Target Margin Theater Announces 2018-2019 Season

After opening its first permanent home in November 2017 and presenting an inaugural season that included a "tantalizing production" of Pay No Attention to the Girl, a New York Times critic's pick, Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf) is pleased to announce its second season at The Doxsee. The 2018-2019 season continues Target Margin's multi-year focus on The One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern / North African), and South Asian stories, and includes a new presenting series.

David Herskovits's critically acclaimed, sold-out production, Pay No Attention to the Girl (October 25-November 11), returns to The Doxsee with its original cast and creative team. In a new production, The Girl Speaks (March 28-April 20), Herskovits turns his attention to the tale of Ali Baba. Complementing these two productions is News of the Strange (June 3-23), Target Margin's annual lab festival, whose 2019 edition includes a new work created by Moe Yousuf and two new commissioned works exploring early medieval Arab fantasy writing.

The 2018-2019 season debuts a new programming initiative, Target Margin Presents, which is curated by Herskovits and Yousuf. The series provides performance space to artists who share the Company's aesthetic and embrace its mission, but have not yet built substantial institutional support. Productions selected includes Little Lord's The Peanut Butter Show (October 1-5) and The Making of King Kong by Lisa Clair (November 29-December 15).

"When we opened our first permanent home, our dream was to create an alternative performance space where theatrical innovation could thrive and young talent could make work on the cheap," says Target Margin's Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits. "The artistic richness and freedom of a real, local home has far exceeded my wildest expectations. Last year, we began our work diving into the rich and often misunderstood folk tales known as The One Thousand and One Nights. I'm thrilled that our first production, Pay No Attention to the Girl, is returning and that we're exploring new stories in The Girl Speaks. Equally important, I'm delighted that we are presenting new work by Little Lord and Lisa Clair."

For over 25 years, Target Margin Theater has been praised for its aggressive interpretations of classic texts, lesser-known works, and new plays inspired by existing sources. In addition, Target Margin has served over 1,000 artists through its annual incubator LAB festival and has nurtured the next generation of theater makers via yearlong fellowship and residency programs.

Target Margin Theater's first permanent home is located at 232 52nd Street in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. The modern, industrial space includes two large rehearsal studios, office space, and a column-free, 3,250 sq. ft. performance space with generous 18 ft. ceilings. The theater is named The Doxsee after founding member and resident designer Lenore Doxsee (1965-2017).

Tickets are now on sale forThe Peanut Butter Show and Pay No Attention to the Girl and can be purchased by calling 212.352.3101 or visiting targetmargin.org.

Details on Target Margin's 2018-2019 season can be found below.

Target Margin Theater 2018-2019 season

TMT Presents
The Peanut Butter Show
Little Lord
October 1-5
The Peanut Butter Show is based on the deceptively simple yet rich language in "McGuffey's Eclectic Readers," a series of 19th-century schoolbooks that taught generations of Americans how to read, think and behave. The moralistic underpinnings of these texts led us to think about education as indoctrination - along with issues like assumed authority, the grotesque and humiliating cult of middle school, the awkwardness of children's musical "edutainment," and whether or not it's ever okay to poop with the door open. The Peanut Butter Show has received developmental support as part of the 2018 Impact Residency Program of the Drama League and LaGuardia Performing Arts Center.

Target Margin Theater
Pay No Attention to the Girl
Directed by David Herskovits
October 25 - November 11
Target Margin revives its acclaimed production, Pay No Attention to the Girl, for a limited three-week run. The production, which was declared a New York Times critic's pick by Ben Brantley, brings to life various interwoven stories about the sexes - their conflicts, their love, their tricks -created by the company from various translations/transmissions of The One Thousand and One Nights.

TMT Presents
The Making of King Kong
Lisa Claire Group + Immediate Medium
November 29 - December 15
The Making of King Kong is a new play by Lisa Claire that reimagines the classic 1933 monster film for the Information Age. Directed by Eugene Ma, this Kong is a bizarre, subversive, and absurdly hilarious dissection of America's white patriarchal history as told through the stories of Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack, and that Big F%*cking Monkey.

Target Margin Theater
The Girl Speaks
Directed by David Herskovits
March 28 - April 20
Target Margin Theater's latest production, The Girl Speaks, delves into a new section of The One Thousand and One Nights: the tale of Ali Baba. Or is it the story of Marjana, the intelligent woman who somehow always figures out what is really going on and what to do? The Girl Speaks, continues the Company's exploration of this boundless collection, filled with power, deceit, sex, money and, above all, the power of storytelling.

Target Margin Theater
Stupid Light, Make Your Own Theater in memory of Lenore Doxsee
May 19
Target Margin has long held days of "theater-making" and they continue this tradition with Stupid Light in memory of Lenore Doxsee, a quintessential conceiver and partner in the creation of Target Margin Theater. On May 19, they will bring together a group of associated artists to eat, drink, play, and make some crazy theater in her memory.

Target Margin Theater
News of the Strange
June 3-23
In June 2019, Target Margin Theater will continue its support of emerging artists through their annual TMT lab festival. This year's edition, News of the Strange, will include a new work created by Moe Yousuf and two new commissioned productions exploring early medieval Arab fantasy writing that was the framework for The One Thousand and One Nights.

About Target Margin Theater

For 27 years, Target Margin has been praised for its aggressive interpretations of classic texts, lesser-known works, and new plays inspired by existing sources. They exist to build a world where all people embrace the original, the challenging and the different. They energize audiences with plays that expand the possibilities of live performance and engage their community at all levels through partnerships and programs. The range of programming has been enormous, including classics, opera, new writing, and adaptation of literature and historical sources. The Company has served over 1,000 artists (emerging and established) through its annual LAB and is committed to nurturing the creative aspirations of the next generation of theater makers through their TMT Institute Fellowships, and Artist-in-Residence Programs. In 2017, Target Margin opened its first home in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn.

Target Margin's artistic and cultural vision has resulted in 42 Mainstage productions including 11 world premieres, 9 company-created works, 3 U.S. premieres and 5 new translations, which have garnered 4 OBIE Awards and employed over 500 Equity actors and hundreds of other theater artists. The Company's production ofMamba's Daughters received an OBIE Award, and their epic 2004-06 production of Goethe's Faust received extensive critical acclaim. Recent productions, Reread Another at The Brick, called "something kind of wonderful" by Ben Brantley in The New York Times, their New York Times acclaimed Iceman Lab-a radical interpretation of The Iceman Cometh at HERE, and, in 2017, Mourning Becomes Electra at Abrons Arts Center, of which Laura Collins-Hughes in her New York Times Critic's Pick review said, "I didn't check my watch once in the five hours of David Herskovits's bold, astringent revival for Target Margin Theater."