THE IMPROBABLE FALL, RISE & FALL OF JOHN LAW to Play IRT, 3/9-26

The Dreamscape Theatre has announced the world premiere production of The Improbable Fall, Rise & Fall of John Law (part 1), a new play about money (based on an unbelievable true story) by Matt Herzfeld. The production, directed by Dreamscape's Producing Artistic Director Brad Raimondo, will be staged at The IRT Theater, 154 Christopher Street, Suite 3B, March 9th - 26th, 2016.

The Improbable Fall, Rise & Fall of John Law mixes swashbuckling adventure, absurdity, anachronism, and inventive theatricality to tell the unbelievable true story of the man who unleashed the world's first financial bubble, market crash and currency crisis - all while shaping the global economy we know today.

At the play's center is John Law, whom historians have alternately described as a financial genius or a treacherous con-man. The play follows John from his early days as a notorious London gambler forced into exile by a duel gone wrong through his greatest insight - the invention of paper currency - to his reign as France's minister of finance. Along the way it sheds light on the frightening and darkly comic resemblances between our modern financial system and the rigged tavern games of chance where John Law gained and lost his first fortune.

A diverse ensemble of 8 actors play more than 40 roles to bring the turbulent world of John Law vibrantly to life. The role of John Law is played by Greg Carere (who won praise from the NY Times, Stagelight and others for his leading role in 3-Legged Dog's Downtown Loop in 2013 and whose recent credits include If You Can Get To Buffalo at Incubator Arts and Wide-Eyed Productions' Dead Special Crabs). The cast also includes Stephen James Anthony (War Horse at Lincoln Center and Dreamscape's In Fields Where They Lay), Daryl Lathon (The Honeycomb Trilogy, Red Bull's Revenger's Tragedy & Dead Reckoning), Sara Thigpen (The Honeycomb Trilogy), Mackenzie Knapp, Fernando Gonzalez (The Odyssey Project at Invisible Dog Arts Center), Rosie Sowa (Dreamscape's Whale Song or Learning to Live With Mobyphobia), and Aurea Tomeski (Tapefaces at ArsNova).

Playwright Matt Herzfeld has this to say about the inspiration behind the play: "When I first started reading about John Law, I was amazed by his complexities and contradictions and the scope of his life journey. The play's title is The Improbable Fall, Rise, and Fall of John Law because his life was like a roller coaster. I can't think of anyone else is history who went from jail cell to celebrated national hero to detested con-man within such a short time. John's story speaks directly to so many issues we still face today: the volatility of the market, the foundation of our international banking system, the (often terrifying) relationship between probability and financial security. It's also a play about income inequality, the role of the state in preserving the public good, and the difficulties of bringing political change."

Director Brad Raimondo adds, "As we continue to gear up for a presidential election that's going to be driven in large part by arguments over economics - about how money works, how money should work, how we can make money work better - it seems like a really appropriate time to go back and tell this sort of secret origin story of the modern economy, to give audiences this wild, absurd, deeply entertaining story that really gets at the question of where our often crazy financial system started out. Dreamscape has always been interested in finding and telling true stories from history that speak to and put a human face on some big, complicated issue we're facing today, so Matt's play is a great fit for us."

The production also reunites two key members of the design team of Dreamscape's 2014 In Fields Where They Lay: costume designer Caitlin Cisek and composer/sound designer Mark Van Hare. Scenic and lighting design is by Dreamscape newcomer Joshua Rose.

Sixteen performances will be staged at the IRT Theatre, 154 Christopher Street, New York, NY 10014 on the following schedule:

Previews: March 9th & 10th at 8pm
Opening Night: March 11th at 8pm
March 12th at 8pm
March 13th at 5pm
March 14th & 16th at 7:30pm
March 17th, 18th & 19th at 8pm
March 20th at 5pm
March 21st & 23rd at 7:30pm
March 24th, 25th & 26th at 8pm

The runtime is 2 hours, plus one 10-minute intermission.

Tickets are$18.00 and can be purchased by visiting http://irttheater.org/current-season or by calling 800-838-3006.