New Theatre Company Announces Inaugural Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 28th, 2018

ANNOUNCING BUFFALO'S NEWEST THEATRE COMPANY

Post-Industrial Productions of Buffalo, Inc. is a newly incorporated theatre company looking to make a splash in the Buffalo theatre community. Though Artistic Director Bob Van Valin has produced several works in the past using the Post-Industrial moniker, this will be the first time he will be producing as a tax-exempt non-profit. With two shows planned for the upcoming 2018-19 season, Bob aims to use aggressive marketing to quickly make a name for his new company:

"Post-Industrial Productions' mission is to produce theatrical performances that attract younger patrons to the theatre by making work that educates about and encourages discussion of important social issues affecting the lives of young people. Our work is designed to appeal to younger people who might not have ever gone to the theatre before and don't necessarily speak the language of theatre. We will do this by marrying the traditional theatre experience with contemporary art and culture. For example, many of our past shows integrated video projections, including scenes that were shot in a classic film style and projected simultaneously while action was happening on stage. We believe that the language of film can be used to ease new theatre patrons into gaining an understanding of theatre."

His team includes Managing Director Andrea Gollhardt and Marketing Director Josh Robinson. Bob is currently serving as President of the board, with Annise Celano as Vice President, Jane Cudmore as Treasurer, and Rachel Macklin Olszewski as Secretary.

For the 2018-2019 season, PIP will be producing two plays:

MEDUSA UNDONE

WNY premier by local playwright Bella Poynton

Directed by Maura Nolan

Starring: Diane DiBernardo, Paige Allison Donitelli,

Becky Globus, Brett Klaczyk, & Anna Krempholtz.

January 17-February 2, 2019

At the New Phoenix Theatre on the park, 95 Johnson Park in Buffalo

Medusa Undone is a dramatization of the little-known Medusa origin story. Before she was one of the greatest mythical monsters of all time, Medusa was a kind, beautiful sea-nymph in Athena's service. Unparalleled in both her beauty and devotion to the Gods, Medusa catches the eye of the charming but narcissistic Poseidon. Interested only in the passions of the spirit, and not the flesh, Medusa has no choice but to reject the greedy God. She not only suffers violence at the hand of Poseidon, but also unknowingly incites a deep-seated jealousy in Athena, with horrific and disturbing consequences. Medusa Undone explores the social problem of rape culture, our tendency to victim blame, and the great injustice suffered by female victims of abuse of all kinds.

AFTER THE FALL

By Arthur Miller

A Co-Production with the Subversive Theatre Collective

Directed by Bob Van Valin

March 14-April 6, 2019

At the Manny Fried Playhouse, 255 Great Arrow Ave, Third Floor

After the Fall is Arthur Miller's controversial semiautobiographical work that shocked audiences when it premiered in 1964. Forefront to the action of the play is Miller's lasting guilt that he was responsible for the failure of his marriage with Marilyn Monroe and her untimely death. Miller's protagonist Quentin grapples with the human dilemma of interpersonal culpability, that one's actions can be responsible for the fate of another. This memory play uses the historical backdrops of post-World War II America and the age of McCarthyism to explore Quentin's existential question that, in a world full of cruelty, how can anyone forge meaningful and lasting relationships?

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