell'arte, clown and unconventional theatrical experiences in New York City. Frances Strauss, is the founder and producer. New York theatre credits include: Commedia dell'Artichoke by Carter Gill and Tommy Russell (currently at Artichoke Basille's Pizza); Standards under the Stars by Megan Loughran (2014, Hudson River); Becoming Liv Ullman a comedy by Crystal Finn (2013, Artichoke Basille's Pizza); Walled In, a comedy with clown by Zack Fine (2011, IRT Theatre); Co-producer on A Life in the Theatre by David Mamet (2010, Broadway); Even Maybe Tammy, a commedia dell'arte by Christopher Bayes & Company (2009, The Flea). MFA in Theatre Management from Yale School of Drama. www.francesblackprojects.com

ANNIE WORDEN (Puppets) is an actor, puppeteer and crafty so-and-so. She has performed with a bunch of funky, fabulous theaters in New York City and regionally throughout the U.S. As a puppeteer she has built and performed with puppets at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and Brown University as well as in the Czech Republic, the UK and Madagascar. She is a proud graduate of the Brown/Trinity MFA program. www.annieworden.com

IRT THEATER is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new generation of artists. Tucked away in the old Archive Building in Greenwich Village, IRT's mission is to build a community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the development and presentation of new work. Some of the artists we have supported include Young Jean Lee, Reggie Watts, Mike Daisey, New York Live Arts, terraNOVA Collective, Immediate Medium, The Nonsense Company/Rick Burkhardt, CollaborationTown, Rady&Bloom, Thomas Bradshaw, Crystal Skillman, Tommy Smith, May Adrales, Katt Lissard, Erica Fay and many others. www.irttheater.org.