Variations Theatre Group Announces American Avant-Garde Arts Festival

Committed to the discovery of fresh voices in the American Theatre Variations Theatre Group, Inc. (VTG) is proud to present the American Avant-Garde Arts Festival.

The American Avant-Garde Arts Festival features over 15 multi-media pieces from all over the United States of America. VTG Artistic Director Rich Ferraioli said, "We are really excited to get to work with so many new and talented artists. Part of our mission is to provide an opportunity for new works to be showcased and performed. This festival is exactly that outlet!"

Each piece will be performed twice. Voting by audiences and judges will determine the top eight (8) plays, which will then move on to the semi-finals. After another round of performances, the judges and audiences will choose four plays to compete in the finals. VTG company members will select three favorites from the semifinalists that weren't voted into the finals and give them one more chance on Wild Card Night. The grand prize winner will come from the four audience/judge selections and the Wild Card winner.

The winning play will receive a grand prize of $1,000.00 and awards will also be given out for each medium.

Performances will take place at the Hudson Guild Theatre, located in Chelsea (441 W 26th St). The schedule is as follows:

1st Round: 7:00pm & 9:00pm on July 14th, 15th, 19th;

5pm, 7pm, & 9pm on the 16th

3pm, 5pm, & 7pm on the 17th

Semi-Finals: July 20th & 21st @ 7:00pm

Wild Card Night: July 22nd @ 7:00pm

Closing Ceremony & Finals: July 23rd @ 7:00pm

Tickets are $15.00 for all rounds. The closing ceremony/final round tickets are $18.00.

For ticket information and specific details, please visit www.variationstheatregroup.com.

About the Company

Founded in 2010 by Rich Ferraioli and Kirk Gostkowski, Variations Theatre Group is a non-profit theatre company focused on providing an opportunity for emerging artists to work on Modern American Classics and original work. Variations Theatre Group believes that contributing to the community is paramount and will focus on active and dynamic participation in this area, with a separate group headed by a director to perform outreach functions.
Contact Information:

Variations Theatre Group

646-400-3253

www.variationstheatregroup.com

The selected participants are:

Group 1:

Fault Line

Written by: Laura Zlatos

"Fault Line explores the fracture in a couple's marriage and examines the nature of beauty, morality, and the punishment meted out by men against women."

tweed is Orange

Written by: Jodi Van Der Horn-Gibson

"A play that lives in the subconscious rather than the conscious mind."
Juggler on the Roof

Written by: Scott Gerschwer

"If the Jews of Tsarist Russia were Fiddling on the Roof, the Jews of Israel are Juggling on it!"

Group 2:

Unaccompanied Minors

Written by: Marcia R. Rudin

"When Kayla and Susan meet at their tenth year college reunion the bitter conflicts they had as roommates their freshmen year due to differences in personality, class, and above all race...EXPLODE again."

Eating Skeletons

Written by: Jen Rudin

"Competitive child actresses duke it out at the final callback for a famous 1980's TV series then reconnect years later in a college theater program as they ponder the meaning of theater, art, and whether or not to eat!"
Obama

Written By: Wade Savitt

"The depth of the bow to the Japanese Prime Minister, the color of one of the beers in the Beer Summit, and other strangely visceral images from Obama's first two years expanded and explored. Politics as gossip."
Group 3:

Robot Heaven

Written By: Nick Robideau

Produced By: Cipherstone

"Cold metal, circuitry, and mortal fear!"

White Birches

Written By: Susan Merson

Produced By: NY Theatre Intensives

"With the press of midlife, some dreams must die."

Sign of the Times

Written By: Jeff Helgeson

"Sign of the Times "updates William Butler Yeats' poem ‘The Second Coming' for our current age of diminishing expectations." - The Chicago Reader

Group 4:

Chemo: A Love Story

Written By: Keith Walker

"Chemo: Does a body good, got cancer?"

My Play

Written By: Sarah Dooley

"Two struggling playwrights at a Starbucks, one idea for a play. It writes itself."
S.M.E.G.M.A.

Written By: Adam Kreiselman

"S.M.E.G.M.A. (Securing Maximum Energy by Gathering Male Abundance): In the future, all men will have to pull together to save the environment."

Group 5:

The American Death of Mayo Boy

Written By: Nick Nappo

"There is war. There is love. There is hate. There is America. There is Mayonnaise."
Beyond Beauty

Produced By: JT Lotus Dance Company

Choreographed By: Jessie Tomanek

"The paint are the dancers, as the stage is the canvas"

The One You Marry

Created & Produced By: RiverWide Productions

"The One You Marry is a film about three friends who are each forced to confront their own romantic futures on the eve of their long-absent best friend's wedding. As their stories interweave all three find themselves flustered by the finality of their friend's decision, yet each young woman must make a choice of her own before the night is through"
On the Rocks

Created & Produced By: Sunken Meadow Films

"Jack and Sal solve the case of "The Rusty Trombone" in this film noir spoof."

Group 6:

True Love

Written By: Paul Testagrossa

"Just when you think everything is a-ok, swell, and dandy - watch out! You never know what can be changing in your life, even if everything looks statically fixed forever..."

God's Answering Machine

Written By: Bennett Barouch

"Through a series of exchanges with God's Answering Machine and with God, a journalist comes to discover much about himself, the human condition, and the value of the life he has left to live."

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