THE BRIEFEST YEAR Comes to Theater For The New City

 Theater for the New City will present The Briefest Year, a new play about people who meet just before the year ends and realize if they don't part ways quickly, they will have spent a year together.

The show about two people who meet at a concert is by Theater for the New City resident playwright Claude Solnik, Elizabeth Ruf and Karl Bateman, also directed by Ruf. The show runs at TNC, 155 First Ave. (9th-10th Sts.) May 16-18 and 8 p.m. and May 19 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 and $15 for seniors and students.

Cain Duminski, Kishiko Hasegawa, Lola Lukas, and Elizabeth Ruf perform in the play stage managed by Lola Lukas with lighting design by Marsh Shugart and a live soundscape by Karl Bateman.

A drummer and a musician/activist, Charley and Bridget, meet just before the New Year at a Lower Manhattan venue, realizing that if they stay together a little more than a day they will have been together a year.

"They decide to see if they can have the longest date-and the briefest year," Solnik said. "Things don't go exactly as planned."

When Bridget encourages Charley to try to make peace with his estranged wife, Miko, and reconnect with his daughter, it’s not clear whether that will lay the groundwork for the future or plunge him back into past problems, including brushes with the cops and jail time.

With wry humor “The Briefest Year” tells a moving and realistic story about three people, two cultures, and one life-changing night. A live soundscape with music by The Head Peddlers' Karl Bateman, and a lightscape by Marsh Shugart set the scene in this multi-art theater experience.

"We worked on the play together," Ruf , who is appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, said. "It's a fictional story, but the dialogue is very much rooted in reality."

The Briefest Year, Theater for the New City ,155 First Ave. (9th-10th Sts.), Thurs.-Sat. May 16-18 at 8 p.m. and Sun. May 19 at 3 p.m. Written by Claude Solnik, Elizabeth Ruf and Karl Bateman with Cain Duminski, Kishiko Hasegawa, Lola Lukas, and Elizabeth Ruf. Stage managed by Lola Lukas with lighting design by Marsh Shugart and live soundscape by Karl Bateman.

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