The Invisible Dog to Present MINOR CHARACTER, 6/17-25

The Invisible Dog will present MINOR CHARACTER, (June 17-25) by Brooklyn based theater company New Saloon. In this kaleidoscopic adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, a cast of 16 performers collage a century's worth of English translations - from the flowery 1916 version to Google Translate's profoundly nonsensical rendition - into one sprawling, intimate, quietly disastrous evening that culminates with an entirely new adaptation.

In this vibrant re-imagining of one of Chekhov's most iconic plays, New Saloon uses the idiosyncratic Russian malaise that hangs over the characters in Uncle Vanya to give voice to a generation of young people struggling to connect with each other and themselves while quaking under the pressure to succeed. MINOR CHARACTER is a symphonic new work in which identity is plural; communication is an athletic feat; failure is inevitable.

Director and New Saloon co-founder Morgan Green says, "this project is born out of a love of Chekhov, as well as a desire to be sincere and to stage Uncle Vanya in the overpowering and impassioned way we think it should be staged. We want to achieve the full emotional score of what Chekhov wrote, and we need a barrage of language in order to do so; one translation is not enough."

New Saloon is Milo Cramer, Morgan Green, and Madeline Wise, a theater company dedicated to creating handcrafted original performances - from evening-length dramas to two-minute dance videos - with dedication and love. They celebrate the unique and enduring aspects of live performance and the dramatic canon, while simultaneously embracing social media and our smart phones as new platforms for thinking and playing. They find joy in anachronism, sincerity, theatricality, hard work, and color.

Performances of MINOR CHARACTER will take place June 17-25 (see schedule above) at The Invisible Dog Art Center, which is located at 51 Bergen Street in Brooklyn. Critics are welcome as of June 18 for an official opening June 20. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased by visiting www.artful.ly/store/events/9165.

Performed by Brittany Allen, Vinie Burrows, Ugo Chukwu, Constance Cooper, Milo Cramer, Fernando Gonzalez, Jonathan Gordon, David Greenspan, Tommy Heleringer, Veronica Hunsinger-Loe, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Hannah Mitchell, Caitlin Morris, Craig Mungavin, Jeanna Phillips, and Madeline Wise.

The creative team also includes Elliot Quick (Dramaturg), Deepali Gupta (music), Kristen Robinson (scenic design), Masha Tsimring (lighting design), Emily Oliveira (costume design) and M. Florian Staab (sound design). Production Manager is Joshua Shain and production stage manager is Emily Lynch-Fries.

This project was developed in the Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Residency.

About the Artists

Madeline Wise is an actor and co-founder of New Saloon Theater Company (newsaloon.org). New York credits include Sarah DeLappe's Parabola at JACK; Sam Alper's LovePlay/PlayMoney at LaMaMa; and New Saloon's seven productions. Regional credits include the world premiere of Winnie Holzman's Choice, directed by Sheryl Kaller at the Huntington; Tall Women in Clogs at the Edinburgh Fringe; Galápagos at the Parrish Art Museum; The Murderer in Sag Harbor; and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Millbrook Playhouse. Film/Web includes Adam Goldman's Whatever this is.; Lilian Mehrel's The Loneliest; and New Saloon's SMUSHKISS. She's helped develop work at Playwrights Horizons, the Huntington, the Lark, Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Realm, Dixon Place, and the Drama League. madelinewise.com

Milo Cramer is a playwright and co-founder of New Saloon Theater Company. Milo's plays include Cute Activist (Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb Superlab, SoHo Rep Writer/Director Lab), William Shakespeare's Mom (New Saloon, The Brick, Ars Nova's ANT FEST, Williamstown Theater Festival Young Director's series), Barnes and Noble Open Mic (Ars Nova Playgroup) and I'm Miserable But Change Scares Me (New Saloon, Lincoln Center Director's Lab, The Brick). With New Saloon, Milo co-created MINOR CHARACTER (The Invisible Dog, Mabou Mines / SUITE Resident Artist Program, LMCC Workspace, New Plays Barnard, Bard Live Arts), Cooking to Me is Poetry (Galapagos Art Space) and Buster Keaton's Ride... (Dixon Place). Milo has presented original, group-devised pieces at Danspace, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Roulette Intermedium, Gibney Dance, and Bushwick Open Studios. Milo was the 2014-15 Literary Fellow at Playwrights Horizons. BA: Bard College.

Morgan Green is a Brooklyn based theater director and co-founder of New Saloon Theater Company. Recent credits include Three Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time (The Invisible Dog), I'm Miserable but Changes Scares Me by Milo Cramer (The Brick), He Ate Quietly into the Wall by Ariel Stess (The New Ohio), William Shakespeare's Mom by Milo Cramer (Ars Nova), and MOMS by Sarah DeLappe (Engarde Arts). Morgan is an Affiliated Artist with New Georges, an alumna of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and was a 2014-2015 Bob Moss Directing Resident at Playwrights Horizons. MorganClaireGreen.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.