New Theatre Project Announces New Lineup for Second Season

After an unexpected move to Ypsilanti, The New Theatre Project announces adjustments and additions to the lineup for Season 2: Revelation. The new season will be offered at the newly opened Mix Studio Theatre, a new addition to the downtown Ypsilanti boutique where "cool. people. mix." Entrances to the theater are through the store at 130 W. Michigan Ave. or via the Washington St. entrance. As part of the exciting move downtown, TNTP will now offer credit card sales but ticket prices stay constant at the low price of $10 and $15. Come early to explore beautiful downtown Ypsi and shop at Mix, open every day prior to the shows.

TNTP is excited to announce the addition of an original musical featuring the music of local artists Match by Match as well as an updated lineup for the postponed Summer New Work Series. A full listing of Season 2 is listed below.

The Summer New Work Series
August 29-September 1

Monday, August 29
Fugue
By Audra Lord
Directed by Luna Alexander
A staged reading of the most recent draft of a play TNTP will produce in December. Don't miss your first glimpse at this beautiful show. See below for description.

Tuesday, August 30
If You Start a Fire [Be Prepared to Burn]
By Kevin Kautzman
Directed by Evan Mann

Lucy and Chris are typical American twenty-somethings struggling to survive the Great Recession with their dignity intact. They hate their jobs like most everybody else, but they need the insurance, and at least they have each other. Right? When Chris loses his job, he convinces Lucy they should launch a boutique sex website and sell the idea of her as an all-American girl next door, somehow both pure and hedonistic at the same time.

Wednesday, August 31
Bartleby
By Brooklyn Demetri
Directed by Jamie Weeder

Adapted from the short story by Herman Melville, Bartleby is a model employee. Others in the office are put off by his quiet eccentricities and machine-like perfection. The Boss, however, is very pleased with Bartleby's work-that is, until the day Bartleby decides that he will do no more work because he would "prefer not to." However, even after being fired, he refuses to budge from the office, preferring instead to stand and stare at the wall of his cubicle. Bartleby's will to do nothing persists ad absurdum, culminating in death by starvation because he preferred not to eat.

Thursday, September 1
in a word
By Lauren Yee

Two years have passed since Fiona's eight-year-old son mysteriously vanished. As Fiona goes back over the events she remembers leading up to that fateful day, logic buckles and language breaks. Will she uncover the truth? And what happens if she does? A lyrical, absurdist journey on how to get over, get around, and get through what haunts you.

The American Crowbar Case
Music and lyrics by Match by Match
Book by Jason Sebacher
Directed by Keith Paul Medelis
Music Direction by Melissa Coppola
Choreography by Ben Stange
Pay-what-you-can previews: September 30-October 1, 2011
Performances: October 7-23, 2011

In 1848, a spike was blasted through the skull of a railroad-worker, Phineas Gage, taking out most of his frontal lobe. But that's the least of his problems. The accident spurred him to begin an existential quest for meaning that may just cost him everything, including his beautiful bride-to-be and his life. Nobody knows what really happened to Gage until now, explored in The American Crowbar Case, the new indie-folk musical.

Fugue
By Audra Lord
Directed by Luna Alexander
Featuring Jon Ager, Keith Paul Medelis, Linda Rabin Hammell, and Jamie Weeder
Pay-what-you-can previews: November 30-December 1, 2011
Performances: December 2-18, 2011

In a bleak, institutional space, James, Julie, Tina and Princess Stephanie recover from a shared tragic event that resulted in the complete loss of their memories. Fugue follows their attempts to remember, to forget, and to piece together their shared and individual identities. Is it better to leave the past behind? Or to remember, no matter what the cost?

TBA
By Kevin Kautzman
Pay-what-you-can previews: February 10-11, 2012
Performances: February 17-March 4, 2012

Decision Pending
By Jason Sebacher
Directed by Keith Paul Medelis
Pay-what-you-can previews: April 6-7, 2012
Performances: April 13-29, 2012

In 2006 a statue was erected in the conservative Midwest city of Brighton, Michigan. The figure is an abstraction of a nude male, placed in a very public place, near children, and a national war memorial. Hundreds, maybe thousands of editorials came pouring into the local newspaper expressing everything from disgust to disbelief to support and apathy. Now, nearly six years later the statue remains through vandalism, pressure, and the occasional clothing. This devised theatre piece explores the nature of art, politics, and small town Americana by way of this "Naked Ugly Man."

All Alone with You
By Jason Sebacher
Directed by Ben Stange
Pay-what-you-can previews: May 11-12, 2012
Performances: May 18-June 3, 2012

Two lovers connect before and after death. Together, they recall their relationship, and discover why it is only after death that one can truly know another.

The Tempest Project
In a collaborative adaptation by Audra Lord
Directed by Keith Paul Medelis
Featuring Luna Alexander, Jane Bruce, Brooklyn Demetri, and Andrew Whipple
Pay-what-you-can previews: June 22-23, 2012
Performances: June 29-July 15, 2012

"When was a moment in your life when you realized that you were not like
everyone else?"

The much anticipated finale to our season,The Tempest Project focuses the attention away from Prospero in one of Shakespeare's most well known plays. Using the process developed by TNTP through the popular The Spring Awakening Project and The Everyman Project we take a look at the isolation and enslavement of some of the play's smaller characters to explore its contemporary relevance in a new, overtly personal way. The cast uses inspiration from their own lives to build on Shakespeare's text. And, for the first time ever, the play will spend a year in development as we travel throughout Michigan to ask our central question to you. Your stories could become our play.

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