Following a 2013 world premiere at Theater Basel in Switzerland, New York City Players presents the U.S. premiere of Isolde. Returning to a core group of collaborators, Isolde, written and directed by Maxwell, features an ensemble of New York City Players veterans including Jim Fletcher, Brian Mendes, Tory Vazquez and Gary Wilmes. Maxwell's choice to not use any music in Isolde further supports a desire to excavate his own characteristically distilled approach to story telling. Isolde was inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.
In the play, the marriage of Patrick and Isolde appears to be happy. Patrick is the owner of a successful construction company and Isolde is a star actress. But Isolde finds herself increasingly unable to remember her lines. To occupy herself, she decides to build her dream house and her husband is eager to help. The project is jeopardized by Massimo, an award-winning architect that Isolde hires.
Performances of Isolde will take place today, April 10-26 (see schedule above) at Abrons Arts Center. Critics are welcome as of Thursday, April 10 for an official opening of Saturday, April 12 at 8pm. Abrons Arts Center is located at 466 Grand Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at 212.352.3101 or
abronsartscenter.org. Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission.
The creative team for Isolde includes Sascha van Riel (sets and lights), Zack Tinkelman (lighting consultant), Romy Springsguth (costumes) and
Katherine Brook (stage management).
Richard Maxwell is a playwright and the artistic director of New York City Players. He is the recipient of the 2014
Spalding Gray Award. He was awarded a 2012 OBIE for his direction of Early Plays by Eugene O'Neill, a collaboration with The
Wooster Group. Maxwell was an invited artist in the Whitney Biennial 2012. He has been selected for a Guggenheim Fellowship, two OBIE Awards, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant and he is an inaugural Doris Duke artist.
Jim Fletcher (Patrick) is a founding member of New York City Players was awarded an OBIE for sustained excellence in 2012. He has worked with The
Wooster Group,
Elevator Repair Service and the British theater company Forced Entertainment. Performed in Tina Satter's House of Dance this past January at Abrons Arts Center. Has appeared in the films of Kamal Ahmed, Linas Phillips and Zbigniew Bzymek.
Brian Mendes (Uncle Jerry) is a founding member of New York City Players and has acted in the following New York City Players productions: Henry IV, Part I, Joe, The End of Reality, Ode to the Man Who Kneels, The Frame, The Darkness of this Reading, Das Maedchen, Open Rehearsal, Infinite Jest and now Isolde. He also directed Maxwell's People Without History. Most recently he played Yank in The
Wooster Group's production of Early Plays. He has worked with
Adam Rapp in Animals and Plants and Through the Yellow Hour. He has also worked with James Tyson, Theater Bonn, Forced Entertainment, The Amoralists,
The Remains Theater, The Abbey Theater, Antonio Sacre, Christina Masciotti, Sybil Kempson, Tory Vazquez, filmmaker Redmond Entwistle,
Mary Billyou and Danny Dwyer.
Tory Vazquez (Isolde) has performed in several Richard Maxwell/New York City Players productions including Early Plays (w/ The
Wooster Group), Das Maedchen (Theater Bonn); People Without History (dir.
Brian Mendes) and Caveman (
Soho Rep.). A member of
Elevator Repair Service, she has performed in Gatz, Shuffle, The Sound and The Fury (April 7, 1928), Cab Legs and Total Fictional Lie. She has also worked with Mallory Catlett, Tim Etchells/Forced Entertainment,
Jim Findlay,
Amy Huggans,
Aaron Landsman &
Young Jean Lee. Film & TV: Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Nuovomundo.
Gary Wilmes' (Massimo) Broadway credits include Chinglish. Off Broadway includes Cry Trojans! and Brace Up! with the
Wooster Group; Gatz with
Elevator Repair Service; Red Light Winter written and directed by
Adam Rapp for which he won an OBIE; Henry IV, Part I, Boxing 2000 and House with Richard Maxwell and New York City Players; Bad Boy Neitzsche and Hotel F*ck with
Richard Foreman; More Lies About Jerzy and Shoppers... with the
Vineyard Theatre. Film: Life Itself, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Salt and A Mighty Heart. Television: Louie, Homeland, Jon Benjamin Has A Van, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, Blue Bloods, Private Practice and Delocated.
New York City Players is a theater company founded by Artistic Director Richard Maxwell in 1999. NYCP has been presented in New York and in over twenty countries and has received national and international recognition, including five Obie Awards. Additionally, Artistic Director Richard Maxwell was named a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow and received a 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist award.
Recent projects include Maxwell's play Neutral Hero; Devotion, a dance by Sarah Michelson with text by Maxwell; Ads, a video play conceived by Maxwell; House of Dance, a play written and directed by Tina Satter; and two sections of the 24-hour, site-specific adaptation of
David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest in Berlin in 2012.
Visit
nycplayers.org for more information.
