'GALILEO' & 'SCIENCE PLAYS' Lead Milk Can Theatre's 2009 Season

The Milk Can Theatre Company has announced its spring 2009 season: Galileo, written by Bertolt Brecht and directed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, and The Science Plays, six short plays inspired by the history of science. Galileo and The Science Plays will run in repertory April 30 through May 17. All performances will take place at Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street.

Bertolt Brecht's Galileo, written over 70 years ago, chronicles the life and tragic fall from grace of seventeenth century Italian philosopher and mathematician Galileo Galilei. Forced to choose between his scientific discoveries and the beliefs of the Catholic Church, Galileo recants his teachings to spare himself from physical torture. As new scientific discoveries and teachings are constantly under attack, even today, watching Galileo's inevitable fall from grace is a gentle reminder of the dangerous balance that still exists between new ideas and old ones. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer directs a cast of eight--Matt Biagini, Natalie Caruncho, James Caulfield, Ryan Clardy, Robert A. Felbinger, Alex Herrald, Jed Peterson, and Maria Silverman--portraying over 50 roles.

Beginning with an egomaniacal-and frustrating dawdling-Archimedes and ending with a couple selecting its genetically perfect baby, each of The Science Plays, written by Milk Can playwrights, tells the story of a different moment in the history of science.

These original, ten-minute plays address the intellectual complexities and ethical uncertainties of the constantly changing and ever wondrous world of science.

The Sense of Genius by Cheryl L. Davis; directed by Riv Massey
Featuring Craig Klein and Amy Windle
The Sense of Genius looks at the disconnect between genius and the everyday. The same gifts that enabled the scientist Archimedes to change his world also made him unable to live in it.

Gertrude & Alyce Will Serve Ye Soone by Bethany Larsen; directed by Ryan Ratelle
Featuring Katie Northlich and Cynthia Rice
Alyce annoys Gertrude. Gertrude bosses Alyce around. Working girls have never had it easy -- especially not in (or at) Medieval Times ...

Newton's Genesis by ML Kinney; directed by Bobbi Masters
Featuring Meg Mark, J.J. von Mehren, Nicholas Wilder
Word play in the Garden of Eden.

Unraveled by Riv Massey; directed by Bethany Larsen
Featuring Nick Brown, Misty Coy, Dan Evers, and Susan Levin
A family torn apart by the new machine operated looms. Is it better to stay in the past or take the sometimes violent steps that lead to the future?

Drill by Andy Snyder; directed by Kimberly VerSteeg
Featuring Matthew Campbell, Matthew Minor, and Miriam Mintz
It's 1953. Fear and suspicion come between three sixth-grade classmates when an air raid siren interrupts their school day and forces them to face the real enemy threatening their safety.

Greener Grass by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer; directed by Seth Gamble
Featuring Mary Cavett and Aryeh Lappin
Free will versus Fate. It's a debate as old as time and one that seems to repeat itself with more and more frequency as we discover new ways in which to control our biology.

Founded in 2003, The Milk Can Theatre Company is a collective of playwrights and directors with a focus on development. The company develops new plays, new ideas for classic texts, emerging artists, and works of all levels, but the focus always remains on development. Milk Can takes innovative approaches and views on developing new work, and finds inventive ways to tackle older more established works and classics. The Milk Can Theatre Company is home to Scene Herd Uddered, SHU, where artists are given a seven-week workshop to grow and mold a project that they are currently working on. Milk Can provides the artists with a no-pressure (money, space, and time are provided) environment where the artists have the freedom to experiment and try new and unfamiliar genres and forms. Over the past five-and-a-half seasons, they have worked with almost 300 actors, more than 50 artistic professionals (designers, directors, playwrights, stage managers) and produced almost 30 world premieres in either workshop or main stage form. The Milk Can Theatre Company is Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (Artistic Director), Bethany Larsen (Managing Director), Cheryl L. Davis, ML Kinney, and Riv Massey (Artistic Associates).

Galileo and The Science Plays run in repertory at Urban Stages located at 259 West 30th Street. Galileo runs Thursday, April 30 - Saturday, May 16 on the following schedule: Thursday and Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm; Sunday at 6pm. The Science Plays run Saturday, May 2 - Sunday, May 17 on the following schedule: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm; Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $18.00, $15.00 (students/seniors) and may be purchased online through Smart Tix at www.smarttix.com. Group Sale pricing available at info@milkcantheatre.org.

For more information about The Milk Can Theatre Company, visit www.milkcantheatre.org.

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