The New Theatre Project Adds CONNECTING CREATIVITY, Adjusts to the Spring New Work Series

“We were presented with a rather unique opportunity a very short time ago,” explains Artistic Director Keith Paul Medelis. “Artistic Director, Helena Byrne, of the The Break-Away Project based in Dublin, Ireland came to me with an interesting idea that was hard to pass up.”

 

This event, titled Connecting Creativity: A Trans-Atlantic Co-production will feature several monologues written by Irish playwrights for American actors as well as recorded performance of the Irish company performing monologues written just for them by company members of The New Theatre Project in Michigan.

 

The theme of all of the pieces will be Connecting to the Unknown. The playwrights will only have virtually “met” their performers for a brief moment over Skype before creating the piece for them.

 

The American performers will feature TNTP Ensemble members Audra Lord, Elise Randall (If You Start a Fire [Be Prepared to Burn], The Everyman Project), Ben Stange (Posing), and Artistic Director Keith Paul Medelis (Fugue), and guests Linda Rabin Hammell (Fugue) and Melissa Coppola (The American Crowbar Case).

 

The American Playwrights will include local playwright Joseph Zettlemaier, recently featured in American Theatre Magazine, TNTP ensemble members Audra Lord (Fugue) and Russ Schwartz, and guests Kevin Kautzman (If You Start a Fire [Be Prepared to Burn]), creator and composer of The American Crowbar Case, Gray Bouchard, and newcomer Emily Roll.

 

Due to scheduling restrictions with the event, TNTP will replace the previously announced 4 in 24 with Connecting Creativity. The live American performance, featuring recordings of the Irish performance, will take place on Sunday, April 15 at 8:00 pm.

 

The full listing of the Spring New Work Series is listed below and contains some date changes from a previous announcement.

 

 Midway

by Ira Gamerman

directed by Jane Bruce

Saturday, March 24 at 8 pm

 

After a drunken kiss at a company function, David and Catherine learn the difference between being close enough to touch lips and 727 miles. When David moves from Baltimore to Chicago to pursue his dream of being a comedian, he and Catherine must face the hard reality of what gets sacrificed in attempts to make love conquer all.

 

by Jacob Coakley

directed by Brian Carbine

Sunday, March 25 at 8 pm

 

Featuring Marisa Dluge, Maxim Hunt, and Amy Johnson

 

Margaret, a college student who tapes every moment of her life, fights to translate and stage an alleged Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Princess and the Pirate” with classmate David Span—despite family disputes, lawsuits, and the fact that they’re missing the last page of the story. Authentic interweaves their lives with the story of the Andersen princess, Meta, who goes to sea in order to find her twin brother, the last of her family. Standing in her way is a ship of pirates. In the end, both Meta and Margaret must decide who to betray in order to survive, and how to live with themselves once they have.

 

by Kevin Kautzman

directed by Keith Paul Medelis

Saturday, March 31 at 8 pm

 

Featuring Jane Bruce, Brian Flores, and Elise Randall

 

Ten years after her sudden and mysterious disappearance, Steph returns to find her estranged childhood friend Jane. Together they descend into the past and relive the summer Jane taught Steph how to turn into a wolf. Wolf Cry Wolf looks at the fine line between memory and imagination and the lies we tell to survive our shadows.

 

inspired by Tennessee Williams

in an adaptation by Keith Paul Medelis

directed by Jim Manganello

Sunday, April 1 at 8 pm

 

Featuring Jane Bruce, Caleb Kruzel, and Keith Paul Medelis

 

“When someone hurts us deeply, we no longer see them at all clearly. Not until time has put them back in focus.” –Tennessee Williams

 

The first reading of a work in progress. This contemporary piece explores one of the last plays written by Tennessee Williams, largely autobiographical, in an entirely re-imagined way. A play about love and memory and the impossibility of both to be completely clear.

 

Sunday, April 15 at 8 pm

 

The Mix Studio Theater is located at 130 W. Michigan Ave. in Ypsilanti. There is a suggested donation of $10 for all of the Spring New Works Series events. All proceeds benefit the mission of The New Theatre Project to provide an outlet for collaborative, new work development in Southeast Michigan.

 

Tickets can be reserved at tickets@thenewtheatreproject.org or by calling the box office at (734) 645-9776. Please visit us online at www.thenewtheatreproject.org for more details.