Axis Theatre Company to Present the World Premiere of Edgar Oliver's RIP TIDE in October

Axis Theatre Company will present Rip Tide, a new play written and performed by Edgar Oliver that takes audiences back to where it all began for the New York City icon. Directed by Axis Theatre Company founder Randall Sharp, Rip Tide runs October 4–28 at Axis Theatre (1 Sheridan Square, Manhattan).

For 15 years, Axis Theatre Company has served as an incubator and theatrical home for the beloved performer, poet, and storyteller Edgar Oliver, a fixture of the New York downtown scene for over four decades. In deep collaboration with Randall Sharp, Edgar has created a body of work that Hilton Als of The New Yorker has described as “so beautiful—so enthralling in its undisguised but never tedious self-absorption, in its command of the spoken word, and in its demand for love.”

But how did Edgar begin his epic life as a performer?

When he was twenty-three, Edgar found The Pyramid Club. This long-gone ghost of Avenue A became a home for all artists and outcasts, and the first stage Edgar ever performed on in the city. In the dark recesses of this magic theatre, Edgar found the voice that brought all the sorrow and glory, the solitude and companionship of his early life into the hearts of his audience. The Pyramid Club created the beautiful, heart-broken, and triumphant person he is today.

Rip Tide features original music performed live by former Blondie member Paul Carbonara that mirrors the strange and complex world of The Pyramid Club and Edgar’s place in it.

The additional creative team for Rip Tide includes Karl Ruckdeschel (costume designer), David Zeffren (lighting designer), Paul Carbonara (sound designer),Regina Betancourt (stage manager), Amy Harper (assistant light designer), Laurie Kilmartin (assistant stage manager), and Brian Barnhart (producing director).

Sixteen performances of Rip Tide will take place October 4–28, 2023 at Axis Theatre, located at 1 Sheridan Square in Manhattan’s West Village. Performances are Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm. Critics are welcome starting October 4 for a press opening on Sunday, October 8. Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for seniors & students, $10 for artists and those under 30, and free for veterans & active U.S. service members and their families. The anticipated running time is 60 minutes with no intermission. Tickets can be purchased online at www.axiscompany.org.

About the Artists

Edgar Oliver (writer and performer) is an Axis Company member. As a stage actor, he has performed in countless plays including Edward II with Cliplight Theater; Marc Palmieri's Carl the Second; Kestutis Nakas’ When Lithuania Ruled the World and numerous productions at Axis including A Glance at New York (Edinburgh Festival Fringe & NYC); Julius Caesar; USS Frankenstein; the Hospital series and his critically acclaimed solo show In the Park. His first solo show East 10th Street, directed by Randall Sharp, has performed in Edinburgh (Fringe First Award); Charleston, SC (Spoleto Festival) and in New York City (Axis and PS122). His critically acclaimed solo shows In the Park, Attorney Street, and VICTOR were also performed at Axis and directed by Randall Sharp. His show, Helen and Edgar (directed by Catherine Burns of The Moth), performed at Theatre 80 St. Marks, Dartmouth College, Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA and at The Public Theatre as part of the Under the Radar Festival. Edgar wrote and performed London Paris (again directed by Sharp), which was commissioned and performed at La MaMa. His film roles include That's Beautiful Frank; Henry May Long (directed by Axis' Randall Sharp) and Gentlemen Broncos (directed by Jared Hess). Handmade, limited-edition collections of Edgar's writings are available from Oilcan Press - oilcanpress.com

Randall Sharp (director) is Axis Theatre Company’s founder and Artistic Director. Her plays include the Drama Desk Award-nominated Last Man Club (published by DPS), Washington Square (soon to be published by TRW), Worlds Fair Inn, Nothing on Earth, Down There, Seven in One Blow (published by DPS and performed every December in NYC and around the country) and the long-running serial Hospital. Sharp wrote and directed The Vast Machine (2015) and co-wrote (with former Blondie member Paul Carbonara) and directed Solitary Light (2014) and Evening – 1910, which premiered to acclaim at Axis in 2016. Sharp’s directing credits also include Last Man Club; Nothing on Earth; Down There; Seven in One Blow; Hospital; Edgar Oliver’s New York Trilogy (including East 10th Street: Self Portrait with Empty House, winner of the Fringe First Award, Edinburgh Fringe, In the Park, and Attorney Street) and London Paris; A Glance at New York (Edinburgh Fringe & NYC), Julius Caesar; and the U.S premiere of Sarah Kane's Crave, starring Deborah Harry. She also directed the feature film Henry May Long, winner of 13 international awards, and is the host of the popular YouTube cooking show “Dinner Party Tonight.”

Paul Carbonara (music) was born in Greenwich Village and has been a performing musician for 30 years. He was the guitarist and musical director for the seminal pop band Blondie from 1997 through 2010. Carbonara has performed with Ray Davies, Coolio, Jose Carreras, and Chubby Checker, among others, and was the guitarist for the New York art rock band Giant Metal Insects in the 1990s. He has composed music for three independent movie soundtracks, including Randall Sharp’s Henry May Long and Jyllian Gunther’s Pull Out. He has composed commercial jingles for Nickelodeon, SBLI, and Waterworks. Paul composed music for the noted choreographer Robert Moses’ work Faith and Fable, presented at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. Carbonara performs and records with his own band The Mudlarks. He has also toured much of the world with the Mary McBride Band since 2010, traveling to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. He is a graduate of NYU and studied with the noted jazz guitarist Sal Salvador.

About Axis Theatre Company

Axis Theatre Company was founded in 1996 by Randall Sharp as a theatrical haven for stories that awaken an audience’s curiosity for little known parts of American history. Through Sharp’s plays and that of like-minded artists like Edgar Oliver, David Crabb, and Marc Palmieri, Axis Theatre uses intricate visual and sound design to maximize a viewer’s insight into these historical moments and shared experiences.

In 1998, Axis acquired a permanent home at 1 Sheridan Square in New York City’s West Village. Built in 1834 by Samuel Whitmore, the building once housed Café Society, the historic site of performances by Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughn, Art Tatum, Big Joe Turner and other jazz greats; and later was the home of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Axis transformed the interior performance space into one where audiences are totally immersed, surrounded by the experience of a theatrical production the moment they enter. Distractions from the material are minimal.

Among the wide variety of works that Axis has produced in the theater are Beckett’s Play; Benjamin Baker’s 1848 vaudeville A Glance at New York (also at the Edinburgh Festival); the U.S. premiere of Sarah Kane’s Crave, starring Deborah Harry; the premieres of Edgar Oliver’s East 10th Street (New York Times Critic Pick; Fringe First Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Spoleto Festival, USA) and In the Park; David Crabb’s Bad Kid (New York Times Critic Pick, now an acclaimed book published by HarperCollins Perennial); Marc Palmieri’s The Groundling; and Sharp’s The Vast Machine, Last Man Club (Drama Desk nomination), Solitary Light, Worlds Fair Inn, Washington Square, Nothing on Earth, Down There, Seven in One Blow, Hospital, Dead End, and High Noon.

Visit www.axiscompany.org for more information.

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