Guerrilla Shakespeare Project Presents A Reading Of LATHEM PRINCE 2/24

The Guerrilla Shakespeare Project presents a New Classics reading of Lathem Prince by Ashlin Halfnight. The show is directed by Kristjan Thor, and the reading will be held Wednesday, February 24 at 7 p.m. at Access Theater Gallery.

The theater is located at 380 Broadway at White, 4th Floor. The reading is free

Reservations recommended: newplays@guerrillashakespeare.com

Info: www.GuerrillaShakespeare.com

Welcome to New Classics

Fresh on the heels of its sold-out critical smash, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Guerrilla Shakespeare Project brings New York audiences a whole new brand of Hamlet with Ashlin Halfnight's Lathem Prince. In a season of staged readings, GSP's New Classics presents works-in-progress by brave playwrights who have taken up the challenge of reinterpreting or re-envisioning classical plays. Each reading is free and open to the public. We hope you enjoy our latest discovery.

Lathem Prince

Taking inspiration from Hamlet, playwright Ashlin Halfnight introduces us to a wacky cast of Canadians and a horny Frenchman from Detroit, while asking the question: Are humans really meant to move forward? Lathem Prince is populated by a dead father, sex-starved mother, a love-lorn girl and her gravedigging brother, and of course, young Mr. Prince. Mr. Halfnight finds an uncanny balance between ribald humor and heartfelt honesty that reminds us of another playwright we love...William Shakespeare.

The cast features GSP company members Jordan Kaplan* and Jacques Roy*, and Patricia Lynn*, Ralph Petrarca*, Cindy Keiter*, & Michael McGregor Mahoney* (*appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity)

About Ashlin Halfnight

Ashlin Halfnight's plays include Good Pictures (Outstanding New Play, Summer 2008, Talkin' Broadway), God's Waiting Room (Best Play, 2005 NYFringe Festival), Diving Normal (Plays and Playwrights 2007), Artifacts of Consequence, and This Time of Year. He is a Fulbright Award winner, and is the recipient of a TCG Travel Grant, a Ludwig Volgelstein Artist Grant, and the Howard Stein Playwriting Fellowship. He was an artist-in-residence at the National Theater of Hungary in 2005/2006, was member of The Royal Court's New York Residency, and is a member of MCC's Playwrights' Coalition.

"This fantastical drama [Artifacts of Consequence] by the gifted young playwright Ashlin Halfnight (Mud Blossom) always seems one misstep away from ludicrousness, but that can be a very exciting place to be." -New York Times

"Ashlin Halfnight's new play Balaton is the finest work yet from this talented young playwright; it's also one of the best new American plays of 2009....I love Balaton because it both tantalizes and challenges audiences to take it apart and to discover for themselves the mysteries and profound truths it contains." -NYTheatre.com

The New Classics Series

This season, Guerrilla Shakespeare Project has begun its New Classics series. Through workshops and readings, New Classics showcases contemporary scripts based on or adapted from classical plays, that borrow from Shakespeare's themes, or that involve verse or poetic language. By working on these new plays, Guerrilla Shakespeare Project furthers its mission of producing simple and passionate theater that facilitates a visceral connection between artist and audience, while expanding its scope beyond Shakespeare's texts. New Classics debuted with Defiant by George Brandt. Next up:

Don Carlos a new adaptation by Jason Williamson, April 2010

My Romeo a new play by Vincent Sessa, June 2010

GSP in the Press

"Theatergoers had various reasons to attend the recent opening night of The Two Noble Kinsmen by a small New York company called the Guerrilla Shakespeare Project. Some were lured by the play's tale of two Theban soldiers. Others were friends of the cast or crew, or were there for the free Trader Joe's sauvignon blanc.... But Jim and Jane Monach, visiting from Sheffield, England, had a more high-minded reason: to place a checkmark in a slim, slightly tattered red book, something it took them 20 years to do. With this production of Kinsmen- a rarely staged play attributed to Shakespeare and John Fletcher - the Monachs completed their quest to see every full-length play in the Shakespeare canon..."

-New York Times

"Guerrilla Shakespeare Project hasn't retooled the play or ironed out its eccentricities, but their whole cheerful production is bedecked with actors who speak the verse well and work modern comedy into the play's cracks. The whole thing is goofy and fun and pleasantly contemporary in a way that will hopefully pay off for the company."

-Variety

"Director Diana Buirski and a dedicated company of nine actors take on that Shakespeare rarity The Two Noble Kinsmen with unbridled gusto....The production is studded with such inspired high jinks. Palamon and Arcite are played with zesty humor by Scott Raker and Jacques Roy....Kimiye Corwin brings appealing winsomeness and depth to the Athenian woman whose unrequited love for Palamon drives her mad."

-Backstage

"The cast is blessed with oratory and comedic skills, and the production remains true to Shakespeare's language. The actors speak with ease, the prose rolling off their glib tongues. Filled with music, puns and just enough mixture of bitter tragedy and comedy, The Two Noble Kinsmen leaves you wondering just why it wasn't picked up sooner. "

-Show Business Weekly

About GSP

Founded in 2005, GSP is one of the young companies born out of collaborations at the Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium graduate theatre program, led then by Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. GSP received rave reviews for its New York debut, Julius Caesar, starring a female Caesar in a lean and hungry retelling that refracted new light on the play and presidential politics. Our compatriots include Fiasco Theater (which recently remounted its critical and popular hit, Cymbeline) and Babel Theatre Project (which last spring produced the highly successful New York debut of Chloe Moss's Christmas Is Miles Away). Our training and values are rooted in applying refined technical skill to the demands of classical works and inventing new plays that move audiences and the American theatre forward. GSP offers training workshops focused on sharpening the skills needed to make acting Shakespeare vibrant, fun and inviting.

 

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