The Rock Garden Presents BELOW THE BELT At The Access Theater Through 10/25

The Rock Garden, one of Brooklyn's most innovative theatre companies will open "BELOW THE BELT", Richard Dresser's acclaimed dark comedy about the survival of the semi-fit, quasi-clever and the somewhat competent, opened on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 at The Access Theater (380 Broadway at White Street in Tribeca - 3 blocks below Canal).

The limited engagement will play through Sunday, October 25.

Employing an intensive one-year rehearsal period, the company has re-thought, re-imagined, re-worked, re-interpreted, re-staged, re-choreographed and re-envisioned the acclaimed comedy which was originally produced on March 14, 1995 at The Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. It was immediately transferred to New York where it opened off-Broadway at the John Houseman Theatre.

Ahead of its time, the play is a timeless indictment of the quiet desperation that grows wild within the American Industry's Byzantine system of power and the corrupt desperados that maintain it.

What we have here is the disturbingly drastic story of three dim-witted men determined to survive their pathetic jobs on an isolated industrial compound somewhere in the middle of a vast foreign desert. Theirs is a fiefdom of calculated offshore gluttony. These men are not bright. These men are not educated. These men are not worldly. These men are not equipped for such savage global greed. But. They are employed. So. Let the games begin. Let the back-stabbing, throat-slitting, ass-kissing, inter-office combat begin. Our heroes names are HANRAHAN, DOBBITT and MERKIN and they are playing in a gladiator-like arena of blood-drenched competition. It's when they set the river on fire that the serious fireworks begin. In the middle of all the action HANRAHAN announces that a "man without a company is a corpse." It takes a profoundly energetic theatre company to mine the rich gold in that frightening announcement's hills.

Enter the boys from THE ROCK GARDEN.

ABOUT Richard Dresser
The Arizona Republic calls Richard Dresser "One of the best comic playwrights to emerge in the past decade." Richard Dresser's plays are widely produced regionally, in New York, and in Europe. A View of the Harbor (2008,) The Pursuit of Happiness (2007,) and Augusta (2006,) make up his trilogy concerning the search for happiness in America. Other plays include Rounding Third, Gun-Shy, Wonderful World, Something in the Air, The Downside, Alone at the Beach and Better Days.  One-acts include Road to Ruin and Splitsville, as well as At Home and Bed & Breakfast.  Mr. Dresser wrote the book for The Beach Boys Musical Good Vibrations.  Dresser has twice attended the O'Neill National Playwrights conference, and is a former member of New Dramatists. In addition to his work in the theater, he is active in film and television, including the HBO series "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd," starring Blair Brown, "Vietnam Stories," "The Job" with Denis Leary (ABC) and
"The Education of Max Bickford" with Richard Dreyfuss (CBS). He is a graduate oF Brown University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dresser is currently writing the book for Red Sox Nation, a musical tragedy about the Boston Red Sox.

ABOUT THE ROCK GARDEN
The Rock Garden was conceived with the aim of bringing the highest degree of perception and detail to the life of the play. Throughout the extended rehearsal period, director and actors employ a variety of techniques, research and experiment. In the tradition of the Moscow Art Theatre and the Actors' Studio, the company might spend a year or more working on a project in order to ultimately reveal the depth of understanding and moment-to-moment experience envisioned by the playwright. The company was created by alumni of Elaine Aiken and Lily Lodge's Actors Conservatory, an outgrowth of the Strasberg School and the Actors' Studio. Dissatisfied with the limitations and quick turnover of much of theatre production in the city, this group is devoting more time and greater focus to their single projects.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Larry Preston has been an actor/director/producer of plays in New York City for more than twenty years. His theatre credits include: True West, Last Night of Ballyhoo, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, The Hairy Ape, Hamlet, and Othello. His television and film credits include Law and Order, Third Watch and Lisa Picard is Famous. His directing credits include Ain't We Got Fun, The Taming of the Shrew, Dusk, and The Psychiatrist at the Cocktail Party.

ABOUT THE ACCESS THEATER
The Access Theater is a not-for-profit theater company founded in 1992 by Artistic Director Jacqueline Christy, currently under the direction of Producing Director Stephen Speights, and home to resident theater company Blue Coyote Theater Group. It is based in a converted turn-of-the-century textile warehouse, containing two performance spaces. Access Theater is a vital member of the Tribeca arts scene and has produced hundreds of new plays, performance pieces and exhibitions. Many of those plays have gone on to Off-Broadway productions, regional theaters, British theaters, and feature film development. Access Theatre was recently recognized by The New York Times as "one of the theaters to pay attention to in downtown New York."

THE CREATIVE STAFF
Lighting Design by ALAN BARON
Set Design by CASPER De la TORRE
Costume Design by JACKIE HILLENBRAND

The Players
CHAD BRIGOCKAS as Hanrahan
ARA SHEHIGIAN as Dobbitt
Larry Preston as Merkin

ACCESS THEATER
380 Broadway at White Street in Tribeca - 3 blocks below Canal
Tickets are $18 www.smarttix.net 212-868-4444
THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS 8:00pm
Sundays 2:00pm

 

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