Photo Flash: Production Company Presents GOODBYE NEW YORK, GOODBYE HEART

The Production Company proudly presents the World Premiere of Goodbye New York, Goodbye Heart, written by Lally Katz and directed by Oliver Butler. Goodbye New York, Goodbye Heart runs from December 1 - 21, 2010 in a limited engagement at HERE, located at 145 6th Avenue Enter on Dominick, 1 block south of Spring in NYC. Previews began December 1 for a December 2 opening.

Performances are Tuesdays - Saturdays at 8:30pm and Sundays at 4pm. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at http://www.here.org or by calling 212-352-3101. Running time is 90 minutes. For more information on the company and show visit http://www.ProductionCompany.org.

What does it mean to be "alive" when we spend our lives in virtual worlds? In Goodbye New York, Goodbye Heart, Lally Katz plunges us into a phantasmagorical yet oh-so-recognizable cyber-universe where the living and the dead jostle, time doesn't pass, and food never seems to fill you up. You can download almost anything-even emotions-and the dead still live, but you can't bring them back to the real world...or can you? Caroline, a real live young woman, falls for a suicidal prophet who lives in a virtual simulacrum of New York that's about to come crashing down like a house of cards. Can she go Orpheus one better and write her own happy ending? Or will she get stuck in a fragile virtual world with the rest of the seekers of the impossible? Along Caroline's emotional journey through love and loss on the edge of reality, Katz offers some intriguing new, up-to-the-minute answers to the question: What happens when we die?

The Production Company exchanges challenging new work for the theater between Australia and the United States, promoting and deepening cultural exchange between the U.S. and Australia, and encouraging artists to explore the relationship between the two countries. Hailed by NYTheatre.com as "Indie Theater at its very best," The Production Company has premiered new work from important playwrights from the United States and Australia. The company's recent season included critically-acclaimed premieres of Blair Singer's The Most Damaging Wound and Patricia Cornelius' Love. Artistic Director Mark Armstrong founded the Production Company with Nicolle Bradford in 2004.

The New York Times praised The Production Company's production of Blair Singer's The Most Damaging Wound, calling it "Clever, engrossing and skillfully directed by Mark Armstrong. Every character is affectionately drawn." The show was also a Back Stage Critic's Pick. NYTheatre.com hailed their production of The Australia Project as "Fascinating stuff! A brisk, swift, and necessary punch in the gut that's both very funny and very much on target...strong performances [and] expert direction." "Patricia Cornelius's script is simply brilliant...Mark Armstrong's direction is sure and crisp," declared NYTheatre.com about the company's production of Love.

Lally Katz, one of Australia's foremost playwrights, has written 20 full-length plays. They include Black Swan of Trespass and The Eisteddfod, which have been recognized with two playwright awards from Playworks, and one from St. Martins. The Black Swan of Trespass was produced at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, BSharp, Belvoir, and Tower Room Theatre at the Malthouse, and earned her a Green Room Award and a MIFA Award at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Other plays include Criminology, Apocalypse Bear Trilogy and The Mysteries Project: Genesis. Her play, Goodbye Vaudeville, Charlie Mudd, was performed in the Beckett Theatre at the Malthouse and received the State Library of Victoria's Louis Esson Prize for Drama. In 2011, Katz will make her Melbourne Theatre Company main stage debut with Return to Earth at the Fairfax Theatre, and her play Neighbourhood Watch will be performed at Belvoir St. Theatre. "The parallel universe of Lally Katz's imagination is an estranging, breathlessly anxious, uneasily hilarious place," says The Australian.

Director Oliver Butler is a founding member of New York's acclaimed theater company, The Debate Society, and has directed and toured with the company. In New York Butler has directed the world premieres of The Eaten Heart, The Snow Hen, Red-HairEd Thomas, Hostage Song, A Thought About Raya, You're Welcome, Christmas with the Flamingos, and Sold Out: The Rock Musical. He was the Assistant Artistic Director of The Berkshire Theatre Festival where he directed The Einstein Project and This is our Youth. Butler has assisted directors Jo Bonney, Pam MacKinnon, and John Rando and was a participating director in Lincoln Center's Directors Lab.

The cast includes Nicolle Bradford, Brian Robert Burns, Erin Maya Darke, Andrew Dawson, Ryan King, Polly Lee, Samantha Sherman, Danielle Slavick, LuCy Walters and Rae C. Wright.

The creative and production team consists of Avi Lipski Producer, Valerie Bart Set Design, Carolyn Wong Lighting Design, Carolyn Hoffmann Costume Design, Asa Wember Sound Design and Jeff Meyers Stage Manager.

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.

 Photo Credit:Rick Ngoc Ho

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