Dog Run Rep Announces Seaport Theatre Festival

BROADWAY AT THE SEAPORT and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM will highlight Dog Run Rep's 2008 Seaport Theatre Festival.  The mission of the Festival, in its 2nd year, is to bring cultural revitalization to Lower Manhattan. General Growth Properties, the owners of the South Street Seaport complex, has generously donated the venue at 210 Front Street (to be known as @ Seaport!) and the Pier 17 Outdoor Stage at Fulton Street at the FDR Drive for the Theatre Festival.

BROADWAY AT THE SEAPORT will bring the best of Broadway to South Street Seaport's outdoor Pier 17 Stage (Fulton Street & the FDR Drive) for a series of FREE lunchtime concerts on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays beginning in July – exact shows and schedule will be announced at a later date.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM will begin performances on June 26 and runs Thursdays at 8pm,  Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 5pm, through July 20 at the @ Seaport! venue,  210 Front  Street in the South Street  Seaport.  There will be no performance on Friday July 4th, but there will be an additional performance added Monday, July 7th at 7pm.  

Dog Run Rep's 2008 Seaport Theatre Festival will also feature Family Entertainment and programs for Children including Music, professional Children's Theatre and a Theatre Summer Camp.  Details and schedule for Family Entertainment and Children's Programming will be announced at a later date.
 
BROADWAY AT THE SEAPORT concerts are FREE to the Public.  Tickets to A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM are $18.  A special FESTIVAL PASS, which includes VIP seating for BROADWAY AT THE SEAPORT, VIP seating for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Family Entertainment, Readings, Receptions and other benefits is available for a tax-deductible contribution of $50.  Individual tickets and the Festival Pass can be purchased by calling SMARTTIX at (212) 868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com

Dog Run Rep Artistic Director Jeff Cohen demonstrated his commitment to the recovery of Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks with his internationally acclaimed and Drama Desk Award winning series Tribeca Playhouse Stage Door Canteen.  A resident of Lower Manhattan, Mr. Cohen, and his producing partner Adam Hirsch,  have enlisted the assistance of The League of Broadway Producers  in bringing Broadway shows to South Street Seaport's spectacular Pier 17 setting in the magnificent shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Seaport's tall ships and the office towers of the Financial District.  While the specific schedule of shows will be announced at a later date, the Free Concert Series will bring lunchtime performances to South Street Seaport on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays beginning in July.   For Financial District workers, neighborhood residents, out-of-town tourists and all New Yorkers, BROADWAY AT THE SEAPORT will be another great reason to embrace all that Lower Manhattan and the South Street Seaport has to offer.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM will be performed at the former Liz Claiborne Boutique that General Growth Properties is generously donating to the arts, to be known as @ Seaport!.  Dog Run Rep's Seaport Theatre Festival pioneered this beautiful arts venue last summer with its inaugural production of Twelfth Night.  

Mr. Cohen's production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM was first presented at Princeton, New Jersey's Pettoranello Gardens in 2000. Daily Variety called it "refreshingly original… a woodland romp with scrappy vitality and spirit."  The Star-Ledger's Peter Filichia said: "A dream come true! A lusty production… hilarious… and great fun!"  Set in a small American town in the 1950's on the 4th of July, the production is led by Stephen Largay as Bottom the Weaver, Robyn Payne as Titania, Hillel Meltzer as Puck, and Eric Loscheider as Oberon,.  Mr. Largay, who played Sir Toby Belch in last summer's Twelfth Night, originated the role of Peachy Weil in the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Award-winning play The Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry.  He is a recipient of the Elliott Norton "Best Actor" Award for Equus.  Mr. Largay also starred in the 1998 CBS Drama series To Have and To Hold.  Robyn Payne's Broadway credits include The Lion King, Encores' Kismet, and the 1st national tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie.  Hillel Meltzer appeared on Broadway in Tom Stoppard's acclaimed Jumpers.  He has toured internationally in Stomp! and his Off Broadway credits include The Public Theater's A Dybbuk, Classic Stage Company's The Alchemist, and Worth Street Theater Company's revival of the late Wendy Wasserstein's Isn't It Romantoc directed by Mr. Cohen.  Eric Loscheider has appeared Off Broadway in Cycling Past the Matterhorn on Theatre Row and his regional credits include Papermill, Berkshire Theatre festival, Florida Studio Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse and St. Louis Rep.

Also featured in the principal cast are David Beck, Hilary Bettis, Charles Browning, Matthew Erlbach, Adam Hirsch, Jonathon Judge-Russo, Mallory Portnoy, Scott Price and Neil Patrick Stewart. Along with director Jeff Cohen, the production team includes set designer Ryan Kravetz, lighting designer Evan Purcell and costume designer Amy Kitzhaber   

Jeff Cohen's extensive credits as producer and/or director include the recent world premiere of Hilary Bettis' American Girls, The Tribeca Playhouse Stage Door Canteen (Drama Desk Award), Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart (Public Theater with Raul Esparza, Drama Desk nomination), Christopher Shinn's Four (Manhattan Theater Club, Drama Desk nomination, Lortel Award), Tristine Skyler's The Moonlight Room (Lortel and Outer Critics nominations), Marlene Meyer's The Mystery of Attraction (Obie Award), and Move It and It's Yours by Weeden, Finkle & Fay (Passage Theatre, Best of Jersey Award).  His play Men Of Clay was selected Best New Play of 2005 by the Baltimore City Paper, and his adaptation of Chekhov, Uncle Jack, was published in the anthology Playing With Canons, and excerpts were published in The Best Men's and The Best Women's Stage Monologues, 2007.  Ryan Kravetz's Off Broadway credits include Serendib, Lucy and Marathon 2007 all at Ensemble Studio Theatre and the world premiere of Hilary Bettis' American Girls at the 45th Street Theater. Evan Purcell's credits include Hilary Bettis' American Girls and over a half dozen productions at Ensemble Studio Theatre including Thicker Than Water 2007 & 2008, Marathon 2008, Serendib and Shatter.  Amy Kitzhaber has worked on the Broadway shows Xanadu, High Fidelity and Wicked, and Off Broadway with the Roundabout, the Vineyard and Manhattan Theatre Club as well as Nine Parts of Desire at Manhattan Ensemble Theatre and Forbidden Broadway – 20th Anniversary Edition at the Douglas Fairbanks Theater.

*      BROADWAY AT THE SEAPORT will bring the best of Broadway to South Street Seaport's outdoor Pier 17 Stage  (Fulton Street & the FDR Drive) for a series of FREE lunchtime concerts on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays beginning in July – exact shows and schedule to be announced at a later date.    
                                   
*      A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM will begin performances on June 26 and runs Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 5pm at the @ Seaport! venue,  210 Front  Street in the South Street  Seaport.  There will be no performance on Friday July 4th, but there will be an additional performance on Monday, July 7th at 7pm.  Tickets to A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM are $18 can be purchased by calling SMARTTIX at (212) 868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com.

*      Dog Run Rep's 2008 Seaport Theatre Festival will also feature Family Entertainment and programs for Children including Music, professional Children's Theatre and a Theatre Summer Camp. Details for Family Entertainment and Children's Programming will be announced at a later date

*       A special FESTIVAL PASS, which includes VIP seating for BROADWAY AT THE SEAPORT, VIP seating for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Family Entertainment, Readings, Receptions and other benefits is available for a tax-deductible contribution of $50. Individual tickets and the Festival Pass can be purchased by calling SMARTTIX at (212) 868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.