1,000 Free Tickets for 'Aliens with Extraordinary Skills'

With so much free music and video now available for download via the web, Women's Project, thrusting the medieval enterprise of theatre into the Internet Age, will once again offer the Off Broadway Download for its newest production, Aliens with Extraordinary Skills.

Yes, free tickets will be available via the web for the preview period (September 22 through September 29) downloaded from the Women's Project web site, www.WomensProject.org.

The lowdown on the download of live theatre via the web: Go to the Women's Project's website, put in your e-mail address, the date desired (September 22 through September 29 only), a little information on age and zip code, and Women's Project will e-mail you a ticket confirmation. E-mail address will be saved and cross-checked in the future against no-shows. No-shows will find themselves on Women's Project's version of the no-fly list.

Aliens with Extraordinary Skills is a world premiere dark comedy that centers on a clown from the unhappiest country in the world, Moldova, who pins her hopes on a U.S. work visa by creating balloon animals. It begins previews September 22, for a September 30, 7:00pm opening (for a run through October 26) at Women's Project, 424 West 55th Street.

The play is written by Saviana Stanescu, a Romanian poet, journalist and playwright who first came to the United States in 2001 under a Fulbright Scholarship. Her O1 Visa says she has "extraordinary abilities in the arts."

The director, award-winning theater artist and Bosnian emigre Tea Alagic, now has her green card, but she left, or rather escaped, her home country ten years ago for a different reason (see the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague for details).

Unlike the characters in the play, neither is being chased by Homeland Security or receiving deflating deportation letters. But they can't leave the United States without making sure all their paperwork is in perfect order or they may not be allowed back in. Ms. Stanescu may have to leave next year if her visa isn't renewed.

Designed by Kris Stone (sets), Jennifer Moeller (costumes), Gina Scherr (lights), and Sarah Pickett (sound & original music), Aliens with Extraordinary Skills features Shirine Babb, Seth Fisher, Gian-Murray Gianino, Kevin Isola, Natalia Payne and Jessica Pimentel.

Saviana Stanescu www.womensproject.org/aliens_playwright.html is one of the best know TV journalists in Romanian (she's been described as the Diane Swayer of Romania), her plays have been produced at home and all over the world in many languages.

Women's Project produces theater created by women, providing a forum for women's perspectives on political, social, and cultural topics. Founded in 1978 to address the conspicuous under-representation of women in the American theater, countless artists have achieved significant recognition at WP, including Anne Bogart, Eve Ensler, Lynn Nottage, Maria Irene Fornes, Leigh Silverman, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Anna Deavere Smith. In its 30 years, WP has staged over 570 productions, and in 1998, WP purchased a historic off-Broadway venue--the Julia Miles Theater--making WP the first and only women's theater company to hold the keys to its own stage.

Tickets are $15-42 and are on sale now at Telecharge www.Telecharge.com or 212.239.6200. The Women's Project box office at 424 West 55th Street opens September 15. To become a WP member, click www.WomensProject.org or call the Members Hotline at 212.765.2105.

Aliens with Extraordinary Skills performs Mondays and Tuesdays at 7:00pm, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. Added performances: Sunday, October 12, at 7:00pm; and Saturday, October 25, at 3:00pm.

 

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