Shelby Company is proud to announce the world premier and tour of SOUSEPAW: 'A BASEBALL STORY' a new play by award winning playwright Jonathan A. Goldberg (Land Whale Murders, How to Shoot a Bull Moose) and directed by Luke Harlan (Shift, Fighting A Fish).
1914, in a rundown hotel in Texas, self proclaimed "greatest lefty pitcher" Rube Waddell is planning his big comeback. He's known for his wild pranks and a child-like love of fire trucks and zoo animals; however, he's also famous as a fall down drunk. Ready to put it all behind him for this one last chance, he hires the Reptile Girl from the circus to keep him company -- and sober. But she has her own twisted past telling fortunes and running away with an encyclopedia salesman who could name all the stars. During their long night together these two lost souls spill their secrets and try to hide from a truth that can't help but be revealed. Based on a true story.
Staring James B. Kennedy as Rube Wadell and Ariana Venturi as The Reptile Girl. Featuring Costume design by Deanna Frieman.
SOUSEPAW will be playing at the Minnesota Fringe at the HUGE Theater at 3037 Lyndale Ave S Minneapolis, MN on Thur. Aug 4th @ 10PM, Sat. Aug. 6th @ 10PM, Sun. Aug. 7th @ 8:30PM, Tue. Aug. 9th @ 8:30PM, and Aug. 14th @ 2:30PM. Then it will play the Indianapolis Fringe at the Theatre on the Square Mainstage, 627E Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis, 46202 on Saturday,August 20, 7:30 p.m. Sun. Aug. 21 @ 6PM, Mon, Aug 22 @ 9:00PM, Fri Aug 26 @ l0:30PM, Sat, August 27 @ 9:00PM, and Sun, Aug 28 @ 1:30PM.. Then we end at the SF Fringe at the Exit Theater at 156 Eddy Street San Francisco, CA on Thrs sept. 8th @ 10:30pm, Sat Sept. 10th @ 9:00PM, Sun Sept. 11th @ 2:30PM, Mon Sept 12th @ 9:00PM, Thurs. Sept 15th @ 7:00PM, Sat Sept 17th @ 10:30PM.
"The writers, actors and directors who will be shaping the future of NY Indie Theatre."
Michael Roderick, Broadway World
SHELBY COMPANY is dedicated to producing new work for the stage that draws from a rich history of theater as well as challenges conventions. Their focus is to present work that defies easy categorization yet tells powerful and engaging stories that further the conversation about the future of American Theater.
" Jonathan A. Goldberg's eccentrically beautiful narrative [make] The Luck of the Ibis is a top-flight production"?
Aaron Riccio, That Sounds Cool-
"For those of you who have already had the opportunity to experience a play by writer Jonathan A. Goldberg you'll no doubt know what I mean when I say that it's as if Goldberg lets both hands write two plays independently of each other simultaneously - one fully right brain, the other fully left - and then allows his subconscious to stitch them together till it all makes sense. This is his gift - this is where he succeeds when others fail. And this is why The Land Whale Murders is both difficult to describe, yet impossible to forget."
Karen and Stephen Torta-Lee, Happiest Medium
JONATHAN A. GOLDBERG (playwright) has had work seen at: The Flea, Barrow Street, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, The Theater Garage, NJ Rep, The Public Theater, and many others. His play The Jew and the Demon won the Rita and Burton Prize and How to Shoot a Bull Moose won the Israel Baran Award from the Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, CA. The Wizard of Wall Street a musical based on Jay Gould that he wrote the book and co-wrote lyrics for was part of the Premier Musical series at Indiana University. He was a guest artist at the 2009 LAByrinth summer intensive and a finalist for the Jerome Fellowship. He is the co-creator of the monthly sketch theater series Ephemerama in Brooklyn. He has an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
LUKE HARLAN is a director living and working in New York. He has developed new plays at such institutions as The Public Theater, The Old Vic, New York Theater Workshop, Tectonic Theater Project, The New Group, The Kennedy Center, Columbia University, and the O'Neill Theater Center. Luke is a teaching artist with Stages on the Sound, a member of The Pack, The Assembly, an associate artist with Working Theater, co-founder of the Southeastern Fringe Festival, and founder/director of the Working Theater Director's Salon. Selected: Shift (Old Vic), #serials (Flea Theater), Shakespeare in ACTion (Stages on the Sound), Frontier, As Told By The Frontier (Columbia) Cou-Cou Bijoux, Pour Vous (Galapagos, Joe's Pub), Insatiable Hunger, a new musical (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater), Fighting A Fish (Kennedy Center); Assistant Director: 33 Variations (La Jolla Playhouse). SDC National Directing Award Winner, Member SDC.
JAMES B. KENNEDY (Rube Waddell) is a longtime member of Shelby Company, & can be seen in their on-going monthly sketch theatre series "Ephemerama". Some of his recent NYC Theatre credits include "New Beulah" by Dan Moyer (Winner Best Featured Actor, & Winner Best Ensemble Cast 2009 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Awards), "His Beauty" by Ashley Jacobsen (Nominated Best Supporting Actor 2010 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Awards), "The Last Days of Lenny Bruce" by Jonathan Goldberg, & "Couples Counseling" by Carey Lovelace, which also ran in the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. He has appeared in, & done voice-over's in various commercials on television. As well as motion capture work & voice-over work in various video games & cartoons.
ARIANA VENTURI: Recent New York credits include the world premieres of: "Classic Kitchen Timer" (Adam Rapp), "Dance Dance Revolution" (Alex Timbers) "Recess" (Sheila Callaghan/Kip Fagan), and Vendetta in Clubbed Thumb's "Vendetta Chrome." Education: Vassar College, RADA. Ari's comedy work can be seen at UCB and Collegehumor.com. You should probably follow her creepy alter-ego @_YOUNGFRUIT_.
Videos