Peculiar Works Project to Present FLOYDADA World Premiere, 3/26-4/11

Peculiar Works Project (Ralph Lewis, Catherine Porter and Barry Rowell) will present the World Premiere of Barry Rowell's Floydada, directed by David Vining (The Blue Puppies Cycle at The Chocolate Factory; Cracked at HERE) and featuring Catherine Porter (Mac Wellman's Crowbar at Victory Theatre; member of Indie Theatre Now's Hall of Fame) and Nomi Tichman.

The creative team will include Projection Designs by Lianne Arnold (Associate Designer on Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Nights Dream at Theater for a New Audience), Original Music by Seth Bedford, Lighting Design by David Castaneda (Irina's Vow on Broadway), Set and Prop Design by Casey McLain, Costume Design by Bryen Shannon, and Choreography by Kriota Wilberg (The Bentfootes at Dixon Place), with Stage Manager Heather Olmstead. The play will be presented in a found space at the Merchants Square Building (40 Worth Street between West Broadway and Church Street), March 26-April 11.

Performances will be Wednesday through Saturday at 7pm with an additional performance on Monday, March 30 at 7pm. Tickets ($18; $10 previews) are available online at www.peculiarworks.org or by calling 866-811-4111. The performance runs 90 minutes, with no intermission.

On the plains of West Texas in 1927, the small town of Floydada is home to two middle-aged sisters: Dalia, an artist forced to return due to a terminal illness, and Ada, the dutiful caretaker. Not satisfied to sit around and wait for the end, Dalia shakes up the mundane existence of her sister by convincing her to open a Dada-inspired cabaret in the family's recently closed general store. Revitalized by their creative impulses, the sisters entertain their unsuspecting rural neighbors with original, avant-garde performance. Floydada was a finalist in the 2011 Texas Playwrights Festival.

BARRY ROWELL (Playwright) ) is a founder and co-artistic director of Peculiar Works Project. Over the past 21 years, he has created numerous PWP productions, including the epic promenade performance Manna-Hata at the James A. Farley post office and the OBIE Award-winning OFF Stage: the West Village Fragments, created with partners Ralph and Catherine. His play Floydada was a finalist in the 2011 Texas Playwrights Festival; Before I Wake was presented at Theatre of NOTE in Los Angeles; and his 10-minute play, Dialogue in 3 Parts, was a finalist in the Creative Mechanics' inaugural Stage This! Festival and is available in the published collection on Amazon.com. He is one of eleven playwrights to adapt the eleven tablets in the Sumerian epic, Gilgamesh, for The Forge performance group. He is a graduate of Texas Christian University and studied postgraduate theatre history and criticism at the University of Texas at Austin.

DAVID VINING (Director) has written and directed many original works for his company, Cagey Productions, including The Blue Puppies Cycle at The Chocolate Factory, Wuthering High at the 14th Street Y Theater, The Curse of the Smart Kid and Cracked at HERE Arts Center. Upcoming: and 74, Cagey's new project, developed with a 2014 BAX Parent Artist grant. For PWP, Vining directed Kenneth Brown's The Brig on the streets of Greenwich Village for The West Village Fragments and Theatre Genesis' The Hawk for The East Village Fragments; and participated in the Don Quixote Project and Big Art. He directed Bryn Manion's Wake for Aisling Arts. Vining's work has been seen at The Ontological/Hysteric Theatre, The Brick, Dixon Place, Theatre For the New City, and many other NYC venues both extant and historical. Vining is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and holds an MSEd in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education.

PECULIAR WORKS PROJECT creates, develops, and presents original, multi-disciplinary performance that is accessible and fun for diverse audiences. Since 1993, this OBIE award-winning company has originated both intimate theatrical works utilizing multi-media and large-scale performance events that invade entire NYC buildings. PWP encourages collaboration, experimentation, and a rebel spirit in artists by providing them with the tools and opportunities necessary for artistic growth. PWP performs in unconventional spaces because of a belief that unique sites impact their work, this work in turn impacts the site, and audiences then experience both in surprising new ways. They have taken work directly into local communities by presenting site-specific productions in landmark buildings, gutted storefronts, and other peculiar sites throughout NYC. Acclaimed performances include: 3CHRISTS, at Judson Memorial Church, adapted from an infamous psychological study (2014); MANNA-HATA, the epic NYC history promenade that performed throughout the historic Farley Post Office (2013); the award-winning OFF STAGE, which enlisted 200+ artists to take audiences on a journey to the sites of founding Off-Off Broadway venues (2006-07); JUDSON HOUSE PROJECT, a tribute to the legacy of a doomed historic building (2001); and IN PRAISE OF FOLLY: THE DON QUIXOTE PROJECT, in which over 100 artists performed Cervantes' classic throughout an entire floor of an office building in Tribeca (2004). PWP has developed and produced over 100 plays and performance events in 21+ years, supporting dozens of artists annually. www.peculiarworks.org

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