My Base and Scurvy Heart, a new play by acclaimed playwright Adam Szymkowicz, will be presented by Studio 42 for One Week Only at the Wild Project. The preview performance will be on Wednesday, April 27th at 8pm and the press opening will be on Thursday, April 28th at 8pm. The show will also perform on April 29th at 8pm, April 30th at 6pm and 9pm, and on Sunday, May 1st at 2pm. The Wild Project is at 195 East 3rd Street (between Avenues A & B) in Manhattan. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006. This high seas escapade centers on the steely-eyed Terrible Pirate Lottie and her band of lesbian rogues, and follows their adventures in love, swordplay and sexual secrets.
Szymkowicz, whose writing has been called "fabulously weird and weirdly fabulous" by the New York Times, is a twotime Lecomte du Nouy Prize winner and was a founding member of the
Ars Nova Play Group. His work has been published by Dramatists Play Service and Samuel French, and has been produced throughout the U.S. and internationally. Best known for plays such as Nerve, Pretty Theft and Food for Fish, his work has been presented or developed at such places as
MCC Theater,
Ars Nova, South Coast Rep,
Playwrights Horizons, LAByrinth Theater Company and The Lark, among others.
My Base and Scurvy Heart will be directed by Studio 42's Artistic Director
Moritz von Stuelpnagel, whose work has been dubbed "ridiculous, revealing and terrific" by the New York Times. Lighting design is by
Jason Lyons (Rock of Ages) and
Peter Hoerburger (Elf), set design is by Caite Hevner, costumes are by
Melissa Schlachtmeyer, and sound design is by
Sharath Patel. The cast includes
Ryan Andes, Brian Belcinski,
Amy Landon, Christina Shipp,
Sandra Struthers-Clerc and
Liz Wisan.
This production of My Base and Scurvy Heart joins Studio 42's quickly-growing repertoire of "unproducible" plays. Studio 42 focuses on presenting works that most of the theater industry is unlikely to consider. Recent productions include The Sporting Life by
Nick Jones & Rachel Shukert (presented at the
Vineyard Theatre in September 2010), a hilariously offensive comedy set in a 19th century brothel that leaves no ethnic group, gender or religion unscathed; and Spacebar: A Broadway Play by Kyle Sugarman by Michael Mitnick (presented at the Connelly Theater in July 2010), a comedy set in the imagination of a precocious teenager that dares, among other things, to question the theater world's attachment to Tony Kushner. My Base and Scurvy Heart qualifies as "unproducible" because its focus on lesbian pirates, plethora of swordfights, ample gore, splashy design, and heightened playing style blending irreverent camp and soulful allegory
make it unlikely to be seen in theaters uptown.
The word "unproducible" is an industry term pulled straight out of the rejection letters from theaters all over the country. Even the exciting range of playwrights that Studio 42 fosters, including notable Tony-winners and Pulitzernominees, often face trepidation from producers or literary departments when confronted with their more outlandish work. Studio 42 maintains that the fringe of a worthwhile writer's imagination is especially fertile ground, and that any project worth realizing can be realized, using little more than creativity and courage. For more information on Studio 42, please visit
www.Stu42.com.
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