The Vertical Company's O WALTER, MY WALTER Begins this Week

The Vertical Company presents "O Walter, My Walter" by Elena Zucker at The Celebration of Whimsy Theatre (the former Living Theatre home). 21-A Cinton Street, NYC. Previews begin this week for the Off Broadway play on Thursday, May 15th and the Opening is Monday, May 19that 8:00 pm for the limited engagement. Set Design is by Simon Harding, (who recently did the set design for 3LD's amazing Tyson/Ali). The Lighting Design by Zach Murphy (Lighting supervisor at The Public Theatre). The award-winning play is directed by the playwright. This production features some of New York City's most talented physical theater actors: Andrew Baldwin, Richard Crawford, Mischa Ipp, Scott Janes, Timur Kocak, Jenny Lee Mitchell, Vicki Oceguera, Michael Villastrego, William Webber.

"O Walter, My Walter" is inspired by the crisis in veteran care at The Walter Reed Army Medical Center, The play is a dark, absurdist farce centered on the buying and selling of legs, arms, hearts, minds and souls. Set in a dilapidated military hospital where everyone is named Walter. (2 hours)

Elena Zucker is a playwright and director who has worked here and abroad. Her play O Walter, My Walter (receiving the Goldberg Prize in Playwriting at NYU). Other plays include: A Golem and a Half; A Dybbuk in Crown Heights; Imaginary Prisons (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Fringe First Nomination). MFA: NYU. A graduate of the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, she is on the Movement Faculty at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Elena is the Artistic Director of The Vertical Company. .

When the play had a staged reading in Hilton Head, South Carolina, there was a talkback which the Literary Director blogged: "[Audience] feedback was mind-blowing. Many there had actually spent time at Walter Reed and felt that Elena's stylistic choice to name all the male characters Walter captured the soldiers' experience of lying in seemingly endless rows in a hospital ward, as well as the namelessness of being just another piece of bureaucratic paperwork. A retired military surgeon even piped in with a thorough diagnosis of a roadside bomb-specific head injury based on a character's abstract monologue. The talkback ended with a woman's loudly applauded suggestion that this piece be presented at a veteran's hospital."

Regular performances are: Thursday 8:00 pm; Friday 8:00pm; Saturday 8:00 pm; and Sunday at 2:30 pm. The Opening is Monday, May 19th at 8:00 pm. It is through June 7th. Tickets are General Admission is $18.00; special Seniors & Student rates of $10.00. They are: https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?EID=&showCode=OWA&BundleCode=&PackageCode=&GUID=de680b6a-95d1-4850-802b-dba2c8145bf4

For more information, visit www.theverticalcompany.tumblr.com.