HERE Arts Center Presents Levenson's SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN, Closes 6/20

Colt Coeur's production of Steven Levenson's Seven Minutes in Heaven is transferring from Boston's Huntington Theatre to HERE Arts Center for a limited New York run, starting June 3 and ending the 20th.

Seven Minutes in Heaven is a hilarious and emotionally raw new play by playwright Steven Levenson, (The Language of Trees, Roundabout) that follows six high school freshman caught in the absurd, aching, terrible ecstasy of being young on a splintered night of dysfunctional party games, fumbling first kisses, ruined reputations, broken promises, and raw, raw fun. Set in 1995, the play is charged with the manic exhilaration and stultifying terror of adolescence and explores familiar territory with a unique, brash sense of theatricality.

Seven Minutes in Heaven is written by Steven Levenson, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, and produced by Amy Groeschel. Performances begin Thursday, June 3rd at 7pm, at HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Avenue, (Entrance on Dominick St. 1 Block South of Spring). Opening night is set for Sunday, June 6th at 7pm. The show must close Sunday, June 20th. Tickets are $18 general admission and may be purchased at www.here.org or by phoning 212.352.3101.

Steven Levenson's plays include The Language of Trees (Roundabout, published by Dramatists Play Services), Retreat (upcoming: Edinburgh Fringe), Almost Stuck, and Girls Day. His work has been seen and developed by Roundabout, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Stage & Film, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. A graduate oF Brown University and the 2010 Artist in Residence at Ars Nova, Steven is currently working on new play commissions for Roundabout, Lincoln Center, and Ars Nova. He is a member of the MCC Playwrights' Coalition.

Adrienne Campbell-Holt (Director) is Artistic Director of Colt Coeur. Recent credits include Missed Connections NYC (Ars Nova), Cecilia and the Universe (EST), Three Days of Rain (Amphibian Stage) and AUTOBAHN (NYU). She pursued experimental work with Gale Gates et al. for several years, as well as with Liz LeCompte and the Wooster Group and LA-based director/choreographer Ken Roht. She founded Nest Arts, a non-profit dedicated to activating idle real-estate in 2002 and ran The Nest in DUMBO 2002-2005. Assistantships include: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Public, Peter and the Starcatchers at La Jolla Playhouse, and The Three Sisters at Williamstown. Adrienne is a recent recipient of the EST/Sloan grant, a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and a New Georges Affiliated Artist.

The ensemble cast includes Teddy Bergman (Disney's Peter and the Starcatchers), Kristen Connolly (The Lacy Project, Ohio), Erin Felgar (All's Well That Ends Well, Yale Rep), Heidi Neidermeyer (The Great Recession, The Flea), Matt Stadelmann (American Sligo, Rattlestick) and Joe Tippett (The Three Sisters, Williamstown).

The scenic design for Seven Minutes in Heaven is by Daniel Zimmerman; costume design is by Erica Rice; lighting design is by Grant Yeager, sound design is by Amy Altadonna, properties by Josh Kohler and technical direction by Anthony Cerrato.

Colt Coeur launched Seven Minutes in Heaven at Boston's Huntington Theater last week, after a workshop production at Ars Nova last fall. The American Repertory Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston have joined forces for the first time to create Emerging America - an annual festival devoted to supporting and launching new voices in American theatre. From May 14 through 16, Emerging America brought some of the country's most promising performers, writers, companies and directors to Boston for a weekend filled with energy, imagination, creativity and drama. Other artists/companies represented include: The TEAM, Witness Relocation, Diane Paulus, and Amy Herzog. For more information, visit www.emergingamericafestival.org.

Colt Coeur is a new theater company with its sights set on straddling the all too facile divide between "uptown" and "downtown" theater. Colt Coeur is a collection of actors, playwrights, and designers dedicated to making theater imbued with the urgency and intensity of the present-plays that respond to and engage with the world in which we live with compassion, humor, ferocity, and an abiding, unapologetic sense of wonder. With the company's mission to make immersive, environmental, experiential, unabashedly entertaining theater that explores themes of coming-of-age, of individual and collective identity, of public versus private, of love, lust, and loss, Seven Minutes in Heaven is the ideal production for Colt Coeur's launch.

This production is being presented through HEREstay, HERE's curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical and administrative support.

Since 1993, the OBIE-winning HERE has been a premier arts organization in NYC and a leader in the field of new, hybrid performance work. Under leadership of Founding Artistic Director Kristin Marting and Producing Director Kim Whitener, HERE has served over 12,000 emerging to mid-career artists developing work that does not fit a conventional programming agenda. Work presented at HERE has garnered 14 OBIE awards, including the 2009 Ross Wetzsteon Award, an OBIE grant for artistic achievement, three Drama Desk nominations, two Berrilla Kerr Awards, three NY Innovative Theatre Awards, an Edwin Booth Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. HERE proudly supports artists at all stages in their careers through full productions, artist residency programs, festivals and subsidized performance and rehearsal space. Work at HERE is curated based on the strength and uniqueness of the artist's vision. HERE's Artist Residency Program (HARP) provides development, commissions and full production for up to 20 artists over one-to-three years. In 2005, with the support of the FJC, a foundation of donor advised funds, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the City of New York, HERE purchased its long-time home as part of a five-year "Secure HERE's Future" campaign. With full-scale renovations to the space concluding in June 2008, thanks to generous support from the City of New York, HERE is poised to continue and expand its role as a downtown haven for the finest emerging art. Offering a comfortable, eclectic setting for artists and audiences alike, HERE features a café and two state-of-the-art performance spaces.

 

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