Wizard Oil Productions Presents EMPIRE OF THE TREES 4/22-4/30

Wizard Oil Productions is proud to present the world premiere of Adam Kraar's new play Empire of the Trees. Directed by Sherri Eden Barber, this magical new play gets a 10-performance limited engagement at The June Havoc Theatre: Thursday, April 22nd - Friday April 30th.

Empire of the Trees is set in India in 1963. When Deborah, a young American woman living in New Delhi, strikes up a literary and romantic bond with a traveling Indian bookseller, she discovers she has a mysterious connection to ancient Indian myth. She tries to share her new awareness with her husband, an ambitious journalist, but clashes with his inter-cultural suspicions, and cruel facts of class and history. She seeks spiritual solace with the bookseller, and from the wise old Banyan tree in her yard - which causes her household to explode, and myth to spill into reality.

Empire of the Trees was work shopped at the Lark Theatre and the William Inge Center for the Arts, and was a finalist for the 2009 Stanley Drama Award. The play was presented as a reading fall 2009 at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival and at Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Directed by Sherri Eden Barber, Empire of the Trees features a diverse cast that frequents the boards in New York City and across the country; Rajesh Bose* (The Seagull, NAATC at Theatre for the New City; Love Person, Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago); Dana Mazzenga (Tilly and Bill, Wizard Oil Productions; Radiotheatre's Frankenstein); Graham Outerbridge* (Is Life Worth Living?, Mint Theater) and Kunal Prasad* (Morbidity and Mortality, The Magic Theatre; Twelfth Night, FOOLSfury, San Francisco) *performing courtesy of Actor's Equity Association.

The producer of Empire of the Trees is Amanda Kate Joshi for Wizard Oil Productions, Set design is by Andrew Haserlat, lighting design is by Zach Murphy (Lighting Supervisor, The Public Theater), Eileen Nober is the costume designer and Jordan Cooke (YCP Theaterworks, Westchester) is the sound designer. Cynthia Jankowski is the technical director, Ahmed Tigani (Materials for the Arts) is the production manager and the production stage manager is Jaimie Van Dyke (Blessed Unrest).

Wizard Oil Productions' Empire of the Trees opens Thursday, April 22 at 8pm. Opening weekend continues Friday and Saturday at 8pm, with matinee performances Saturday & Sunday 3pm. Performances continue Tuesday, April 27 through Friday April 30 at 8pm, with a special Friday 3pm matinee on April 30.

All performances take place at The June Havoc Theatre, located at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex 312 West 36 Street, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10018. Take the A, C or E train to 34th Street.

Tickets to Empire of the Trees are $18 and are available by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444, or online at www.wizardoilproductions.wordpress.com.

Wizard Oil Productions is a small theatre company based in New York City. Founded in 2005, their mission is to produce engaging, thought-provoking theatre about current social issues. Their first three years saw successful productions at the Looking Glass theatre, Producer's Club and the Player's Theatre Loft, including a celebrated annual one-act festival. Backstage called Wizard Oil Productions "a welcome addition to the Off-Off Broadway scene," for their production of Welcome Home Steve by Craig McNulty at The Players Theatre Loft. Empire of the Trees marks their seventh production.

Adam Kraar (playwright) works include New World Rhapsody (commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club, produced at H.B. Playwrights Foundation); The Spirit House (premiered at Performance Network of Ann Arbor); The Abandoned El (premiered at Illinois Theatre Center); Storm In The Iron Box (National Play Award runner-up), The Lost Cities of Asher (New River Dramatists Fellowship; Finalist, 2005 O'Neill Playwrights Conference); and Freedom High (winner of the Handel Playwright Fellowship from the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Arts Guild). Adam was a Playwriting Fellow in Residence at Manhattan Theatre Club. His plays have been produced and developed in New York by Ensemble Studio Theatre, Primary Stages, N.Y. Shakespeare Festival, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Lark, Abingdon, H.B. Playwrights Foundation, Urban Stages, Queens Theatre in the Park, Theatreworks U.S.A. and extensively throughout the US.

Sherri Eden Barber (Director): A recent MFA graduate of the New School for Drama, Sherri was selected to direct for The 24 Hour Company's Old Vic/New Voices workshop with Kevin Spacey. She is a company member of At Play Productions in association with Kevin Spacey and The 24 Hour Play Company, for which she has directed the world premiere of Hylan Park by Jason Grote with Annabella Sciorri at The Atlantic Theatre for The 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Charity event, and assisted Christian Parker and Jessica Bauman, The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and Moises Kaufman, The 24 Hour Musicals at The Pubic Theatre. Sherri worked as Co-Artistic Director for Hangar Theatre's Lab Company in Ithaca, New York where she directed Jose Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, among others. New York: Daniel Talbot's Sometimes After Dinner, Youngblood/EST; Seven11.Conveninence Theatre, Desipina and Company; Mike Lew's Tilly and Bill, Wizard Oil Productions; Poppies, FringeNYC ‘07 and Susan Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays, The Public Theatre. Sheri is a recipient of the Drama League Fellowship and the US/UK Exchange Award.

 

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