On Her Shoulders Presents Free Staged Reading of Maria Irene Fornes' THE OFFICE Tonight

On Her Shoulders is pleased to present a FREE staged reading of The Office (1966) by Maria Irene Fornés, directed by Alice Reagan tonight, October 1, 2014. Doors open at 6:30pm; The Play in Context, which situates the script in its historical time and place, kicks off the evening at 6:45pm with an Introduction by dramaturg Morgan Jenness.

Running time, including a post-performance Q&A is 2.5 hours. The performance is at The New School, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street. R.S.V.P to OnHerShouldersReservations@gmail.com.

Fornés on Broadway. As oxymoronic as that might sound for this leading figure of the Off-Off Broadway movement and 9-time OBIE winner, Fornés was once on Broadway with an unpublished, little-known gem called The Office. The play previewed in 1966, but closed before opening. It was directed by Jerome Robbins, Hal Prince was one of the producers according to the available record. Set in, well, an office, Fornés brilliantly sends up office etiquette and routines. Understanding the darkest secrets of her characters, she launches a motley crew of officemates-from the lowliest maintenance man to the CEO-on personal quests for love and glory. Hi-jinks, mayhem, and magic ensue. On Her Shoulders is thrilled to present this unique opportunity for audiences to experience this forgotten treasure.

MARIA IRENE FORNÉS is a pivotal figure in Hispanic-American and experimental theatre, both for her unique vision as a writer and for her dedication as a director and teacher She wrote more than 40 stage works and directed her own, as well as classic drama. Her plays include: Tango Palace (1963), The Successful Life of 3 (1965), Promenade (1965), The Office (1966), ,A Vietnamese Wedding (1967), Dr. Kheal, Molly's Dream (1968), Fefu and Her Friends (1977), Evelyn Brown (1980), The Danube (1981), Mud (1983), Sarita (1984), The Conduct of Life (1985), Abingdon Square (1987), Enter The Night (1993), and Letters From Cuba (2000). She is the recipient of nine OBIE Awards for both playwriting and direction of her plays including Promenade and The Successful Life of 3. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for And What of the Night? and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her work continues to be performed around the world, both professionally and at many universities and colleges.

Alice Regan (Director) has directed several plays by Maria Irene Fornés: Abingdon Square (Bates College), Drowning (Williamstown), Summer in Gossensass (Fornés Festival), What of the Night? (Barnard College) and will direct Enter THE NIGHT (Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble) in January 2015. Other recent work includes Nomads by Julia Jarcho (Incubator Arts), Blown Youth by Dipika Guha (New Georges/Barnard), I Came to Look for You on Tuesday by Chiori Miyagawa (La MaMa), and a new version of Caucasian Chalk Circle (The Chocolate Factory). Upcoming: The Miser by Molière with Brave New World Rep. She is Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard/Columbia.

Morgan Jenness is a freelance dramaturg based in New York City. For over 10 years, Jenness worked at the Public Theater, under both George C.Wolfe and Joseph Papp in roles ranging from literary manager to Director of Play Development to Associate Producer of the NY Shakespeare Festival. She was also Associate Artistic Director at the New York Theater Workshop, and an Associate Director at the Los Angeles Theater Center in charge of new projects. She has worked with the Young Playwrights Festival, the Mark Taper Forum, The Playwrights Center/Playlabs, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Double Image/New York Stage and Film, CSC, Victory Gardens, Hartford Stage, and Center Stage as a dramaturg, workshop director, and/or artistic consultant. She has participated as a visiting artist and adjunct in playwriting programs at the University of Iowa, Brown University, Breadloaf, Columbia and NYU and is currently on the faculty at Fordham University at Lincoln Center, where she teaches Theater History. In 2003, Ms. Jenness received an Obie Award Special Citation for Longtime Support of Playwrights.

On Her Shoulders was founded in 2012 to present monthly staged readings of plays by women from across the spectrum of time, with contemporary dramaturgs contextualizing--and in some cases adapting--them for modern audiences. The program seeks to make it impossible to deny or ignore the great tradition and value of women's contribution to the theatrical canon. OHS became a program of NPTC in November 2013.

NEW PERSPECTIVES THEATRE COMPANY (NPTC) is an award-winning, multi-racial company now in its 22nd season. The Company's mission is to develop and produce new plays and playwrights, especially women and people of color; to present classic plays in a style that addresses contemporary issues; and to extend the benefits of theatre to young people and communities in need. Our aim is not to exclude, but to cast a wider net. www.nptnyc.org

THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DRAMA: The creative home for the future of performing arts. Agile. Engaged. Innovative. Multi-disciplinary. The New School for Drama is home to a dynamic group of young directors, writers, actors, creative technologists, and award-winning faculty. With a core belief in rigorous creativity and collaborative learning, our programs embrace civic awareness across performance disciplines to create work imbued with professionalism, imagination and social context. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/drama

The Play in Context, the dramaturgical and scholarly presentation component to the program, is sponsored in part by the League of Professional Theatre Women, a non-profit organization promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in theatre since 1982. www.theatrewomen.org.

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