Extended Run of Orietta Crispino's LET ME COOK FOR YOU to be Presented at Theaterlab

Theaterlab will present an extended run of Let Me Cook For You | Trilogy, an intimate and interactive solo show written and performed by Orietta Crispino (In the House of My Beloved with WP Theater). The production, directed and co-created by Liza Cassidy (Women's Receipts, Hotel New Work Open Studio Residency) and produced by Molly Shayna Cohen, will run April 28-May 28 at Theaterlab (357 W 36th St Floor 3, New York, NY 10018). Seating is limited to 15 audience members per performance. Tickets ($35-$65) are available for advance purchase at www.theaterlabnyc.com, with group discounts available. The performance will run approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes including one 10-minute intermission.

Let Me Cook For You is a collage of inherited myths and apocryphal histories, melding the intoxicating act of storytelling with the ritual of preparing food. The 150-minute show, designed for an intimate audience of up to 15 people, features a home-cooked meal, an installation of unique garments from Orietta's designer collection, and a closing ceremony, in which strangers share more than just the space.

An epic journey through food, fashion, and fable, Let Me Cook For You is an invitation to a meal that is life itself, an offering of personal history as its main ingredient, and a meditation on a life in service of others and on the kindness of strangers. It is a ritual of repetition and renewal, and a multi-sensory show that asks audiences to examine the stories and objects that make up a life. It focuses on the stories we repeat, the clothes we take from one place to another (in Orietta's case, from Milan to New York), and the foods that remind us of our childhoods. By sharing a meal, touching fabrics rich with history, and listening closely together, audiences engage with and re-enact the moments of resiliency that define our sense of self.

Performances will take place on Friday, April 28 at 7pm, Saturday, 29 at 7pm, Sunday, April 30 at 5pm, Monday, May 1 at 7pm, Tuesday, May 2 at 7pm, Friday, May 5 at 7pm, Saturday, May 6 at 7pm, Sunday, May 7 at 5pm, Monday, May 8 at 7pm, Wednesday, May 10 at 7pm, Friday, May 12 at 7pm, Saturday, May 13 at 7pm, Sunday, May 14 at 5pm, Tuesday, May 16 at 7pm, Friday, May 19 at 7pm, Saturday, May 20 at 7pm, Sunday, May 21 at 5pm, Tuesday, May 23 at 7pm, Friday, May 26 at 7pm, Saturday, May 27 at 7pm, and Sunday, May 28 at 5pm.

Orietta Crispino

(Playwright and Performer) is the Artistic Director of Theaterlab. Born in Italy, she graduated from the prestigious Piccolo Teatro School in Milan, where she worked with the major Italian directors Giorgio Strehler and Massimo Castri. She later taught acting and directing there. Among her many theatre projects are Passport No. 23.922, a piece she wrote and directed on the life of Tina Modotti; and a three year-project in Trieste directing the plays of Pirandello's Italian contemporaries. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Ms. Crispino's acting credits include The Library (Crossing the Line Festival, FIAF); In the House of My Beloved (WP Theater); The Living Room Series (HERE); Dancing, not Dead (The Internationalists); Dante's Inferno (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), and Snow in the Living Room (Theaterlab). Her most recent productions at Theaterlab are Three Sisters Come and Go; Snow in the Living Room, a retelling of the Brothers Grimms' Snow White; and Let Me Cook For You. In addition to her theatre work, Ms. Crispino has done art projects on the body in its performative aspect. Her body research culminated in a performance piece with the photographer Vibeke Jensen, Camera Obscura, shown at PS1 in New York, Bogota, and Trieste.

Liza Cassidy

(Director) is an actor, dancer, and visual artist collaborating with Theaterlab since 2005. She co-created Let Me Cook For You at Theaterlab with Barbara Rubin and for the site-specific co-production with PopUP Theatrics Ana Margineanu in Brooklyn. She directed the workshop production of This Would Look Good on You last year at Theaterlab. She has performed in Orietta Crispino's Snow in the Living Room, and Three Sisters Come and Go for Gia Forakis & Company's Love In Space-time during a residency at Next Stage in VT, and for The Living Theater and Spoke The Hub Dancing productions. Her film work includes acting for directors Shannon Plumb and Bastein Solignac. As a visual artist, her latest project Women's Receipts was seen at The Gallery at Theaterlab as part of the Hotel New Work | Open Studio Residency. She has been part of the Gowanus Open Studio tour. Recently, she relocated to Vermont where she continues her studio practice and art teaching.

Theaterlab is an artistic laboratory dedicated to research into the nature of live performance. Through the development of new and experimental work, including theater, music, and visual arts, Theaterlab supports New York City's diverse community of artists as well as the general public interested in seeing emerging new work. Theaterlab also focuses on audience development as a creative project. We regard the theatrical experience as a creative public assembly with the audience as an important partner in fulfilling our mission. www.theaterlabnyc.com

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