Potomac Theatre Project's 35th Season To Include Plays By Caryl Churchill, Steven Berkoff, Robert Chesley, and More

PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project), in association with Middlebury College, will present its 35th repertory season, running July 5 - 31, 2022 in a limited Off-Broadway engagement at The Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street). Previews began July 5 and openings begin July 10.

This season's line-up includes SEX, GRIFT AND DEATH, an evening of one act plays by Steven Berkoff and Caryl Churchill, directed by Richard Romagnoli and Cheryl Faraone, and REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION, an evening of two intertwined one act plays by Robert Chesley, Jim Petosa and Jonathan Adler, directed by Jim Petosa.

SEX, GRIFT AND DEATH, the evening's ironic umbrella title, features the New York premiere of Steven Berkoff's LUNCH, directed by Richard Romagnoli, and Caryl Churchill's HOT FUDGE and the New York premiere of Churchill's HERE WE GO, both directed by Cheryl Faraone. Previews begin July 6 for a July 13 opening, running through July 31. Running time is approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes including intermission.

In LUNCH, a woman and man, (ostensibly) strangers, engage in a provocative encounter that forces them to recognize their loneliness. Sexy, rude and funny.

LUNCH cast includes Bill Army (The Band's Visit on Broadway, PTP's Vinegar Tom) and Jackie Sanders (Shakespeare in the Park's The Taming of the Shrew, NBC's "The Blacklist").

HOT FUDGE is an explosive short play about greed and self-invention - a bleak, black comedy.

HOT FUDGE cast includes David Barlow (PTP's Havel: The Passion of Thought and No End of Blame), Tara Giordano (PTP's Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth and The After-Dinner Joke), Christopher Marshall (PTP's Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth and Havel: The Passion of Thought), Danielle Skraastad (Hurricane Diane with Women's Project, PTP's Havel: The Passion of Thought), Teddy Best, Molly Dorion, Gibson Grimm and Wynn McClenahan.

HERE WE GO is written in three brief scenes. The play drifts from conversations among mourners at a post-funeral party to the dying process of (possibly) the man mourned and finally a wordless sequence with a man and his caregiver.

HERE WE GO cast includes Bill Army, David Barlow, Christopher Marshall, Jackie Sanders, Danielle Skraastad, Maggie Connolly, Meili Huang, Annabelle Iredale, Victoria Keith and Charlie Porto.

REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION, Hauntings from Pandemics Past and Present, features Robert Chesley's DOG PLAYS and the world premiere of Jim Petosa and Jonathan Adler's A VARIANT STRAIN, both directed by Jim Petosa. Previews begin July 5 for a July 10 opening, running through July 30. Running time is approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes including intermission.

This pairing of plays sees the AIDS epidemic (DOG PLAYS) as a prologue to the COVID pandemic (A VARIANT STRAIN). By looking back, we see our present with new eyes, deeper understanding and a moment of unexpected healing.

DOG PLAYS cast includes James Patrick Nelson (Slave Play at Mark Taper Forum, Three Sisters with CSC), Jonathan Tindle (PTP's The After-Dinner Joke and The Possibilities), Joshua Mallin and Trey Atkins.

A VARIANT STRAIN cast includes James Patrick Nelson, Francis Price and Ryan Kirby.

The production team includes Mark Evancho (Set & Projection Design), Courtney Smith (Lighting & Projection Design), Sean Doyle (Sound Design), Peter Hamlin (Composer for Hot Fudge & Here We Go), Bella Costantino-Carrigan (Costume Design for Lunch & Hot Fudge), Carol Wood (Costume Design for Here We Go & Reverse Transcription), Christine Lemme (Stage Manager for Sex, Grift and Death), Abbey Murray (Stage Manager for Reverse Transcription) and Courtney Smith (Company & Production Manager). Understudies, stage managers assistants and Covid compliance officers are Catie Clark, Qinyi Hua and Katelyn Wenkoff.

Performances are Tuesdays - Sundays at 7pm, Saturdays - Sundays at 2pm, and select Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2pm. Tickets are $31.50 and $21.50 (students and seniors). Schedule varies - for exact days and times, and to purchase tickets, visit https://ptpnyc.org.

PTP/NYC's Jim Petosa states, "For 35 years, PTP and PTP/NYC has maintained an ever-evolving community of theater-makers of all kinds, who are connected by their sheer will to make mission-driven, provocative productions of plays we care about deeply. It is cause for celebration!"

"PTP/NYC provides artists with an opportunity to work with playwrights whose works reflect the nightmares and hoaxes of our lives, without compromise," says Richard Romagnoli.

Cheryl Faraone adds, "Thirty-five years of working with an extraordinary group of professional artists and the next several generations of theatremakers has been an unmatchable experience. We hope these artists and the work they have done will continue to enrich the country's theatrical universe. And we look forward to our futures."

After this season, the company will no longer follow its annual format but instead will reconfigure its work for the future.

PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project) continues to redefine politically aware theatre for the 21st century by presenting theatrically complex and thought-provoking work of contemporary social and cultural relevance. Howard Barker is one of PTP/NYC's most produced writers, along with Caryl Churchill, Neal Bell, Sarah Kane and David Edgar. The company's writers are provocative, engaging and often confrontational.

PTP was founded in 1987 by the artistic team of Cheryl Faraone, Jim Petosa and Richard Romagnoli who continue to run the company. Alex Draper is Associate Artistic Director. Since moving to New York in 2007, PTP/NYC has produced 30 main stage productions and numerous late evening readings, workshops, streaming productions and experimental theatre pieces in their After Dark series. The company is committed to the training of young actors and designers, enabling them to work with experienced and generous professionals as they serve an apprenticeship and begin their own work in the theatre.

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