No Dominion Theatre Co.'s RUT Begins Next Month

No Dominion Theatre Co. is thrilled to be returning to the FRIGID NY Festival in 2018 with the World Premiere of Rut by Chandy Bennett, after the company's FRIGID debut in 2016 with Help me out here.

Rut is a one act play detailing 24 hours of a toxic relationship. What do you do when you know it's wrong but want to be there anyway? Written without any gender pronouns, this piece is an exploration of relationships at their most blunt human patterns, exposed in raw form.

Rut features Sean Welsh Brown, Zak Kelley, Nicole Orabona, and the playwright, Chandy Bennett.

"What started as a writing challenge, to see if I could tell a story for the stage without any gender assigned to it, turned into a story I knew well. A narrative I saw people of all ages, genders, and sexualities go through-love that is not meant to be but couples who try anyway. Rut is a beautiful experiment and a painful exorcism for me," Chandy says of her work.

"When Chandy sent me the script almost two years ago, I was immediately excited about the possibility of creating this piece with an ensemble of actors of all genders," says director Michael Joel. "We have always strived to create original and collaborative theatre, and this is piece is a perfect fit for our company. The script illustrates the idea that love is universal and the complications that come along with it are the same regardless of what type of relationship you are in."

No Dominion Theatre Co. was founded in March 2015 by Michael Joel and Kaitlin Overton and is currently based in Jersey City, NJ. The company made their FRIGID debut in 2016 with Help me out here, written and directed by and starring the company's co-founders, and is thrilled the be returning to the NY FRIGID Festival this year. No Dominion's inaugural production, One. Four. (Zero)., was written and directed by Michael Joel and premiered at Solitude House in High Bridge, NJ in April 2015, as did the company's second production, Departure, an original devised theatre piece based off various found texts, conceived and directed by Kaitlin Overton.

In September of 2016, No Dominion launched, H.A.T.C.H., (Helping Artists to Create Here), a new performance series that serves as an incubator for artistic works that may be in any phase of the creative process. No Dominion also recently partnered with Growing in Jersey City to develop a new staged reading series in the Jersey City Heights neighborhood, Theatre in the Heights. No Dominion Theatre Co. is dedicated to eradicating the notion of limits within theatre artistry utilizing a versatile ensemble that aims to reflect the immediate truth. Whatever that means.

Chandy Bennett (Playwright) is an artist residing in Jersey City. She recently costume designed the European tour of HAIR das Musical, as well as The Blank Page: A New Musical at Luna Stage in West Orange, New Jersey. Previous credits with No Dominion Theatre Co. include One. Four. (Zero). and Departure (Actor, Solitude House, High Bridge, NJ), the Series Launch of Theatre in the Heights, and Peculiar Therapy, No Dominion's inaugural H.A.T.C.H. (Helping Artists to Create Here) production, a one-night performance art event beginning with a highly personal walk-through art installation followed by an open artist showcase. Chandy is thrilled for her first original play Rut to make its World Premiere in the 2018 FRIGID NY Festival.

Michael Joel (Director) is a writer, director, actor, and producer based in New York and New Jersey and a co-founder of No Dominion Theatre Co. With them, he has produced, written, and directed One. Four. (Zero). at the Historic Solitude House in High Bridge, NJ, where he also produced and acted in No Dominion's original piece Departure. Most recently, Michael and his creative partner Kaitlin Overton presented their original play Help me out here at the 2016

FRIGID NY Festival at UNDER St. Mark's. Other writer/director credits include A River at Manhattan Repertory Theatre and Youth+Blood+Roses for the Venus Theatre Festival at The Robert Moss Theatre in New York. He also directed Peter Pan is Dead for the Thespis Festival at the Cabrini Repertory Theatre. Other directing credits include Our Town, Peter/Wendy (Assistant Director/Actor), The Triple Happiness (Actor/Director), The Glass Menagerie, Savage/Love (Director/Deviser), and Marat/Sade (Director). Michael has been a member of the how to write a letter residency at the Ko Festival of Performance in Amherst, MA and has presented a piece for the devised theatre competition at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/frigidnewyork/ or
www.nodominiontheatre.org.