Redshift Productions Presents 'Three On A Couch' At Soho

Redshift Productions' Scientist's Studio (Max Evjen, Artistic and Executive Director, Megan Halpern, Artistic and Producing Director ) will proudly present  THREE ON A COUCH by Carl Djerassi, directed by Elena Araoz at the Soho Playhouse  (15 Vandam Street), beginning performances on May 29 with its press opening Sunday June 8 through June 22, 2008.

Commedia meets film noir in this comedy about art, ego, obsession ...and sticky fruit. A famous writer obsessed with reputation fakes his death in order to read his own obituaries.  His shrink knows what's going on, but can't tell anyone, not even the writer's wife.  But she's soon on his trail, as his "death" ignites a chain of outrageous events.

Djerassi, emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford and renowned inventor of the birth control pill, has spent the past 20 years writing on the human aspects of science. He has written multiple fiction and non-fiction works as well as 8 plays, and was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Nixon, at a time when he appeared on Nixon's infamous "Enemies List."

Past productions have garnered rave reviews from the London production including: "Djerassi betrays a genuine gift for comedy." The Daily Telegraph, "An excellent evening with a vastly entertaining play, great fun." The Sunday Telegraph.  "Carl Djerassi's thoughtful New York comedy is entertaining" The Stage.  "A light and witty sex romp." What's On

Listing Info: Three On A Couch

Written by Carl Djerassi, Directed by Elena Araoz

Runs May 29 Opens Sunday, June 8 and will run through June 22, 2008

Performances schedule: Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM,

with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 3PM

The Soho Playhouse is located at 15 Vandam Street

Tickets are $30 - $42.50 and can be purchased at www.sohoplayhouse.com / 212-691-1555

Running time is 90 Minutes

For more info about Redshift Productions and its upcoming productions please visit www.redshiftproductions.com

Press performances are: Wednesday, June 4-June 8, 2008

Mr. Djerassi, Ms. Araoz and the creative team at

Redshift Productions is available for interviews.

Please contact Springer Associates PR (212) 354 4660 or arrange interviews or press seats.

Production Bios are as follows:

Elena Araoz  (Director) Upcoming directing projects include  Arthur Miller's The Price at Northern Stage in Vermont, two Off-Broadway plays by Carl Djerassi and three staged readings for a conference on global warming for the NY Institute for the Humanities. Recent directing credits include: Off-Broadway production of Carl Djerassi's Phallacy for RedShift Productions at the Cherry Lane Theatre starring Simon Jones and Lisa Harrow.  The Power by Li Tong Chen in Beijing, China, the first English play commercially produced in Beijing.  The new rock musical Io: A Play About You by Monika Bustamonte in Austin.  Titus Andronicus for Austin Shakespeare Festival (B. Iden Payne Award).  The semi-staged concerts of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Verdi's Falstaff starring Sir Thomas Allen with Maestro Robert Spano for the Brooklyn Philharmonic at BAM.  Adaptation and direction of Christopher Logue's War Music with Aurea for NY Institute for the Humanities, Chicago Humanities Festival, First Works Providence Festival and throughout New England. Also with Aurea, co-directed Goethe's Faust and played Gretchen. Adaptation and direction of Laberintos with Chekhov Theatre Ensemble based on stories by Jorge Luis Borges. Associate or Assistant Director to Sir Jonathan Miller: Cosi fan tutte at Seattle Opera, BAM, Lincoln Center and upcoming at Portland Opera; Broadway production of King Lear starring Christopher Plummer (two Tony nominations); Bach's St. Matthew Passion at BAM; upcoming Il Matrimonio Segreto at BAM.  Recent acting credits: the green screen sci-fi romantic comedy feature film Mars by Geoff Marslett; Amelia in House of Bernarda Alba at the Pearl Theatre; Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at American Globe; Diana in All's Well that Ends Well with NY Classical Theatre, and two new plays at the PlayPenn Festival in Philadelphia.  Elena just served on a panel next to playwright John Guare and scholar Harry Berger discussing The Tempest for the NY Institute for the Humanities' "Tempest Tossed" event.  She holds her MFA in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin.  She was a finalist for the NEA/TCG 2006-2007 Directing Fellowship, is a Drama League Directing Fellow and is a proud member of AEA, AGMA and SSDC.

Carl Djerassi (Playwright) is  emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford University, was awarded the National Medal of Science, for the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive — aka "the Pill" and the National Medal of Technology for promoting new approaches to insect control. He has received 20 honorary doctorates together with numerous other honors such as the American Chemical Society's highest award, the Priestley Medal.  For the past 20 years, he has turned to fiction writing, mostly in the genre of "science-in-fiction," whereby "he illustrates, in the guise of realistic fiction, the human side of scientists and the personal conflicts faced by scientists in their quest for scientific knowledge, personal recognition and financial rewards." In addition to five novels, he has written poetry, short stories and an autobiography ("The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse"). The latter recounts his arrival in New York City as a Nazi refugee from Vienna and the letter he wrote to Mrs. Roosevelt about a scholarship that led him into the American bible belt. Ten years ago, he embarked on a career as playwright, initially on a trilogy of "science-in-theatre" plays: An Immaculate Misconception (seen around the world since its premiere at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Oxygen, co-authored with Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann; Calculus (also seen as a chamber opera with music by Werner Schulze). His "non-scientific" play Ego (aka Three on a Couch) has been seen internationally. Phallacy was seen in London and heard on German radio. His sixth play, Taboos, opened in London in 2006 and had its German language premiere in July 2006 in Graz. He is also the founder of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program near Woodside, CA, which provides residencies and studio space for artists in the visual arts, literature, choreography and performing arts, and music. Over 1500 artists have passed through that program since its inception in 1982.

Cast Bios Are As Follows:

Mark Pinter- Most recently starring in Guiding Light as Brad Green (2003-2004) and All My Children as Greenlee's stand-in dad, Roger Smythe (2001, 2002, 2003), Pinter boasts a remarkable career in the daytime genre.  He began his daytime stint in 1979 as Dr. Tom Crawford on Love of Life.  From there he starred on Guiding Light as Mark Evans from 1981-1983.  He also appeared on As the World Turns as Brian McColl (1984-1987, 1990); Loving as Dan Hollister (1987-1989); and, Another World as the second Grant Harrison (1991-1999). Film: Season of Youth, Carleton Keller in Vanilla Sky, Edward Speck in The Eden Myth. 

Lori Funk:Lori's theatrical credits include: Clive Barker's "Crazyface" (both NY and L.A. premieres), "Spring Awakening," "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom," "Our Country's Good," "Taming of the Shrew," "Cinderella," and many more. She has performed sketch comedy at Caroline's and Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, and is a commercial and voice over artist. She added motion capture to her list of credits, playing Miss Danvers in the video game by Rockstar, "Bully," and recently appeared on "As the World Turns" on CBS. Lori also plays Connie in the independent film "Eden Court," starring Thomas Lennon and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.

Brad Frazier:Desdemona's Dream at PS 122, directed by Jane Nichols, which he co-created and is continuing to develop with his company Logic Limited, Ltd.  Azby the servant clown in "Sextangle" a contemporary farce at the HA! Cabaret Space in Midtown.  Other credits, New York Theatre:  Behind the Sticks, NY Fringe Cherry Lane Theatre; The Revolutionaries, NY Fringe Players Theatre; The Maids and Deathwatch, Egress Theatre Co.; The Devil is an Ass, Emuyabo Productions; Road to Calvary, (Reading),  Playwrights Horizons.  Regional Theatre:  Alice, by Whoopie Goldberg, Kennedy Center National Tour; The Matchmaker, Ford's Theatre, dir. Mark Lamos; The Lion in Winter, Boz and the Bard Productions, New Jersey.

Redshift Productions (Producers) Redshift Productions connects audiences intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually to science. Redshift Productions fosters the vision that everyone has a stake in the scientific endeavor. Using the arts as a means of communication, Redshift provides opportunities for scientists to share their work, and for the public to explore the universe through the unique perspective of science. Redshift Productions was founded in 2000 by Max Evjen and Megan Halpern. They have written, directed and produced several projects including Djerassi's Phallacy, Elements, Galileo: The Emotional Life of a Spacecraft, Happy Hour at the Event Horizon. Redshift projects have been featured in Natural History Magazine, TimeOUT New York, and on CBS Sunday Morning and ABC News Nightline.

 

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