Loading Dock Theatre's SPACEMAN to Land Off-Broadway This Spring

Loading Dock Theatre has announced that its groundbreaking solo theater piece Spaceman, which was recently announced as a selection of the Exponential Theater Festival, will make its Off-Broadway debut at The Wild Project (located at 195 East 3rd Street, between Avenues A and B) beginning February 22, 2018. This strictly limited engagement will run through March 13, 2018, with an official opening night set for Sunday, February 25 at 4:00pm.

Spaceman follows astronaut Molly Jennis on her attempt to be the first human to reach Mars. Beginning seven months into an eight-month journey to the red planet, she is the lone crew member of the space module Aeneas. With a mission to establish a new colony, the difficulties of interplanetary space travel are brought to life in exacting detail. Radiation exposure, long term weightlessness, low light, extensive communication delays and poor hygiene are just a few of the challenges Molly Jennis must face on her quest to be the first to Mars, but she soon finds nothing compares to the psychological effects of having so much time alone.

Spaceman is a unique theatrical experience that utilizes low light, a claustrophobic set and simulated micro-gravity to simulate space travel. In addition, the production utilizes an immersive sound design featuring works by experimental composers that earned creator and sound designer Leegrid Stevens a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Ousting Sound Design during its premiere at Incubator Arts Project in 2012.

Spaceman will star Erin Treadway, who also earned a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance when she created the role of astronaut Molly Jennis, and will feature direction by Jacob Titus who was named Best Director during the NY Fringe Festival in 2012.

The idea for Spaceman came from a proposal by Jim McLane, a former NASA engineer of 20 years, in which he suggests the only practical, affordable and feasible way to travel to Mars is to send a one-person crew on a one-way trip. Arguing that NASA has become too cautious and risk-adverse since the moon landing, McLane believes they have lost the drive that prompted sailors centuries ago to cross unknown oceans without any guarantee that they might return. "We're all humans," says McLane, "and the idea of sending one of our kind on a trip like that would be a wonderful adventure for the entire world. The whole world would get behind it."

Performances of Spaceman will take place at The Wild Project (195 East 3rd Street, between Avenues A and B) from February 22 through March 13, 2018, according to the following schedule: Tuesday through Friday at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; Sundays at 4pm; and one additional performance on Monday, March 12 at 7:30pm. Tickets are available for purchase online from OvationTix or by phone at (866) 811-4111.

Prior to opening at the Wild Project, Spaceman will be presented four times during the Exponential Theater Festival according to the following schedule: January 13 at 2pm; January 15, 16 and 20 at 7pm. For more information and tickets, visit www.theexponentialfestival.org.

Loading Dock was formed by playwright/director Leegrid Stevens and actor Erin Treadway. The company is based in Brooklyn where they rehearse and build shows. The primary focus of Loading Dock is to create original plays that explore the extremes in human behavior. They produce emotional, character driven plays with an experimental edge. Along with nine Innovative Theatre Award nominations and four wins, critics have called Loading Dock productions "a marvel of theater craft and theater art" (NY Theatre - Spaceman) that "hits us right in the gut and heart" (Theatre That Matters - The Twelfth Labor); and their production of Ms. Julie, Asian Equities was named one of Broadway World's Top Eleven Theatrical Experiences of 2015.

Leegrid Stevens (Playwright/Co-Founder) grew up in the hill country of Spicewood, TX. He moved to New York after attending SMU in Dallas and now lives in Brooklyn. His plays have been seen in downtown theatres in New York including HERE Arts Center, Incubator Arts Project, Lark Theatre, Altered Stages, Theatre for the New City among others both nationally and internationally. You can find some of his plays in print including Post-Oedipus (Playscripts), Leda's Swan (Stage Tribes, Theater-Verlag Desh Publishers), Sun Stand Thou Still (Plays and Playwrights 2004), and The Dudleys! (Indie Theatre). Leegrid's production of his play The Dudleys! just won the NY Innovative Theatre award for Outstanding Innovative Design; he was nominated for two NY Innovative Theatre Awards, Outstanding Script and Outstanding Sound Design (won), for Spaceman at Incubator Arts; Leegrid's production of The Twelfth Labor received four NY Innovative Theatre Award nominations including outstanding production. A recent workshop production of his play, The Dudleys! in Austin earned him several B. Iden Payne awards including Outstanding Script, Outstanding Composition and Outstanding Sound Design. Leegrid's adaptation of Miss Julie, titled Ms. Julie, Asian Equities, was recently named as one of Broadway World's ten best productions of 2015. He holds an. MFA in playwriting from Columbia.

Erin Treadway (Actor/Co-Founder) is a Texas-born, Brooklyn-based actress and frequent collaborator with playwright/director Leegrid Stevens. Their most recent projects were The Dudleys! (HERE Arts Center; NYIT award for Outstanding Innovative Design) Ms. Julie, Asian Equities and The Twelfth Labor. Other projects include Spaceman at Incubator Arts in New York: Sun, Stand Thou Still(Spring Theatreworks); Post Oedipus (HERE, One-Arm Red, Spring Theatreworks); Still Life With Runner (HERE, Spring Theatreworks); Theme & Variations (Ontological); Leda's Swan (Columbia University); 12th Labor (Columbia University, The Lark, Des Moines Social Club, Tutto Theatre Company); The Dudleys! (, Theatre for the New City, Tutto Theatre Company); The Nine/Twelve Tapes (Theatre for the New City), all premieres of Stevens' work. This collaboration has allowed her to play roles ranging from a mentally damaged young woman on a 1950's Idaho farm to an astronaut on a one-way one-person journey to Mars. Other roles/projects include: Gertrude in Hamlet(LaMama); Ophelia in Poor Jacob's Hamlet (Spring Theatreworks); Olga in Three Sisters (Columbia University); Eli in Mourning(Columbia University); Mitzi in URGE (Spring Theatreworks); among others. Erin can be seen in commercials for A&E and the Biography channel, and in the feature film lbs.

Jacob Titus (Director).Jacob's work has been seen in NY at the Public in the 365 Plays/365 Days, HERE Arts Center, Ontological-Hysterics, among other theatres off-off Broadway, in Brooklyn, as well as LA and San Francisco. In 2010, he directed Promise Tomorrow Today which won Best Play in the Downtown Urban Theater Festival at Theater for the New City. In 2012, Jacob directed FALLING by Amy E. Witting at the 2012 NY Fringe Festival for which he received an Overall Excellence in Directing Award. In 2013, Jacob directed victor by Amy E. Witting which won best play in the Thespis Festival in New York City. Recently, Jacob directed The Rise of Mediocrity by Larry Phillips which was a finalist for best play in the Venus/Adonis Theater Festival 2016, as well as The Dudleys! by Leegrid Stevens with Loading Dock Theatre. Jacob has a Masters in Directing from Boston University.

The Wild Project is a theater, film, music, and visual arts venue that presents diverse, engaging, inspiring, and entertaining works to the vibrant and growing community of Alphabet City in New York's East Village, while bringing together the artists and the environment in a unique way. Founded in 2007, the wild project is an innovator among arts venues, providing an eco-friendly theater and gallery where the artists and space nurture each other. The company is dedicated to creating an environment that supports the artists, and to cultivating artists that support the environment. With an eco-conscious approach to presenting the dynamic works of hundreds of emerging artists each year, the Wild Project offers an artistic and environmental education for patrons of all ages, interests, and incomes in its community.

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