WHEN YOU COMIN' BACK RED RIDER? Returns To NYC 5/7-5/23

Retro Productions concludes their second season in residence at midtown's Spoon Theater with Mark Medoff's Off-Broadway hit When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?. Directed by Ric Sechrest, this Drama Desk, Obie and Outer Critic's Circle award-winning drama returns to New York City for a special limited engagement, May 7-23, 2009.

Originally produced Off-Broadway by Circle Repertory Company in 1973, Mark Medoff's emotional drama took the theatre world by storm with its authentic, heart-wrenching depiction of the transformation of an era. It's the end of the 60s in New Mexico and an early morning shift change at Foster's Diner turns ugly when Teddy walks in. Steak and eggs evolve into taunting and bullying and before long the patrons and diner staff are helpless puppets in Teddy's cruel game, too terrified to resist him. Will they pull together to overcome him or be shattered by his emotional abuse?

"The issues tackled in When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? are common," says director Ric Sechrest. "Although things have changed in 40 years, change has not been enough. In the current war we are sending away our boys and girls fresh from high school. They go away children and come back...different. We take ordinary people and put them into an extraordinary situation, in which they will meet a reality of the world many have never seen, a world we prefer to protect our society from. This is the world that our catalyst, Teddy, brings to a small but seemingly content town in New Mexico in 1969. Everyone knows the characters that Mr. Medoff has gathered in a diner. I am anxious to meet them all."

When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? boasts a gifted ensemble cast whose credits include Regional, Off and Off-Off Broadway theatre, television and film: David Blais, Heather E. Cunningham (2007 Backstage Performance to Remember), David T. Koenig, Casandera M. J. Lollar, Christopher Patrick Mullen*(Law and Order, Orlando Shakespeare Festival), Ben Schnickel, Matilda Szydagis*(The Nanny Diaries, The Sopranos) and Richard Waddingham*. *performing courtesy of Actor's Equity Association.

Retro Productions' When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? features the work of an award-winning creative team. The scenic design is by Jack and Rebecca Cunningham; the husband-and-wife team nominated for the 2008 New York Innovative Theatre (NYIT) Award for Outstanding Set Design (Retro's Mill Fire). Additionally, Rebecca Cunningham is the recipient of the 2008 United States Institute of Technical Theatre (USITT) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design and was a 2008 NYIT Award nominee for Outstanding Costume Design (Retro's What I did Last Summer). Lighting designer Kerrie Lovercheck was a 2008 NYIT Award nominee for Outstanding Lighting Design (Retro's Mill Fire), and was a member of the 2008 USITT Young Designers' Forum. The fight choreographer is Ian Marshall (director and film & stage combat and movement specialist: Atlantic Theater, Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison & Metropolitan Opera of New York). The costume design for When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? is by Kathryn Squitieri, sound design by Jeanne Travis, properties design by Heather Cunningham, properties package design by Ben Philipp, and the properties design assistant is Christina Squitieri. The producer is Heather Cunningham for Retro Productions; the stage manager is Jeanne Travis, and the assistant stage manager is Dana Rossi.

Retro Productions' When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? opens Thursday, May 7th at the Spoon Theater and continues Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8p.m. and Sundays at 2p.m. through May 23rd. There will be a special Saturday matinee performance May 9 @ 2pm.

All performances take place at the Spoon Theater, located at 38 West 38th Street on the 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018. The Spoon Theater is air conditioned and fully handicapped accessible. Take the 7, B, D, F or V to 5th Ave/Bryant Park, or the B, D, F, V, N, R, W, Q to Herald Square. Lot parking available nearby.

Tickets to When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? are $18, $15 Students and seniors with valid ID. Tickets can be purchased online at www.retroproductions.com, or by calling Theatermania at 212.352.3101. The theater box office accepts cash only and opens one half hour prior to show time. There is a $5 student rush with valid ID, based on availability. Retro Productions participates in the TDF Voucher program. For group rates, inquire to retroprods@gmail.com.

Dedicated to their mission of producing ‘retro theater,' Retro Productions strives to tell good theatrical stories that have an historical perspective. Retro received recognition from their first two productions of Catholic School Girls and Mrs. California (as River Heights Productions) then gathered momentum in their third season with the Retro production of Still Life. Also directed by Ric Sechrest, Still Life received accolades from playwright Emily Mann: "Your production got it...Every aspect of the experience was first rate. Retro is clearly a company dedicated to creating impeccable work that truly matters," and Heather E. Cunningham's performance was honored alongside Romeo and Juliet's Lauren Ambrose and August: Osage County's Deanna Dunagan as one of Backstage's ‘2007 Performances to Remember'. Retro Productions put themselves on the map in their fourth season producing Sally Nemeth's Mill Fire and What I Did Last Summer, called "...first-rate: brisk, sweet and occasionally quite moving," by playwright A.R. Gurney. This, their first season in residence at The Spoon Theater, garnered six 2008 New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations: two for performance and four for design, a New York Magazine ‘Off-off Broadway pick' and the growing reputation of ‘the finished effect of a Retro Production' (The Fab Marquee, Mill Fire). Kicking off with The Tender Trap and concluding with When You Comin' Back Red Ryder? Retro's fifth season is proving that with a design team that has the ability to achieve 'theatrical time travel,' (The Fab Marquee) and "a powerful display of New York's dramatic talent," (offoffonline) Retro Productions is "...becoming a reliable source for first-class work." (United Stages).

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