The Dreamscape Theatre Presents WHALE SONG August 12-28

The Dreamscape Theatre (In Fields Where They Lay, The Burning Cities Project) is pleased to announce the world premiere production of WHALE SONG or: Learning to Live With Mobyphobia by Claire Kiechel, directed by Brad Raimondo (In Fields...) as part of the 15th annual New York International Fringe Festival ? FringeNYC, August 12th-28th. The production will perform five times during the Festival at Venue #8: The First Floor Theatre at LaMama (74 East 4th Street).

Only Maya Swan knows why Molly the whale is stranded in the Hudson River. While millions of New Yorkers wonder in amazement, Maya knows Molly has come to deliver a message from her dead father (whose body was found sprawled nude on the back of a killer whale at Sea World). But what is the message? Is Molly here to help Maya get over her grief or to tempt her to follow in her father?s self-destructive footsteps?

WHALE SONG or: Learning to Live With Mobyphobia is the surreal and darkly comic story of Maya?s quest to answer these and other burning questions. Maya would probably have a much easier time coping, if only she could deal with her Mobyphobia.

The production will star Hollis Witherspoon (Eric Bland?s Emancipatory Politics), who returns to FringeNYC after her portrayal of Natasya in An Idiot, listed as a 2010 ?Top Play? by NYCFringeGuide.com. Ryan Feyk (The Diary of Anne Frankenstein) plays Maya?s almost-ex-boyfriend, Mark and Gavin Starr Kendall (Emancipatory Politics) is James, whose face Maya sees everywhere she looks. The cast also features Rosie Sowa as the Reporter, Siri Hellerman as Maya?s concerned older sister, Sarah and Jordan Smith as Shep the Drummer whose music may represent Maya?s only hope of blocking out the whale?s song.

The performance dates and times:
Sunday 8/14 @ 2:15 pm
Thursday 8/18 @ 2 pm
Monday 8/22 @ 6 pm
Wednesday 8/24 @ 7 pm
Saturday 8/27 @ 9:30 pm

Tickets are $15-$18 and will be available online at www.FringeNYC.org or by calling 866-468-7619. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at FringeCentral or at the theatre 30 minutes prior to show time.

Venue #8: The First Floor Theatre at LaMama
74 East 4th Street

Running Time: 70 minutes

Website: www.dreamscapetheatre.org and fringenyc.org

BIOGRAPHIES

CLAIRE KIECHEL (Playwright) has worked with Ars Nova, New York Stage and Film, The Exchange, and Yarn Films. With the Exchange, she is currently helping develop the Geologues, a mobile phone app for location-based radio plays. She has received the Alpha Delta Phi Fellowship for her play Obituary Mambo, as well as an Edinburgh Fringe First for her role in Bang Bang You?re Dead. Three of her plays Double Rainbow All the Way (dir. Brad Raimondo), Kissing Ronald Reagan and Radical Methods For Radical Heartbreak were produced at the New School for Drama, where Claire is an MFA Candidate. Upcoming projects include: GPS for Lonely People, Face Off: The Musical, and an untitled devised play about violence, submission, and love in today?s world. Claire lives in Washington Heights, where she writes most of her plays on her roommate?s bed, and listens to the Pinocchio soundtrack on repeat. She is still a little afraid of whales.

BRAD RAIMONDO (Director) co-founded The Dreamscape Theatre in 2002. In his role as Producing Artistic Director, Brad has produced all but one of the company?s seventeen productions and directed or facilitated the creation of five. His most recent work includes the development and world premiere of In Fields Where They Lay by Ricardo Pérez Gonzalez with The Dreamscape Theatre and Don Nigro?s Green Man at the 2010 FrigidNY Festival with Pageant wagon Productions. In 2006 he co-created and performed in Dreamscape?s Burning Cities Project at FringeNYC. Other recent directing credits include Lisa Barri?s one-woman show Invisible Child at the 2005 Midtown International Theatre Festival, The Credeaux Canvas by Keith Bunin (Dreamscape) and Tiny Dynamite by Richard Lovejoy (Dreamscape). Brad is currently pursuing his MFA in Directing at the New School for Drama. This summer, in
addition to WHALE SONG, he is also directing the new one-act play If You Could Go Back... by Arthur M. Jolly at Endtimes Productions? Vignettes for the Apocalypse Festival.

THE DREAMSCAPE THEATRE was founded in 2002 by Producing Artistic Director Brad Raimondo. Since its inception it has presented seventeen independent productions including world premieres such as the acclaimed In Fields Where They Lay by Ricardo Perez Gonzalez (2009), The Burning Cities Project (FringeNYC 2006) and The Commission by Stephen Fechter (FringeNYC 2007). At last year?s FringeNYC, Dreamscape co-produced the sold-out hit How My Mother Died of Cancer and Other Bedtime Stories. WHALE SONG or: Learning to Live With Mobyphobia was first developed as part of Dreamscape?s 2010 24-Hour play Festival and New Works Development Residency.

 

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