THE MUMMERS PLAY, BOUND TO RISE and More Set for Medicine Show Theatre's 46th Season Honoring Barbara Vann

Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble, one of New York's longest-running experimental theatres, takes great joy in announcing its 46th consecutive season under new leadership.

Chris Brandt, a longtime key member of Medicine Show's artistic staff, has assumed the role of managing director. Brandt worked for decades with the theatre's co-founder and artistic director of 45 years Barbara Vann, who died in August. "At Medicine Show, we've always been committed to an unconventional approach to theatre. Barbara's absence looms large," Brandt said, "but she'd be the first to tell us to move forward, innovate and create provocative theatre." In that spirit, this season will be dedicated to Vann.

David Gild will continue as chairman of the theatre's board. He has a BFA from Carnegie Mellon and MFA and DFA degrees from Yale. He recently retired as a tenured professor of theatre at Long Island University, Post campus.

The 2015-2016 Barbara Vann Season will kick-off with The Mummers Play, a piece devised by Vann, scheduled to run Dec. 16, 2015 through Jan. 10, 2016. It is a hilarious work, surprisingly contemporary, hearkening to the English tradition of mumming, as bands of players brought merriment to the masses on the longest nights of the year. The show will be a new take on old tales like Prince George and the Dragon, fun for adults and appropriate for children alike. Details are forthcoming.

In early Spring, Medicine Show will focus on Vann's desire to present new or unknown works. On the slate are two sets of one-act plays to be performed in repertory: one by Joel Schatzky, former professor emeritus, SUNY Cortland, author of 14 books and several plays; the second by Jack Agueros, Puerto Rican-American poet, activist and former director of New York's Museo del Barrio, who died in 2014.

In late Spring, the theatre will close the season with a Medicine Show exclusive: Vann's original adaptation of Bound to Rise, based on the Horatio Alger story of the same name. Vann's production in 1984 won her an Obie for best direction.

Also, in the Spring, Medicine Show will present its two long running series: Word/Play and Jump Start. Word/Play, now in its 31st season, consists of 10 to 15 evenings of readings of articles, stories, plays, poetry and/or musical pieces. Over the years participants have included the unknown and the well-known like poet Kenneth Koch and songwriter Leonard Cohen. Jump Start is a series of staged readings of plays, rehearsed with a director and performed twice, with the playwright present for at least one rehearsal. The staging does not confine actors to music stands, going beyond most staged readings, giving authors the opportunity to experience their words visually and aurally.

Join us this season to enjoy the fruits of Barbara Vann's labor: the magic of Medicine Show Theatre.

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