LAKEPLAY Comes to the Wild Project Next Month

The Drilling Company and ARA Productions will present the world premiere of "Lakeplay" by Drew Valins from October 3 to 20 at The Wild Project, 195 E 3rd Street. The piece is a love story + horror story + mystery set in a haunted cabin in the Adirondacks. It's the first play (other than solo shows) written by Mr. Valins, an ascending interpreter of Kafka and Havel and a frequent actor in The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. Hamilton Clancy directs.

The play takes place at the onset of the Covid quarantine. Dan and Viv, a Brooklyn couple-- artists in the middle of  their lives--are attempting to make a baby and journey for an idyllic stay in a lakeside cabin in the Adirondacks. They pack up their essentials, lots of wine and their hopes, but encounter an enigmatic caretaker, Kimber,  in the midst of  the seclusion who upends their expectations. Matt Lee plays Dan,  Pëtra Denison plays Viv and Karla Hendrick plays Kimber.

The Drilling Company mounted a public reading "Lakeplay" in April, 2023. Director Hamilton Clancy remembers,"An Upper West Side New York landlord  who is  actually great a friend of  the  arts welcomed  our  use of  an  empty  storefront  and  encouraged  us  to  discover  something  wonderful. When  does  that  happen? Not  often  enough. Serendipitously, I mentioned it  to Drew Valins, who had  just  finished a new play.  The writing in it reminded me of  writers my  mentor, the late Wynn Handman, celebrated at The American Place Theatre. Un-ironically, Wynn's  resilience and commitment have been an inspiration to us to keep  going for 25 years."

He continues, "After  the reading,  we concluded that Drew  had  really  skillfully mixed  genres in it. No one  knew  which  box  to  put the play in. Interestingly, its themes of  family choice proved unexpectedly prescient, in light of J.D. Vance's embarrassing comments about childless cat ladies. The audience's  response   was overwhelming. We had laughter,  gasps  and  tears,  which is a pretty  winning  combo. So we said, 'Let's go!' and  amazingly, Drew  trusted me. But  we  never  would  have  dreamed the play to be  this timely."

Two of the three actors, Pëtra Denison and Karla Hendrick, who originated their roles in the reading, are continuing their roles in the play.

The Drilling Company (TDC), born in 1999, was originally founded to discover and cultivate new playwrights, influenced by The American Place Theater's commitment to language-based plays that are rooted in emotional and social consciousness (a rare combination). While TDC has also earned plaudits for its classical programs--it's the producer of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot and Bryant Park Shakespeare--it has joyfully shifted its emphasis back to new works in its 25th season. It mounted "Herself" by Tim McGillicuddy, part of the 2024 Origin 1st Irish Festival, at ART-NY's Gural Theatre this March. Hamilton Clancy says, "Producing 'Herself' and 'Lakeplay' in our 25th season is like a homecoming for our company. After some wonderful years with all-Shakespeare, it’s nice to get back to our roots."

Set design is by Jennifer Varbalow. Lighting and sound design are by Eric Nightengale. Props and costume design are by Michaela Lind. Stage Manager is Kiara Ruth Luna.

Drew Valins first wrote the play as a project for The Farm Theater Workshop, led by Padraic Lillis. He also counts Eduardo Machado as a playwriting mentor. Valins is a frequent actor in TDC's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot and Bryant Park Shakespeare productions. He played Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Iago in "Othello," Autolycus in "The Winter's Tale" and Don Pedro in "Much Ado About Nothing" among others. This is the second play he has written; his first was "Franz/Drew," a solo show about Franz Kafka. It was presented in the Emerging Artists "One Man Standing" solo festival in NYC, where he was nominated for Outstanding Playwright and Outstanding Actor. As an actor, he has toured in his own adaptation of Kafka's "Report to an Academy," in which he plays RotPeter the humanized ape. He has played Vanek, Vaclav Havel's alter-ego, in various plays by and about Havel produced by Alliance for New Music Theater, DC. His new adaptation of Kafka’s "Der Bau" was recently presented at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC. He stars in an upcoming film, "Where Is Now," written and directed by Michaela Lind. Valins earned a BA magna cum laude from Penn and put two years into medical school before dropping out due to tectonic shifting. Instead of a medical degree, he got an MA in Counseling Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in CA. He trained in acting with Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, Jef Johnson of Slava's Snowshow, Michael Howard and Larry Singer, and David Shiner and Bill Irwin. (www.drewvalins.com).

The Drilling Company (TDC), led by Artistic Director Hamilton Clancy, is an incubator of new American plays. The company is also producer of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot and exclusive producer of Shakespeare plays for Bryant Park Presents Shakespeare. The organization produced new works and festivals on the Upper West Side from 1999 to 2015. Its initial venue was an intimate theater space at 236 West 78th Street (78th Street Theater Lab), which became The Drilling Company Theatre from 2008 to 2015. Productions there included new works by Brian Dykstra, Trish Harnetiaux, Will Eno, Neil Olson, Melody Cooper, Bruce Faulk, C. Denby Swanson, Dominic Orlando, Rodes Fishburne, Eric Henry Sanders, Ben Boyer, Brian Booker, Ross Stoner, Stephen Bittrich, Simon VanBooy, Paul Siefken, Sheri Graubert, Kate McCamy, Richard Mover and Andrea Moon. Notable success stories include "The Norwegians" by C. Denby Swanson, a comedy about gangsters in Minnesota which made the leap from OOB to OB and played over 160 performances from 2012 to 2014, and "Reservoir" by Eric Henry Sanders (2011), in which Buchner's "Woyzeck" was re-imagined as the unsettling homecoming of a Mideastern War veteran. The company continues seeking new digs for its productions of new works. In 2018, it produced "Gabriel: A Polemic" by C. Denby Swanson at North of History, a "popup" gallery and performance space located at 445 Columbus Ave.

Hamilton Clancy (director) has staged numerous productions of The Drilling Company including the world premieres of "Mutant Sex Party" by Edward Manning, "Home of the Great Pecan" by Stephen Bittrich,  "Hindsight" by novelist Simon Van Booy, "Gabriel: A Polemic" by C. Denby Swanson, and over 20 productions of Shakespeare’s canon for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot and Bryant Park Shakespeare. A veteran actor, his on-camera credits include Kowalski in "Orange is the New Black" (SAG Ensemble Award), Tom in Paramount's "One Dollar," "Billions," "Mindhunter," "Blue Bloods,"  "American Gangster," "Bridge of Spies" and The Coen Bros' "Burn After Reading." He has appeared Off-Broadway at The American Place Theatre, Playwrights Horizons and in The Drilling Company’s long run of "The Norwegians" by C. Denby Swanson.

ARA Productions is a brand new production company founded by Drew Valins and Michaela Lind; both artists have long been part of The Drilling Company's performing ensemble.

 

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