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THE DOWNTOWN LOOP to Kick Off 3-Legged Dog's 2013-14 Season, Begin. 10/15

By: Sep. 04, 2013
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3-Legged Dog (Kevin Cunningham, Artistic Director) and Teeth of Tooth Atelier are pleased to announce the World Premiere of THE DOWNTOWN LOOP, written by Ben Gassman, directed by Meghan Finn, with video design by Jared Mezzocchi. THE DOWNTOWN LOOP begins preview performances on Tuesday, October 15 for a limited engagement through Saturday, November 16. Opening Night is Wednesday, October 23 at 8:00 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 8:00 PM; Saturday at 3:00 PM & 8:00 PM. Performances are at 3LD Art and Technology Center (80 Greenwich Street, at Rector, in downtown Manhattan). Tickets are $25 and available by calling Ovationtix at 866-811-4111. For more information, visitwww.3ldnyc.org.

Set in the streets of 21st Century Manhattan, THE DOWNTOWN LOOP takes the audience on a poignant and hilarious virtual bus tour evoking nostalgia for what may or may not have been. Gentrification, economic revitalization and the ceaseless buzzing activity that keeps Manhattan on the leading edge is explored through the eyes of the people the City leaves behind.

Day in, day out, a Tour Guide leads a double-decker bus tour through Manhattan below 59th St., filled with his (and our) small excitements and disappointments. His enthusiasm ebbs and flows with the enthusiasm of his charges, especially the interest foreign women show in his routine and in him. Time passes, the tourists change, but the tour doesn't.

THE DOWNTOWN LOOP is included in the 3-Legged Dog's 3LD/3D+ program. The live production will be filmed in 2D and 3D for submission to international film festivals and eventual worldwide distribution.

The cast includes Greg Carere, Keelie Sheridan (Charles Busch's Vampire Lesbians of Sodom at Baruch Performing Arts Center), Sarah Mollo-Christensen (The Taming of the Shrew at Folger Shakespeare Theatre), Mia Jessup, Robert Metz, Sam Soghor (Gimme the Loot, world premiere at SXSW); and Anthony Polat.

The production team includes Jared Mezzocchi (video design), Dave Ogle (set design); Sarah Johnston (lighting design); Emily Blumenauer (costume design); Jon Bernstein (sound design); and Allison Lyman (dramaturg).

Meghan Finn's (director) work was last seen in the 2013 World Premiere of The Service Road by Erin Courtney (Adhesive Theater Project). The New York Times hailed, "The director, Meghan Finn, deftly strikes a balance between ingenious technology and Ms. Courtney's intimate script, marshaling the two into a resonant and captivating whole." (NYTIMES CRITICS' PICK). Finn's other celebrated premieres include Motel Cherry by Peggy Stafford produced for Summerworks by Clubbed Thumb/New Georges voted into Bess Rowen's Huffington Post Top 10 of 2012 who called the production "a great new piece of theatre...the result of Meghan Finn's excellent direction," while NYTHEATRE.COM said "Top notch performances...Meghan Finn has directed the production with a swift hand and you can see her work throughout...I would not miss this one." In 2011, Finn directed 3 2's; or AFAR by Mac Wellman (Dixon Place) deemed "stunning," by TONY which praised, "Meghan Finn skillfully directs a game cast." Her work has been seen at Walkerspace, 13th Street Repertory Theater, Dixon Place, 3LD, PS122, HERE, Incubator Arts Project and others (www.meghanfinn.com).

Ben Gassman (playwright) is a playwright from Queens with an MFA in Playwriting from Brooklyn College. His full-length plays include Haircuts For Men and Boys, A Queens Style Hobo Story, Clever At Gowanus, 40s Chestnuts, To The East of The River Where The Painted Bird Lives, Purimacolo, and The Accidental Trans-Dimensional Fraternity of Kids Who Play On Train Tracks. His work has been seen at the Bowery Poetry Club, Dixon Place, East 13th St. Theater, the Geraldine Page Salon, Brooklyn's barbés, CenterStage NYC, and in Binghamton, NY at the Donald P. Gruber Theater. Ben's recent critical writings on theater and theater artists can be found in the Brooklyn Rail and American Theater. He is also a teacher of writing at NYU-Poly in downtown Brooklyn and has been a licensed NYC tour guide since 2005. In recent years Ben has been exploring the convergence of tour and play.

Jared Mezzocchi (video designer) is a multimedia director and designer for live multimedia performances. He was recently the subject of a 2013 Washington Post feature, "Creating a virtual world onstage," which discussed his uncanny ability to infuse technology with live theater. "I'm always trying to find ways that video can become more alive in the space and breathe with the storytelling," he said. Mezzocchi brings this same sensibility to his work in THE DOWNTOWN LOOP at 3LD. Mezzocchi won Best Original Play in the NH Theater Awards for his adaptation of The Lost World at Andy's Summer Playhouse. As a projection designer Jared is currently designing BELL a one-man show about Alexander Graham Bell penned by newsman Jim Lehrer and produced by National Geographic as part of their 125th Anniversary Celebration. Recent credits include: You Are Dead. You Are Here. (HERE NYC); A Trip to the Moon (Synthetic Theater), The Mountaintop (Milwaukee Rep), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Woolly Mammoth Theater), Astro Boy (Studio Theater) and The Glass Menagerie (Arena Stage, DC). Jared continues touring internationally with Caden Manson's Big Art Group, and has recently worked with The Builders Association (Jet Lag 2010), Rob Roth (Screen Test), and 3-Legged Dog (Outdoor Projections, SPYGARBO 2011, New Georges' GERM project). Jared also has directed original works throughout the NYC area (Stoplight 2007, Projectionist 2010, Poppa God Bless 2011/12).



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