Rising Phoenix Rep Announces FAVORITES for 3/25 Only

Rising Phoenix Rep continues the Cino Nights series on March 25 at 7 p.m. with FAVORITES at eventh Street Small Stage, 43 East Seventh Street.

In the play, Margaret returns home to help her brother Travis clear out of their recently deceased mother’s home, but finds it all but impossible when their shared memories spring to life and draw them back in time, trapping them in the sparkling delight and nightmarish terror of childhood. FAVORITES favorites is directed by John Michael DiResta and features J.Stephen Brantley, Jimmy Davis, Seth Numrich, Amelia Pedlow, and Addie Johnson-Talbott.

Inspired by Joe Cino and his Caffe Cino—one of the original birthplaces of Off-Off-Broadway theatre and early home to such writers as Doric Wilson, Robert Patrick, John Guare, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, and William M. Hoffman—New York Innovative Theater Award winning company Rising Phoenix Rep has commissioned twenty-one playwrights to write new, full-length plays for the Seventh Street Small Stage, the intimate back room space at Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village, where the company has mounted critically acclaimed and award winning productions of new plays for the past six years.

Rising Phoenix Rep artistic director Daniel Talbott described the series as a place to tap into the raw, inspired, inventive, and pioneering work of the Caffe Cino, where the love of theatre and new plays was joined with a scrappy, do-it-yourself work ethic. All shows will be rehearsed for a week and then fully mounted and produced, warts and all, for one night only with free admission.

Playwright Charlotte Miller's play Raising Jo was a part of PLAYPENN 2010 playwright's conference and Rattlestick's F#$%ing Good Plays Festival, and has also received readings with Hudson Stage Company in Westchester and IAMA Theater Company in L.A. Her play Fur was a part of LAByrinth Theater Company's inaugural Intensive Ensemble in 2009 and received a workshop production with Longstocking Productions that same year. She has been a participant in Rattlestick's Theaterjam, Serials at the Flea, and New York Madness. She is a Texas native, a Brooklyn resident, and a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Director John Michael DiResta's recent directing credits include The Glass Menagerie and The Normal Heart (Northwestern University), Big Questions (MasterClash 2011), Bisexuality is for Teenagers and Watching the Thunder (MCC Theater FreshPlay Festival), Back to Society (Abrons Arts Center) and Jump Into the Abscess (Where Eagles Dare Theater). He was the Assistant Director of Judgment Day (Bard Summerscape) and Killers and Other Family (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). As a dramaturge, John has worked on Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck (Bard Summerscape) and Charlotte Miller's Fur (Access Theater). John was the producer of the MCC Theater Youth Company from 2007-2010 where he produced UnCensored in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and the 2007, 2008 and 2009 FreshPlay Festival. Upcoming projects include The Romeo and Juliet Project and Lyle the Crocodile at Northwestern University and the 2013 Next Up series at Steppenwolf Theater.

Cino Nights are currently scheduled through June 2012. The remaining playwrights, in the order their plays will appear, are:

April 22nd – Brooke Berman
May 2012 – Jonathan Blitstein
May 2012 – Melissa Ross
June 10th – Daniel Talbott
June 17th – Cusi Cram

Seating is extremely limited. For reservations please call 212-946-5198; for more information please visit www.RisingPhoenixRep.org.

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