A world premiere workshop production of
The Barbie Project will be presented at the Ohio Theater (66 Wooster St.) in a cabaret-style setting on November 10th through 12th, and November 18th and 19th at 8 PM.
Presented by White Bird Productions and directed by Michael Schiralli, the show will feature solo and group
performers from off-Broadway and beyond "exploring the many-splendored
ways Barbie Dolls fit in our lives," according to press notes. Designed by Kelly Hanson (King Stag
at Seattle Repertory Theater), The Barbie Project will showcase a rotating lineup of performers. The show will
include Paul Boocock (Boocock's House of Baseball at the Flea, Premium
Bob) "on his adventures with G.I. Joe; the Redwall Dance
Company's riff on the sexuality of dolls; The Jones Twins and composer Janice Lowe, who will sing and chronicle their African-American
experience with the perfect Barbie; actress and singer Lorrie Harrison
(The Fantasticks), who will perform a Barbie rendition of "You Can't Get a Man
With a Gun"; Cindy Hanson (Sweat Girls), who will reflect on her
"out-of-Barbie" experience; and White Bird artistic director Kathryn
Dickinson ("the Martha Stewart of Barbie-land"), who will explain how to
accessorize your own Barbie home. Guest appearances by various friends
and out-of-town visitors are promised, including White Bird's own
mystery guest from the South who explains how Barbie and Ken taught her
sex in the back of her station wagon. And if you win the Barbie Trivia
Game, you will take home your very own Barbie or Ken – your choice."
For
the last 15 years, White Bird Productions has developed theater for
adult and family audiences with an emphasis on original works that
explore the urban environment. Most recently at HERE in SOHO and BRIC
in downtown Brooklyn, the theatre presented Boro Tales, where notable
playwrights (Jeffrey M. Jones, Lynn Nottage, Len Jenkin, Melissa James
Gibson) re-imagined fairy tales and set them in Brooklyn or Manhattan.
White Bird's ongoing Flying South Series has brought Cooking With
Lard, Born of Conviction and the American Blues monologue project to
HERE in 2004-05. Other notable productions include Combustion: The
Politics of Trash at the BAM Hillman Theater and Villagers by John
Istel at St. Mark's Church. White Bird is based at the ART/NY South
Oxford Space building in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.Tickets are $15; they can be ordered by calling 212-352-3101 or visiting www.theatermania.com. Visit www.whitebirdproductions.org for more information.
