The Seeing Place Theater Presents The Whistleblower Series: THE PEOPLE VS. ANTIGONE

The Seeing Place Theater presents The Whistleblower Series, three plays in rep: The People VS. Antigone, I Am My Own Wife, and My Name is Rachel Corrie from April 21 - May 13, 2018 at the Paradise Factory, 64 E. 4th Street, NYC. Tickets to each show are $20 general admission ($30 Premium Seating, $10 5@50%) and are available at http://www.TheSeeingPlace.com, including discounted ticket packages to all three plays for $45.

The Seeing Theater's eighth Season has focused on bringing together stories that challenge the ways in which we relate to our fellow man. The season concludes with a triple-header: THE PEOPLE VS ANTIGONE, a world premiere adaptation by Brandon Walker, running in rep with two searing one-person shows: I AM MY OWN WIFE, the Tony Award winning play by Doug Wright and MY NAME IS Rachel Corrie by Katharine Viner and Alan Rickman from the writings of Rachel Corrie.

Each play in the Whistleblower Series explores the female protagonist as anti-hero. Each has mysteries around their actions with the public vilifying them and diluting their intended message. Additionally, all three plays explore international themes: Antigone is set in Greece, I Am My Own Wife is set in Germany but also has Americans, Russians and even the Japanese represented. And My Name Is Rachel Corrie has an American girl going to Israel/Palestine.

With THE WHISTLEBLOWER SERIES, The Seeing Place examines the fallout when someone in our society calls out tyranny. "Society likes to romanticize the whistleblower, but when an activist stands up and says 'NO' there is often more backlash than support," said The Seeing Place's Managing Director, Erin Cronican. "We see abuse victims shamed and activists killed, and yet most people believe in the tenets these whistleblowers have put forth. So, what explains this gap? Our ensemble is using these three challenging and polarizing plays to expose that gap and ignite a conversation - with the hope that empathy and deeper understanding will emerge."

Even though the plays of The Seeing Theater's 8th Season span a hundred years and countless generations of storytelling, the subjects broached, and lessons learned are achingly relevant today. TSP chose these plays to open up a dialogue with an audience about the world. How can we build on what we've learned from the people who've come before us?

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THE PEOPLE VS ANTIGONE

An adaptation by Brandon Walker from the play by Sophocles

Directed by Brandon Walker

The Seeing Place presents a world premiere adaptation of Sophocles tragic story - THE PEOPLE VS ANTIGONE. A modern take on the classic myth, this new play explores a rebel daughter taking on the patriarchy: will she lose her life when she breaks Theban law by burying her dead brother's body against decree?

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I AM MY OWN WIFE

by Doug Wright

Directed by Erin Cronican

Based on a true story, and inspired by interviews conducted by the playwright over several years, I AM MY OWN WIFE tells the fascinating tale of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a real-life German transvestite who managed to survive both the Nazi onslaught and the repressive East German Communist regime. Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and the 2004 Tony Award.

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MY NAME IS Rachel Corrie

by Katharine Viner and Alan Rickman from the writings of Rachel Corrie

Directed by Brandon Walker

On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie, a twenty-three-year-old American, was crushed to death by an Israeli Army bulldozer in Gaza as she was trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. In the three sold-out London runs since its Royal Court premiere, the piece has been surrounded by both controversy and impassioned proponents, and it has raised an unprecedented call to support political work and the difficult discourse it creates.

Our name "The Seeing Place" is the literal translation of the Greek word theatron: ". . . the place where we go to see ourselves." The Seeing Place is a trained, actor-driven ensemble creating master theater, reinterpreted live, to make it relevant and accessible to audiences today. We live up to our name by engaging our community in a vivid conversation about what makes us human. Connection. Learning. Humanity. That's what theatron is all about.

The Seeing Place is an actor-driven company: built by actors and managed by actors to be a base for actors who want to hone their craft in a creative and supportive artistic home, resulting in unparalleled dedication and excellence.

We are forcefully committed to four key elements of theatre-making:

•Mentoring and developing the next generation of independent, socially-conscious theater-makers;

•Honoring the acting craft as central to the theater-making process, using the rehearsal practices of The Group Theatre to bring vivid, raw, "fully lived" storytelling to our community;

• Creating edgy and compelling reinterpretations of works by master playwrights that reflect the struggles and triumphs of our current society; and

• Making theater accessible for low-income New Yorkers by subsidizing 50% of our tickets.

Theater is society's hands-on, in-person study of human behavior. By placing a keen focus on behavioral storytelling, The Seeing Place has become well-known for intense and intimate ensemble work. Productions are rehearsed in a structured, organic manner, involving improvisation and heavy script analysis.

Through private funding and public fundraising events / campaigns, The Seeing Place ensemble feverishly fundraises in advance of each production so that it can subsidize all ticket prices to just $20 per ticket.