The 2010 New York Fornés Festival Begins Today

INTAR (Eduardo Machado, Artistic Director/John McCormack, Executive Director) and New York University's Department of English and its Program in Dramatic Literature announced some of the cast members to celebrate the 80th birthday of playwright, director and teacher Maria Irene Fornés. Among them will be Rebecca Schull recreating the title role of Fefu and her Friends, which she created in 1977, along with Rocco Sisto, Rosalyn Coleman, Andrea McArdle, Jim Brochu, Victoria Mallory, Loni Ackerman, among others. Also added to the schedule is a concert presentation of the Fornés musical, Promenade on April 12th. (See schedule below for complete information)

To honor this seminal figure in American theater, NYU faculty members Gwendolyn Alker (Department of Drama) and Eduardo Machado (Department of Dramatic Writing) are presenting a festival of Fornés plays at a number of Off-Broadway theaters, including INTAR, New World Stages, Cherry Lane, and Theater for the New City. Running from March 25th to April 12th, The 2010 New York Fornés Festival will present her landmark play Fefu and Her Friends as well as more rarely revived works (Dr. Kheal, Tango Palace, The Successful Life of 3, The Summer in Gossensass, and What of the Night?) as staged readings, as well as a screening of selections of the film, "The Rest I Make Up": Documenting Irene.

Maria Irene Fornés was born in Havana, Cuba on May 14th, 1930. Following her father's sudden death she emigrated with her mother and a sister to the US, arriving in Manhattan in 1945. Her first play, Tango Palace (1964) was written in English, like the majority of her work. It premiered at the Actors Workshop in San Francisco, directed by Herbert Blau. By this time, she was already established within the small but influential avant-garde Greenwich Village arts community. After Tango Palace, Fornés has gone on to write over forty plays. She was among the Off-Off Broadway artists which included Lanford Wilson and Terrence McNally, who gathered at the Judson Poet's Theatre, La MaMa, and the Café Cino. She wrote The Successful Life of 3 (1965), Dr. Kheal and Molly's Dream (1968) among other plays of the ‘60s. These were busy years in which she wrote ten works, including a brush with Broadway - The Office (1966) while Promenade (1965), with music by Al Carmines, an inspirational minister at the Judson Church, was an early commercial success. In 1972 Fornés worked with Ed Bullins, Rosalyn Drexler, Adrienne Kennedy, Sam Shepard and Megan Terry to create New York Theatre Strategy, a space where playwrights could try out their ideas and have control over their work. In 1977 Fefu and Her Friends was produced under her direction at New York Theatre Strategy. Fefu has come to be recognized as an innovative and important American play and continues to be one of Fornés' most produced works. At this time, Fornés began her long collaboration with INTAR, where she began her search for a 'Hispanic sensibility.' In her highly influential workshops there, she taught many aspiring writers. In the 1980s and ‘90s Fornes wrote and directed Evelyn Brown (1980), The Danube (1981), Mud (1983), Sarita (1984), The Conduct of Life (1985), Abingdon Square (1987), Enter The Night (1993), and her last play, Letters From Cuba (2000). Fornés has been awarded many prestigious prizes and honors, including nine Obie Awards. Five volumes of plays by Fornés are available from PAJ Publications: Fefu and Her Friends, Maria Irene Fornes: Plays, Promenade, What of the Night?, and Letters from Cuba.

Promenade, with book and lyrics by Fornes and music by Al Carmines debuted April 9th 1965, for three weekends at the Judson Poets' Theatre, Judson Memorial Church. The New York Times called Promenade "a mixture of Candide and Samuel Beckett viewed through Lewis Carroll's looking glass. But in its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater." The 1969 production, its Off-Broadway premiere, opened the Promenade Theater and ran 259 performances. Fornes was awarded her first Obie for both The Successful Life of 3 and Promenade as 'Distinguished Plays'.

The 2010 New York Fornés Festival provides a rare opportunity to encounter the full range of Fornés' plays in a short span of time and to contextualize them through talkbacks with Fornés artists and scholars. Health permitting, Fornés herself will attend some events. INTAR, one of the United States' longest running Latino theatres producing in English, works to:
v Nurture the professional development of Latino theater artists.

v Produce bold, innovative, artistically significant plays that reflect diverse perspectives.
v Make accessible the diversity inherent in America's cultural heritage.

Through an integrated program of workshops, productions of works in progress, and mainstage productions, INTAR continues to raise standards of the theater arts. INTAR brings to the public vital and energetic voices of both promising and accomplished Latino theater professionals, replacing stereotypes while giving expression to the diversity and depth of today's Latino-American community.

For reservations for all events except Promenade, please email fornesfestival@gmail.com. Visit www.intartheatre.org for more information.

All shows, except Promenade, are free and will have a 7pm curtain. For ticket information for Promenade, visit Telecharge.com or call 212/239-6200

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS*

Thursday, March 25th
Dr. Kheal & Tango Palace
Directed by Gisela Cardenas
At Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street)
Featuring Rocco Sisto as Dr. Kheal
Talk back to follow with Caridad Svich, Playwright and Co-Editor of Conducting a Life: Reflections on the Theatre of Maria Irene Fornes

Monday, March 29th
Fefu and Her Friends
Directed by Billy Hopkins
Starring Rebecca Schull (who created the title role) with Rosalyn Coleman
At Theatre for a New City (155 1st Avenue, between 9th and 10th Streets)

Tuesday, March 30th
Summer in Gossensass
Directed by Alice Reagan
With Megan Byrne, Janna Gjesdal, Gian Murray Gianino, B. Brian Argotsinger and Amelia Workman
At Theater for a New City

Friday, April 2nd
Successful Life of 3
Directed by Zishan Ugurlu
At The Goldberg Theatre (721 Broadway, 7th Floor North)
Presentation to follow by Migdalia Cruz, Playwright

Saturday, April 3rd
"The Rest I Make Up": Documenting Irene
Excerpts from a film by Michelle Memran
Panel Discussion with:
Rebecca Schull, Fefu in the 1977 production of Fefu and Her Friends.
Aileen Passloff, Originated roles in the Vietnamese Wedding, Evelyn Brown.
Sheila Dabney, Original cast member, Conduct of Life
Edmund Gaynes, Original cast member, Promenade.
Alice Playten, Original cast member, Promenade.
Scott T. Cummings, Boston College, Moderator
At The Goldberg Theatre

Reception to follow in the Reise Lounge (721 Broadway, Ground Floor), sponsored by PAJ Publications
Reception will include a welcome and comments by Bonnie Marranca,
publisher of the plays of Maria Irene Fornés, and various audio and video installations

Monday, April 5th
What of the Night?
Directed by Mayra Ferrer, Felipe Javier Gorostiza, Jacquelyn Landgraf and Kay Matschullat
At Cherry Lane Theatre

Monday, April 12th
Promenade
With Andrea McArdle, Jim Brochu, Victoria Mallory, Loni Ackerman, Virginia Seidel, Neva Small, Gene Castle, Brian Childers, Haviland Stillwell, Tim Ewing, Dale Radunz, among others.
Directed by Pamela Hall, with Musical Direction by Ken Lundie
At New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues)
Legacy: The Musicals of Off-Broadway will present Promenade as its first offering, and as a benefit for The Off-Broadway Alliance. With book and lyrics by Maria Irene Fornés and music by Al Carmines, Promenade debuted April 9th 1965 at the Judson Poets' Theatre at Judson Memorial Church. The New York Times called Promenade "a mixture of Candide and Samuel Beckett viewed through Lewis Carroll's looking glass. But in its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater."
Tickets for Promenade available at Telecharge.com or by phone 212/239-6200.

The 2010 New York Fornés Festival is made possible by the generous support of INTAR, Theatre for a New City, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Department of English and its Program in Dramatic Literature at New York University, The Humanities Initiative at New York University, and PAJ Publications.

*Presentations, schedule and participants subject to change

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