Axis Theatre Company Premieres SOLITARY LIGHT Tonight as Part of THEATER:VILLAGE Festival

Axis Theatre Company begins their 2014-15 season with the world premiere of Randy Sharp's new musical Solitary Light, tonight, September 10 - October 4. Written and directed by Sharp (East 10th Street, Last Man Club, In The Park), the production features music co-written by Paul Carbonara (Blondie, Mary McBride) and focuses on the turmoil surrounding the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The musical is presented as part of the second annual Theater:Village festival, which presents a series of new plays in several prominent West Village theaters, based around one playwright or common theme. This year's festival, titled E Pluribus, will feature four new plays celebrating the diversity of America. Four-show passes for the festival are available for $95. For more information, visit www.theatervillage.com.

Solitary Light will run at Axis Theatre September 10 - October 4 (see schedule above). Critics are welcome as of Friday, September 12 for an official opening on Monday, September 15. Axis Theatre is located at One Sheridan Square in the West Village (just off 7th Avenue, accessible from the 1 train at Christopher Street and the B/D/F/M/A/C/E at West 4th Street).

Solitary Light tells a story through the eyes of those who witnessed New York's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that resulted in the death of 146 people in 1911. Using historical documents and newspaper articles, the musical depicts the lives of Frank and Louise, two young politically minded immigrant workers in love, as they navigate the financially strapped owners and the incredibly rich families of 1911 New York who had little concept of the horrors of the working class experience. The streets of lower Manhattan in the early 20th century and the fascinating stories that happened there are carefully recreated in a manner that will bring this turning point in history to life on stage. How did a disaster like this happen? How is it possible that it still occurs in factories all over the world?

The cast features Spencer Aste, Shira Averbuch, Dewey Caddell, George Demas, Emily Kratter, Lynn Mancinelli, Stephanie Regina and Jared Young. The production includes lighting design by David Zeffren, sound design by Steve Fontaine, costume design by Karl Ruckdeschel and set design by Chad Yarborough. Carbonara (guitar) will be joined by Andy Burton (piano) and Hajnal Pivnick (violin) to perform the score.

DETAILS:

Axis Theatre (One Sheridan Square, NYC)
September 10 - October 4
Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; Additional performance on Monday, September 15 at 8pm
$40 ($30 students/seniors)
www.axiscompany.org

About Randy Sharp - Randy Sharp has been directing plays for almost 30 years. Educated in London she returned to the United States to attend Simon's Rock College, a unit of Bard. After graduating, Randy settled in New York City. Founded in 1996, her theatre company, Axis, acquired a permanent New York City home in 1998. The interior of the historic performance space, at 1 Sheridan Square, was transformed to reflect her vision of total theatrical immersion where audiences are surrounded by the experience of the play the moment they cross the threshold. Distractions from the material are minimal. Productions include Drama Desk Award-nominated Last Man Club, A Glance at New York (Edinburgh Fringe & NYC); Julius Caesar; Down There; the U.S premiere of Sarah Kane's Crave, starring Deborah Harry, Seven in One Blow (published by DPS and performed every December in NYC and around the country); as well as Edgar Oliver's In The Park and East 10th Street: Self Portrait with Empty House (Fringe First Award, Edinburgh Fringe; Spoleto Festival USA 2011). Her episodic play Hospital, about the interior life of a man in a coma, is a West Village phenomenon every summer. She also wrote and directed the period feature film Henry May Long, winner of 13 international film festival awards.

About Paul Carbonara - Paul Carbonara was born in Greenwich Village and has been a performing musician for 30 years. Paul was the guitarist and musical director for the seminal pop band Blondie from 1997 through 2010. He has performed with Ray Davies, Coolio, Jose Carreras and Chubby Checker among others. Paul was the guitarist for the New York art rock Band Giant Metal Insects in the 1990s. He has composed music for three independent movie soundtracks including Randy Sharp's "Henry May Long" and Jyllian Gunther's "Pull Out". He has composed commercial jingles for Nickelodeon, SBLI and Waterworks. Paul composed music for the noted choreographer Robert Moses ' work "Faith and Fable" which was presented at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. Paul performs and records with his own band The Mudlarks. He has also toured much of the world with the Mary McBride Band since 2010, travelling to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Paul is a graduate of NYU and studied with the noted jazz guitarist Sal Salvador.

About Theater:Village - Theater:Village presents annually a series of new plays in several prominent West Village theater, based around one playwright or common theme. The goal is to involve the collaboration of many producing partners, deepening community engagements and audience experiences. Theater:Village signifies a major shift in the ways theaters work. It challenges the assumptions that we must cut back and compete more fiercely with each other in order to survive as nonprofit arts institutions, and promotes collaboration and community-conscious programming to expose emerging audiences to essential new work they would not otherwise be able to see.

About Axis Theatre Company - Axis Company (Artistic Director, Randy Sharp) was formed with a mission to present aggressive surrealism, classic vaudeville turns and vanguard adaptation. Past productions include Beckett's Play, Benjamin Baker's 1848 vaudeville A Glance at New York (Edinburgh & NYC), Last Man Club (2013 Drama Desk nomination) and the U.S. premiere of Sarah Kane's Crave, starring Deborah Harry. Axis has also produced the premiere of Edgar Oliver's East 10th Street (New York Times Critic Pick; Fringe First Award: Edinburgh; Spoleto USA 2011) and In The Park.

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