Tonight, November 21, 2013, a new multimedia play "Split/Screen" will premier with a three-day run at the Helen Mills Theater. Split/Screen will feature new music by jazz composer and pianist Ben Rosenblum (winner of the Downbeat and ASCAP awards for original jazz composition and arrangement). In addition, the play will feature live performances from Rosenblum and recording artists Dev Avidon and Alida Rohr.
Written by Monique Witt and directed by
Mike Williams, it features Alex Montaldo as the jaded scion of a wealthy industrialist. The young man has been paralyzed in an accident while climbing
Everest and finds himself , as the play opens, wheel-chair bound and forgotten in an ER on
The Edge of El Barrio. A lethal fire has overwhelmed the emergency staff and left the less urgent cases to fend for themselves while waiting to be treated. As he waits with an asthma patient from Spanish Harlem and an older woman, the three pass the hours by playing cards and trading barbed anecdotes. And in the process of trying to stem the chasm created by their differences, each finds a small healing.
Advance tickets are available at
www.eventbrite.com.
Ben Rosenblum is a jazz pianist and composer based in New York City, whose work has garnered numerous awards, including the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers award in 2010, the Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Original Song in 2010, and the Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Arrangement in 2011. He was commissioned by the XIBUS World Orchestra in Boston to write a piece for full orchestra, chorus, and jazz band, which culminated in a performance at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall on April 14, 2012, and has worked with Grammy nominated singer Ryland Angel on a number of compositional projects. Ben has played with the Bachiana Brasileira Orchestra at Lincoln Center (conducted by Joao Carlos Martins and featuring
Dave Brubeck), as well as in Delhi, India, and at the DUMBO Arts Festival,
Carnegie Hall, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, the Allen Room at Lincoln Center, Ryles Jazz Club and a host of other locations throughout New York and Boston. Ben has worked extensively with such jazz luminaries as Curtis Lundy, Ne
Al Smith, Winard Harper, and
Deborah Davis, and had the privilege of performing alongside Wycliffe Gordon,
Brian Lynch and
Phil Woods as a member of the prestigious New York Youth
Symphony Jazz Band.
The playwright is a retired attorney and professional writer who runs an independent
Production Company dedicated to modern jazz. The director,
Mike Williams, is a seasoned actor who has appeared in numerous theatrical and film productions, most recently The Stable Boy (directed by
Jamieson Stern). The ensemble cast includes: Alex Montaldo,
Diane Parker, Adam Rashad Glenn, Eileen Woods,
Mike Williams, David Tully, Dev Avidon and William McGregor King. The production will also feature original videography of Kahleem Poole-Tejada. The play is taken from a longer work for film.
Performances will take place on November 21st through November 23rd at 8pm. Tickets are $20.00 in advance, $25.00 at the theater. The Helen Mills Theater is located at 139 West 26th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues) in New York City.
For more about the show, visit
www.splitscreentheplay.com. Subway: 1, N, R, 6 Trains to 28th Street. The Helen Mills Theater website:
www.helenmills.com.
Watch a trailer for the production below!
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