Brave New World Rep Set for Residency at Brooklyn Lyceum 4/1-5/13

Brave New World Repertory Theatre (BNW), has announced its Spring Residency 2012 at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Running from April 1st through May 13th, the Residency will offer a range of theatre-based activities for all ages – plays, classes and readings for Brooklynites and all city residents who love theatre.

TWO BROOKLYN TALES will play in Rotating Repertory on the main stage – First up, a return engagement of THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (TERRACE) by William Shakespeare. Set in Windsor Terrace in The Big-Hair 80's, BNW's production features working class families, neighborhood toughs and time-specific Brooklynese, opening April 12th. Alternating days, BNW will present the first ever Brooklyn production of FABULATION, or, the Re-education of Undine, by Brooklyn's own Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage. The play, a hilarious and poignant tale of a high-powered black woman's fall from grace, which sends her back to her humble Brooklyn roots, opens April 19th.

Brave New World Studio Conservatory for Young People comprises six weeks of age-appropriate classes tailored for students aged 3-21, including Green Theatre Technology for teens (via a grant from Con Edison), "Batman" Stage Combat, Improvisation, African-Caribbean Dance, Musical Theatre, Young Actors Workshops, Interactive Storytelling and Tap and Soft Shoe, just to name some highlights. Instructors are members of the BNW ensemble – Equity actors, musicians, stagecraft technicians, choreographers and more.

The Spring Break Mini-Camp for Kids will be a week of puppetry and performance workshop for ages 7-11, Monday-Friday 4/16-20 from 10am-12noon.

SUNDAY TEA READING SERIES – A BNW audience favorite, this new Sunday Tea reading series (serving up complimentary tea and scones) will be curated according to BNW's mission: classic, neglected and new plays by Brooklyn playwrights. The series kicks off with a reading of THE MARQUISE by Noel Coward; part of a city-wide festival of his plays, presented by the Noel Coward Foundation, in conjunction with the New York Library of the Performing Arts' retrospective on the life of Coward. This comedy about romantic entanglements and misunderstandings, complete with old secrets and impulsive young lovers, hasn't been produced in New York since 1927. Following Sundays will feature STREET SCENE by Elmer Rice, THE LEARNED LADIES by Moliere, WAITING FOR LEFTY by Clifford Odets, THREE SISTERS by Anton Chekhov and new plays by Brooklyn playwrights Charles L. Mee and Lizzie Olesker.

Readings and performances will often be followed by talk-backs, discussions, special guests, music and more.

Brave New World Rep's Spring Residency 2012 at the Brooklyn Lyceum has been in the works since their sold-out two-week run of Arthur Miller's THE AMERICAN CLOCK in December 2010 at the Lyceum. Based on its success, and a one-day Drama Fair in September for children and teens which became the model for BNW Studio, the Brooklyn Lyceum offered BNW a six-week residency in April and May of 2012, with the purpose of providing a temporary home to a venerable Brooklyn company.

"The beauty of our relationship with the Brooklyn Lyceum," says BNW's producing artistic director Claire Beckman, "is that they have embraced the idea of Brave New World Studio, which we hope will help to subsidize our main stage productions and provide much needed after-school enrichment for children and teens in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn."

Dhira Rauch, assistant artistic director at the Brooklyn Lyceum adds, "In tune with the new confluence of emerging performance and established artists in Gowanus, we are excited to welcome Brave New World for a full Spring residency to enliven our growing theater programming and artistic community classes. BNW has always invested in its community while reimagining and furthering theatre craft and we are happy to have them in our historic venue.

FULL PROGRAM:

Rotating Repertory:

Merry Wives of Windsor (Terrace) -- 7:30 pm: April 12, 13, 14, 22, 25, 27, 28, May 1, 2, 5, 6; Matinee 3:00 pm: April 14; Student Matinees 11:00 am: April 18, May 2

Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine- 7:30pm: April 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, May 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; Matinee 3:00 pm: April 28; Student Matinees 11:00 am: April 25, May 9

Tickets: $25 General Admission; $18 for students under 18 and BNW members (ID required)

Sunday Tea Readings --
Sunday April 1: The Marquise by Nöel Coward (4pm)
Sunday April 8: Street Scene by Elmer Rice (2pm)
Sunday April 15: The Learned Ladies by Moliere (2pm)
Sunday April 22: A Kind (of) Mother by Lizzie Olesker (2pm)
Sunday April 29: Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets (2pm)
Sunday May 6: Our Times on the Street Where I Live by Charles Mee (2pm)
Sunday May 13: Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov (2pm)
Tickets: $15 (includes tea and scones)

More information and tickets: www.bravenewworldrep.com and www.brooklynlyceum.com

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