Sitting Shotgun Announces Fall 2018 Season

Sitting Shotgun's Fall 2018 mainstage season includes a contemporary reimagining of The Mad Dog Blues by Sam Shepard, a reading series of new plays, a new devised piece, and a premier of an original play, as well as a festival of horror themed work created by resident ensembles [REALITY PENDING], Cucumber Dogs, and Don't Trust the Postal Service (DTPS) to be presented throughout October. Cucumber Dogs will also present two new pieces at Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival in August and FringeNYC in October. The season is rounded out with Burn It To the Ground, a performance series curated by DTPS; Poet's Studio, a quarterly celebration of poetry curated and hosted by Jackie Torres; and will close with a special engagement of CARNIVAL OF SOULS presented by Jack Feldstein as a part of Sitting Shotgun's Casual Vacancy residency program.

The Sitting Shotgun Fall 2018 season will commence with Cucumber Dogs' debut work my name is not actually maria, facilitated by Allie Marotta. The production will perform August 26th - September 11th at Theater for the New City (155 1st Ave, New York, NY, 10003). TNC's festival production of my name is not actually maria will be the world premier and the first public presentation of work by Cucumber Dogs. maria is a multidisciplinary devised ensemble piece that uses Craigslist 'missed connections' ads in conjunction with verbatim storytelling as a structure to investigate missed opportunities and the feelings of longing and regret that often accompany them. my name is not actually maria uses solely a projector and lights, designed by Joe Scardino, as a minimalistic approach in order to create the feeling of a 'liminal space,' or a place where reality feels a bit altered, as the world of the show. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=myn4D4

The second production slated for the season is The Mad Dog Blues by Sam Shepard directed by Borna Barzin. The production will perform September 7th - 9th at The Hive NYC (20 Cook Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206). This two act adventure show follows two rock stars as they go on a trip transcending the laws of time and space. Their hunt for treasure leads them to pick up familiar faces from American mythology including Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, and Paul Bunyan. The play features both playful and intimate original music composed by Rob Milano and Ray Johnson, creating a cinematic score performed by live musicians. Barzin poses a culturally relevant take on the contemporary American landscape in this existential piece originally written in 1971, posing the question, "How do you cope when you discover there is no gold in the treasure chest?"

The next event in the season is Shotgun Readings, a series of new plays written and directed by emerging artists. The inaugural Fall Shotgun Readings will showcase full length works while the Spring will be open to one acts and shorter works. The staged readings will take place over three weekends in September with two new works performing each weekend. The lineup is as follows: The Pledge by Mark Evan Chimsky and Zev Burrows, directed by Jake Lebowitz will perform Friday 9/14 at 7pm and Sunday 9/16 at 2pm and around and around and around the static sun by Joanna Castle Miller, directed by Holly M. Wright performing Saturday 9/15 and Sunday 9/16 both at 7pm; Lessons in America by Quinn Corcoran, directed by Ben Stockman will perform Friday 9/21 at 7pm and Sunday 9/23 at 2pm, Catcall by Nayna Agrawal, directed by Hillary Dominguez will perform Saturday 9/22 and Sunday 9/23 both at 7pm; The Isolate by Dennis Mashevsky, directed by Kyle Best will perform Friday 9/28 at 7pm and Sunday 9/30 at 2pm, Racist Dog by A. Emmanuel Leadon, directed by Ricardo Delgado will perform Saturday 9/29 and Sunday 9/30 both at 7pm. All performances will take place at SQUARE1 (Park Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11206), Sitting Shotgun's new home space, admission is free and all performances will be followed by a short talkback with members of the creative teams.

Next up in the season is TBD: The Live Devising Project, the second project created by Cucumber Dogs, which will perform as a part of the FringeNYC Festival throughout October, dates currently undisclosed. TBD is a relational and participatory theatre experience that seeks break down the illusion of theatricality and invite the audience into the devising process. TBD uses the audience as source material to devise live, before your very eyes. Using a carefully trained set of strategies and basing the formula in a repertoire of ensemble driven work, the ensemble receives the source material in the company of the seated audience, interprets, questions, and associates it, and then quickly strategizes and plans a short devised piece to be performed immediately after. Under the facilitation of Allie Marotta, the cohort uses a method of 'quick devising' in order to produce a new show each time.

The fourth event in the season is Sitting Shotgun's first OCTOBERFEST. Unlike the German celebration of the same name, this festival will put horror themed theatre in the spotlight throughout the month of October at SQUARE1. Each weekend will feature a new devised work from each artist in residence ensemble (Cucumber Dogs, DTPS, and [REALITY PENDING]), culminating in a weekend of all three performances and a Halloween bash.

The season continues with Humble Earthly Beings, a devised project facilitated by Joe Reault, performing November 2nd - 10th at SQUARE1. This project is focused on posthumanism, a intellectual movement that aims to use technology to further human evolution and create "post-human" beings. Assistant directed by Ray Johnson, the piece seeks to investigate how a world on the precipice of global disaster has led post-humanists to believe humanity must be improved upon and consequently abandoned. Humble Earthly Beings ponders how much control we have over our own future, and whether or not the nature of humanity can save us from ourselves.

Following Humble Earthly Beings, Sitting Shotgun will present Daughters of Solomon, a new play by Mark Thomas Johnson. Performances will take place November 23rd - December 2nd at SQUARE1 and will be directed by Allie Marotta. Taking inspiration from Christian theology and chapter 119 of Moby-Dick, this piece blends comedy and horror to create a surreal world of half-reality in which we find history creating itself. Musing on ideas of creation, destruction, and responsibility, Daughters of Solomon is a quick-paced jaunt leaving the audience wondering if that actually did just happen.

The final event in the Fall season will be a presentation of Carnival of Souls: THE NEON ANIMATION PLUS LIVE THEATRE created and animated by Jack Feldstein and featuring a shadowcast performance by AnneMarie Hagenaars. This presentation will feature a neon animated version of the 1962 cult movie, Carnival of Souls, in its entirety. Feldstein's 'neonizing' of the film adds a new layer to the original work and when combined with Hagenaars' live performance will create a highly dramatic multidisciplinary event exploring what it's like to be a woman in the past as compared to today.

Additional programming in the upcoming season includes Poet's Studio, a quarterly poetry reading event curated and hosted by Jackie Torres, in which emerging poets can share their work in a welcoming creative space. Each quarter will feature a different poet in performance and discourse, the inaugural featured poet being Chello Solaperto. Following Poet's Studio will be Burn It to the Ground, a performance series focused on avante garde, non-narrative performance art curated by Don't Trust the Postal Service. More information regarding submissions and dates for Burn It to the Ground can be found on www.sitting-shotgun.com in the coming weeks.

Sitting Shotgun is a theatre Production Company that aims to foster a diverse community of emerging artists, prioritizing equitable and intersectional theatre-making. We intend to make space for artists to collaborate, create, share their practice, and expand their network. Sitting Shotgun seeks to fill a void in the emerging artist community, providing support and affordable opportunities for artists to pursue their craft and produce new work. Social media: www.facebook.com/SittingShotgun, @sittingshotgunco on Instagram, and @sittingshotgunx on Twitter.

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