Martin Sherman's BENT Comes To New Stage Collective 3/12

New Stage Collective proudly presents Martin Sherman's landmark 1970 drama BENT. Forty years following its London premiere, BENT appears for the first time on a professional Cincinnati Stage. NSC Producing Artistic Director Alan Patrick Kenny directs this provocative story following one man's journey from the hedonistic cabarets and clubs of 1930s Berlin to the inhuman excess of the Nazi regime.

BENT features Trevor Day, Chris Kramer, Zlatomir Moldovanski, Kelly Rossberg, Matthew Alan Troillett, and Kellen York and runs March 12 through April 5 at NSC's Main Street theater.
"How important is this play? Before BENT, Nazi persecution of gays was not widely understood in popular culture. In a historical sense, society at large was at best unaware, or at worst ambivalent to reports of suffering by gays in the concentration camps," says Kenny. "The impact of this drama on popular understanding of homosexual persecution is immeasurable."
Kellen York stars as Max, a gay man in 1930s Germany who finds love in a concentration camp. York, along with Kelly Rossberg and Trevor Day, is a drama student at University of Cinicnnati College-Conservatory of Music, and are making their NSC debuts. Matthew Alan Troillett, a Wright State University Acting major, also joins the cast and makes his NSC debut. Zlatomir Moldovanski, another CCM Drama student, appeared in NSC's production of The History Boys, and local actor Chris Kramer appeared in Take Me Out.
The design for BENT includes scenic design by Melissa Bennett, sound design by Paul Lieber, lighting design by Sara Watson and Paul Lieber, costume design by Julia Gardiner, technical direction by Chris Wesselman, stage management by Tom McLaughlin. BENT is directed by Alan Patrick Kenny and produced by Kenny and McLaughlin.

Ian McKellan played Max in the original Broadway production in London. McKellan had this to say about this harrowing and important work: "Martin Sherman's Bent is relevant to events and facts today of life throughout the world where gay people are often put at a disadvantage by the laws of whatever country they happen to live in. Although things are improving, I think it's because of this story that Martin Sherman has told so strongly presenting the case for human understanding and what it is to be gay."

About this Production

BENT

By Martin Sherman

directed by Alan Patrick Kenny

March 12-14, 19-21, 26-28; April 2-4, 2009 at 8 pm

March 15, 22, 29 and April 5, 2009 at 3 pm

Tickets: $20 General, $16 Senior, $12 Student

Content Warning: for Mature Audiences - ages 17 and up

Box Office info:

Online: www.newstagecollective.com

Phone: 513.621.3700

NEW STAGE COLLECTIVE is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, whose goal is to facilitate the development of the pre-professional artist while bringing to the region exceptional performances of meaningful and rarely performed works. NSC debuted in June 2003, and productions have included: Dead City*, Dying City*, The History Boys*, Shining City*, Caroline, or Change*, Striking 12*, Take Me Out, BUG*, Jerry Springer: the Opera*, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?*, Radiant Baby*, Songs from an Unmade Bed*, Kooky Tunes*, All We Can Handle*, A Number*, The Full Monty, The Book of Liz*, Kimberly Akimbo*, Sunday in the Park with George*, Side Show*, Merrily We Roll Along, The Last Five Years*, Fully Committed, The Shape of Things, the New Directors Workshop Series* and A Cabaret: An Evening of Musical Theatre (* indicates regional premiere). NEW STAGE COLLECTIVE is a member of the League of Cincinnati Theatres, and is a Performance Affiliate of the Contemporary Arts Center.

SPONSORS

2008-2009 Season Sponsor: Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation, The William O. Purdy Jr. Foundation, Fine Arts Fund, Paul and Stephanie McCready, Dr. Robert J. Thierauf, Jerry & Jeanne Rape, Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce Business First AdVenture Program, Neil R. Artman and Margaret L. Straub, City of Cincinnati Arts Grant Recipient, The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, Funded by the City of Cincinnati, Ohio Arts Council, Duke Energy, Richard Oberacker, The LaBoiteaux Family Foundation

 

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