Fringe Encore Series Celebrates 10th Anniversary, Starting Tonight

With over 200 shows presented at FringeNYC Festival and 900 at Edinburgh Fringe, it's hard to be in the know about what's worth seeing. Even worse is having missed the show everyone is talking about post festival. Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, the Fringe Encore Series will present some of the most critically-acclaimed and crowd-pleasing shows from both festivals. But more importantly, pinpoints and cultivates the theater talent of tomorrow.

From tonight, September 10th, to October 26th, the Fringe Encore Series and SoHo Playhouse will present roughly fifteen productions from the FringeNYC Festival and five from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The 20 productions are hand-selected by seasoned professionals in the NYC theater community including Britt Lafield (Founder and Producer of the Fringe Encore Series), Darren Lee Cole (Producer Fringe Encore Series, Artistic Director SoHo Playhouse), Scott Morfee (Producer of the Barrow Street Theatre), Michael Sgouros (Owner and Producer of The Players Theatre), and Brenda Bell (Artistic Director of Literally Alive Theatre).

The series is particularly important to Lafield and Cole, who see it as more than just an opportunity to showcase the best of both festivals, but an opportunity to foster and develop emerging talent. Lafield explains:

"This city is full of amazing young theatrical talent. Unfortunately there are not a lot of resources for those individuals to access when it comes to the practical aspect of producing, moving and growing a show for a larger audience... We provide them with the theater and framework to discover more about their show, more performances to invite audience and industry and expert feedback on every aspect of the production process from our industry advisers... and by doing so, cultivate the next generation of professional theatrical talent in this city."

Cole concurs, "The series serves as a unique and needed development stage for emerging artists and ideas. It has become one of the finest ways to discover future hits. My involvement with the Encore Series has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my career."

The Encore Series' mission of creating a platform for sustainable theatre is evident in the amount of shows that have seen commercial viability after successful runs in the Encore Series. "Jamaica Farewell" was a selection in 2007, and is still performed internationally, with praise from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Chicago Sun Times, The Edinburgh Times, among others. Others have earned Drama Desk Nominations including "Krapp 39" and "Rap Guide to Religion."

A full schedule of shows will be announced at the closing of both NYCFringe and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. All shows selected from NYCFringe will be $18, and those selected from Edinburgh Fringe will be $25. A three-show package will be available $45. Tickets will be available at: www.sohoplayhouse.com.

Fringe Encore Series (Britt Lafield- Founder and Producer) was created as a learning center and stepping stone for the young talent and amazing productions that are a part of The New York International Fringe Festival every August in New York City. Now having expanded to include the Edinburgh Fringe, Fringe Encore Series presents, promotes and educates the "best of" productions from each festival and allows more time for theater going public to catch the fresh new voices of today's theater.

SoHo Playhouse (Darren Lee Cole, Artistic Director) has been one of Off Broadway's primary venues for new plays for the past 70 years. Formerly "Vandam Playhouse" the theatre has been home to countless dreams and movements. Many actors, directors, choreographers, production designers, theatre managers, technicians, and producers all received their start at SoHo Playhouse. Several of America's leading writers have premiered their work at 15 Vandam Street including; Sam Shepard, Edward Albee, Tracy Letts, Charles Buch, Leroi Jones and Lanford Wilson. Award winning shows have included: "The Boys in the Band", "Killer Joe", "The Divine Sister", "Mindgame", "Krapp, 39", "Piaf", "Room Service", "Jamaica Farewell", "Belly of a Drunken Piano", "Bukowski From Beyond", "Simon Lovell's Strange & Unusual Hobbies", "The Emperor Jones", "Triassic Parq", "The Canterbury Tales Remixed", "The Other Josh Cohen", "Bill W and Dr Bob", and "Rap Guide to Religion". Mr. Cole has served as Artistic Director since 2004.

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FULL SCHEDULE:

EDINBURGH FRINGE ENCORE

Josie Long: Cara Josephine
www.josielong.com/gigs.php

Writer/Director: Josie Long

Cast: Josie Long

Performances: 10/14 - 9pm, 10/15 - 9pm, 10/17 - 5pm, 10/18 - 9pm, 10/20 - 9pm, 10/21 - 7pm, 10/22 - 9pm, 10/23 - 9pm, 10/24 - 9pm, 10/25 - 3pm

Location: Main Stage

The three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and cult optimist is back with her new one-man show about love and being outdoorsy as a bear. This is by far her most personal show to date: with a new niece in the picture, Josie reflects on her own childhood and the resilience of an older sister. Oh, there are also some mentions about the Quakers and Walt Whitman too. Cara Josephine enjoyed a total sell-out run and was the overall best-reviewed comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014.

Wasted
www.noprophettheatrecompany.com/shows
No Prophet Theatre Company

Writer/Director: Kat Woods

Cast: Will Merrick (Skins, About Time) and Serena Jennings.

Performances: 10/15 at 7pm, 10/16 at 9:30pm, 10/17 at 9pm, 10/18 at 7pm, 10/21 at 8pm, 10/22 at 7pm, 10/25 at 7pm

Location: Main Stage

Based on true events. An engaging and unsettling drama in one act. Wasted explores the grey area in consensual sex and how outside pressures can blur the lines of what did happen and what we think happened. This dark drama puts the audience in the jury seat and forces us to make a judgment on a crime which is based on feelings and emotions rather than fact and evidence. From the writer of Belfast Boy, a winner of the 2014 Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award.

21st Century Jew
www.danielcainer.com

Writer/Director: Daniel Cainer

Cast: Daniel Cainer

Performances: 9/26 at 3pm, 9/30 at 3pm, 10/2 at 7pm, 10/7 at 7pm, 10/11 at7pm

Location: Huron Club

Brand new stories-in-song from this award-winning master songwriter. Fringe favourite Cainer explores the challenges and contradictions of being Jewish in 21st century Britain. A show for anyone who has ever wrestled with their heritage, their history, their home and their heart... Jewish or not. 'At times heartbreakingly poignant, at others laugh out loud funny. Utterly charming, thoroughly recommended' (Edinburgh Festivals Magazine). 'Does on stage what I do on the page' (Howard Jacobson). 'Must see' (Daily Mirror). 'Fast-paced, incredibly amusing, and even a little bit naughty. Genius... an unsurpassed storyteller' ***** (ThreeWeeks). **** (Time Out).

Magdalen
www.magdalentheplay.com

Writer/Cast: Erin Layton

Director: Julie Cline

Performances: 10/4 at 7pm, 10/6 at 8pm, 10/8 at 7pm, 10/9 at 7pm, 10/11 at 5pm

Location: Huron Club

The little known stories of the women and girls who were sent to wash away their sins in commercial laundries run by orders of nuns in mid twentieth-century Ireland are revealed in a singular, compelling, multi-character performance. Erin Layton swiftly transitions in and out of time periods, voices and images that 'breed anger, compassion, sorrow and mistrust' (TheatreReviews.com), 'embodying with ease all of these many disparate characters and making them all flesh and blood people in this one-woman show. The performance of the festival' (HuffingtonPost.com). Magdalen was the recipient of the Best Documentary Script at the United Solo Festival in 2013.

Fable

The Flanagan Collective
www.theflanagancollective.com/fable.html

Writer: Alexander Wright

Director: Joe Hufton

Composer: Jim Harbourne

Producer: Brian Hook

Cast: TBC

Performances: 10/20 at 8pm, 10/23 at 7pm, 10/24 at 7pm*, 10/25 at 7pm, 10/27 at 7pm, 10/28 at 7pm, 10/30 at 7pm*

Location: Main Stage & Huron Club (Main Stage performances denoted above with an asterisk)

J runs so fast she bursts into a million tiny pieces, her atoms unknitting themselves and spreading across the universe. Blair stands on a broken pier with a glass of white wine in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other, looking up at the stars. A story about two very different people who change each other profoundly. Following folk-hit hit Beulah (***** Scotsman) and Babylon ('Ruddy gorgeous' Guardian) we return with a tale of freedom, immortality and planting trees for those who come after us. A show wound from spoken word, storytelling, soaring live music and good, honest heart and soul. The Flanagan Collective are critically acclaimed, national company based ay York Theatre Royal, UK. They make work about people, about who and where we are and about how we can change each other profoundly. Their work is wound from live music and spoken word - taking influence from Kate Tempest to Tom Waits. They have taken their work to pubs, railway arches, empty warehouses and London's West End.

FRINGE NYC ENCORE

The American Play
The Dirty Blondes
www.thedirtyblondes.org/the-american-play.html

Writer: Ashley J. Jacobson
Director: Darren Johnston

Cast: Michael DeBartolo, Jen Jacob, John Charles Nagy

Performances: 9/17 at 7pm, 9/18 at 9pm, 9/20 at 5pm, 9/21 at 7pm, 9/25 at 9pm

Location: Main Stage

Two college students let their obsession with American Psycho and Patrick Bateman lead them down a rabbit hole of destructive and violent behavior. An in-depth look at modern masculinity, entitlement and false idol worship. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Playwriting.

Beware The Chupacabra!
Mind The Art Entertainment
www.mindtheartentertainment.com/current-production

Writer: Music: Christian De Gré, Lyrics: R. Patrick Alberty

Director: R. Patrick Alberty and Christian De Gré

Musical Director: Aaron Butler
Performances: 10/1 at 9:30pm, 10/4 at 4pm, 10/10 at 9:30pm

Location: Main Stage

The award-winning production team behind the festival hits FATTY FATTY NO FRIENDS, and WHISKEY PANTS: THE MAYOR OF WILLIAMSBURG - is proud to announce the premiere of their brand-new musical, BEWARE THE CHUPACABRA. Seeking to impress his future father-in-law, innocent dressmaker Teddy Baskins embarks on a dark and musical journey from 1920's New York to the dangerous jungles of Mexico in pursuit of the legendary Chupacabra, a mythical, goat-sucking beast.

The Boys Are Angry
Maineland Productions - Maridee Slater producing

Writer: Jillie Mae Eddy
Director: Sam Plattus

Producer: Maridee Slater
Cast: Jillie Mae Eddy, Nate Houran, and Xander Johnson

Performances: 9/30 at 8pm, 10/1 at 7pm, 10/3 at 7pm

Location: Main Stage

AJ's angry. Quinn's in love. And The Girl might just be perfect. From a small, dark corner of a large, run-down compound, three young millennials try to make a connection. Through conversations both real and imagined, they confront on- and off-line communication; present-day American masculinity; and the violent hatred of women at the dark heart of the 'Manosphere'-all without ever leaving the living room. The Boys are Angry is a warning against a growing and too often underestimated hate group. We are in the midst of an ongoing epidemic of violence against women "Woman is no better than an animal. Parasite and predator, she is Eve: born of Adam's rib, or she is Delilah, Jezebel, Yoko: pirating our strength, perverting our faith, and breaking up the f-ing Beatles." Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Acting.

The Commedia Rapunzel
The Spaghetti and Meatball Players
www.thecommediarapunzel.com

Writer: Sam LaFrage (Book and Lyrics)
Director: Sam LaFrage and Dennis Corsi
Choreographer: Sam LaFrage
Cast: Natasha Nightingale, Andy Dispensa, Conor McGuigan, Joe McGurl, Billie Aken Tyers

Performances: 9/12 at 3pm, 9/19 at 3pm, 9/26 at 3pm & 7pm, 10/2 at 7pm

Location: Main Stage

Expect the unexpected as the Spaghetti and Meatball Players, a troupe of poor traveling "Italian" actors, present a zany musical romp through a twisted version of the fairytale "Rapunzel" done in the style of Commedia dell' Arte!

Coping*
Audra Arnaudon Presents
www.copingplay.com

Writer: Jacob Marx Rice
Director: Anna Strasser
Cast: Dinah Berkeley, Lauren LaRocca, Lauren Hennessy, Scott Thomas, Lipicia Shah

Performances: 9/24 at 9:30pm, 9/27 at 7pm, 10/7 at 8pm, 10/8 at 9:30pm

Location: Main Stage

This August, the up-and-coming artists behind last year's hit Chemistry return to the New York International Fringe Festival with Coping, a pitch black comedy about love, family and the absurdity of death. Coping follows the aftermath of 25-year-old Connor's suicide, as his friends and loved ones try to piece together the smoking remains of his life. His girlfriend, Sarah, struggles with the guilt of inadvertently handing Connor the means to kill himself. His sister, Jessica, attempts to control every detail of the funeral and punish anyone who questions her, while her girlfriend plays peacemaker. His roommate, Lucas, wanders through life in a stoned haze to avoid the horror of what has happened. As each of them tries desperately to make things right, place blame, and confront their own battles with mental illness, they must find a way to come together and accept the unacceptable, or destroy the memory of the one person they all loved. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Acting.

Far From Canterbury
Dana M. Lerner in Association with Far From Canterbury, LLC
www.farfromcanterbury.com

Writer: Book, Music and Lyrics by Danny K Bernstein
Director: Juliana Kleist-Méndez
Choreographer: Ilana Gilovich

Producer: Dana M. Lerner
Cast: Hannah Richter, Coleman Hemsath, Katie Drinkard, Josh Archer, Bianca Di Cocco, Luke Hoback, Emily Austin, Chandler James Waggoner, Sarah Coffey, T.J. Wagner

Performances: 10/12 at 9:30pm, 10/13 at 8pm, 10/14 at 8pm, 10/16 at 7pm,10/18 at 5pm

Location: Main Stage

Once upon a time, in a land where fairy tales are considered current events, a shy young knight has just one year to find the one thing women desire most, or his fairy tale will be over before it begins! Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence for Musicals.

Feelings: because why pretend the show is about anything else?

Writer/Cast: Tim Manley
Director: Peter Aguero

Performances: 9/25 at 7pm, 9/26 at 7pm, 9/28 at 9pm, 9/30 at 8pm, 10/4 at 7pm

Location: Huron Club

Things ended with the girl I hoped to marry, so I decided to fall for my male best friend. My search for a safe place to rest my too-many emotions, told with hand-drawn gifs to pretend it's less sad.

HICK: A LOVE STORY, The Romance of Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt*
Lilith Theater San Francisco
www.liliththeatersanfrancisco.com/hick.html

Writer: Terry Baum with Pat Bond
Director: Carolyn Myers and Adele Prandini
Cast: Terry Baum

Performances: 9/10 at 8pm,, 9/13 at 5pm, 9/16 at 8pm, 9/18 at 7pm, 9/19 at7pm

Location: Main Stage

When Eleanor Roosevelt became First Lady in 1933, she had a lesbian lover -- Lorena Hickok, a famous journalist. 2336 letters, from Eleanor to Hick, document their relationship. It changed both their lives. "A compelling one-woman show." SF Examiner. "Brilliant." SF Guardian

Loose Canon
No Refunds or Exchanges Co.

Writer: Brian Reno & Gabriel Vega Weissman
Director: Logan Reed

Cast: Becky Baumwoll, Grant Chamberlin, Cynthia Nesbit, Todd Rizley, Tamara Sevunts, Daniel Tepper

Performances: 10/19 at 7pm, 10/20 at 8pm, 10/22 at 9:30pm, 10/23 at 7pm

Location: Main Stage

From Moliére in IKEA to Chekhov in a Tex-Mex restaurant, this series of short comedies satirizes the world of the American consumer in the style of canonical playwrights. It's a walk through history...if history was a strip mall. Winner of the TheaterMania Fringe Audience Favorite Award.

LUCKY CHICK
www.luckychick.nyc
Lucky Chick Productions

Writer/Cast: Felicity Seidel
Director: Padraic Lillis

Producer: Danielle Gautier

Performances: 10/15 at 9pm, 10/17 at 7pm, 10/18 at 7pm, 10/19 at 7pm, 10/21 at 8pm

Location: Huron Club

Guys with guns. HOT! Plucked from the crowd by Bob Weir at a Dead show. CRAZY! On tour with the band: Lear jets, pythons, Hells Angels. WOOHOO! A pissed-off drug-kingpin boyfriend. UH-OH. Buckle up, sweetheart. It's one helluva ride.

Maybe Tomorrow*
The Poet Acts, Inc.
www.maybetomorrowtheplay.com

Writer: Max Mondi
Director/Producer: Tomer Adorian

Producers: Danielle Bourgeois, Jessica Wanamaker
Cast: Jennifer Bareielles, Harrison Unger

Performances: 9/15 at 8pm, 9/17 at 9:30pm, 9/19 at 7pm, 9/20 at 5pm, 9/23 at 8pm

Location: Huron Club

A woman chooses to live exclusively in her boyfriend's bathroom. Their otherwise "normal" relationship is thriving until someone else enters the scene. Inspired by true events, Maybe Tomorrow is a tragicomical, meta-theatrical experience about love, fame, and a toilet. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence for Plays.

Naked Hamilton
Naked-On-the-Run Productions

Writer: Sky Gilbert
Director: Sky Gilbert
Cast: Scott McCord and Suzanne Bennett

Performances: 10/3 at 7:30pm, 10/4 at 5pm, 10/5 at 7pm, 10/6 at 8pm, 10/7 at 8pm, 10/10 at 7pm, 10/11 at 5pm

Location: Huron Club

Naked Hamilton is about working class people - everywhere -- and about cities - everywhere -- cities that put massive corporate profits above quality of human life. The raw story of an aging sex trade worker (Tee) and her ex-lover (Tom) getting kicked out of their favorite bar. Hamilton is a small city just outside of Toronto - analogous to Queens. Who wins - real people or gentrification? They share a dialogue that is frank, and obscene. And what we realize after spending 40 minutes with them is that despite the yelling, swearing and manipulations they also share a kind of love.

POPESICAL*
Tilted Windmills Theatricals
www.indiegogo.com/projects/popesical-a-papal-musical-comedy-at-fringenyc#/story

Writer: Adam Overett
Director/Choreographer: Drew Geraci
Cast: Stephen Christopher Anthony (Book of Mormon), Alexa Green (Wicked), Jason Veasey ( Lion King), Lucas Thompson (Cats), Rachel Coloff (Urinetown), David Perlman (Baby, It's You!), and Susan Jacks (Forbidden Broadway)

Performances: 9/28 at 7pm, 10/5 at 9:30pm, 10/12 at 7pm, 10/19 at 9:30pm, 10/26 at 7pm

Location: Main Stage

The Pope is dead. The Cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to choose a new Pope. No one has ever seen what happens - until now. The backbiting. The sacrilege. The hilarious song-and-dance. An over-the-top musical comedy, POPESICAL suggests that love can be the most powerful form of faith. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence for Musicals.

SCHOOLED
The All-Americans
www.schooledtheplay.com

Writer: Lisa Lewis
Director: James Kautz
Cast: Lilli Stein, Quentin Maré, Stephen Friedrich

Performances: 10/5 at 7pm, 10/9 at 9:30pm, 10/10 at 7pm, 10/11 at 7pm, 10/17 at 7pm

Location: Main Stage

From acclaimed storyteller Lisa Lewis comes SCHOOLED, a fiercely funny and gripping new play about privilege, ambition, and the lengths we'll go to succeed. Two students and their professor find themselves in a taut threesome that tests their relationship and their ethics. Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Playwriting.

The Submarine Show*
www.thesubmarineshow.com

Slater and Jaron
Writer/Director/Choreographer/Cast: Jaron Hollander (Cirque Du Soleil) and Slater Penney (Emmy Award winner)
Performances: 9/21 at 9pm, 9/22 at 8pm, 9/23 at 8pm, 9/24 at 7pm, 9/25 at 7pm, 9/26 at 9pm, 9/27 at 5pm

Location: Main Stage

Two men crash their submarine on the ocean floor. You laugh as they cry, swim, fly and go insane, a madcap journey from the ocean to the sky.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
www.supposedlyfunshow.com

Writer: David Foster Wallace
Director: Suzanne Weber
Cast: Christopher Duva (The Elephant Man, Beauty and the Beast)

Performances: 9/13 at 7pm, 9/16 at 8pm, 9/18 at 7pm, 9/20 at 7pm, 9/22 at 8pm

Location: Huron Club

David Foster Wallace barely survives the "insanity-producing pampering" provided while on assignment aboard a 7-Night Caribbean Cruise. Meet solicitous fun-managers, Dickensian crewmen, beautiful Petra and Captain Video in this adaptation of his tragicomic tale of Americans adrift.

Your Love, Our Musical!*
www.yourloveourmusical.com

Writer/Director/Cast: Rebecca Vigil and Evan Kaufman
Performances: 9/14 at 8pm, 9/21 at 7pm, 9/28 at 7pm, 10/1 at 9:30pm, 10/16 at 7pm

Location: Huron Club

Rebecca Vigil and Evan Kaufman interview an unsuspecting couple in the audience and improvise a brand-new musical based off their love story! It's adorable, romantic, and no two shows are the same! Winner of FringeNYC 2015 Overall Excellence in Acting.