Dutch Kills Announces 2019-2020 UK/US Season

Dutch Kills Theater (In Quietness, The Sister, The Providence of Neighboring Bodies), a company that divides its time between productions in New York and Edinburgh, will present two World Premiere productions during the upcoming 2019 - 2020 theater season:

August 1 - 24, 2019
SOLITARY
Created by Duane Cooper and Blake Habermann featuring Julia Cavagna, Duane Cooper (pictured above), Levi Morger, Malcolm Opoku, and Vanessa Vaché. With original music by Jack McGuire. Musicians: Joan Hofmeyr and Jack McGuire.
The Assembly Rooms - The Powder Room (54 George Street, Edinburgh).
SOLITARY: At any given time, there are between sixty and eighty thousand people facing solitary confinement in the United States prison system. Since the 19th century, penal isolation has been medically demonstrated to effect permanent psychological consequences. Nearly 80% of these prisoners will eventually be released back into society. As the US begins to recognize the problem of mass incarceration, we are still faced with the problem of mass re-integration, and ultimately the question of the prison's purpose: rehabilitation or punishment'Solitary recounts the mental and physical degradation of the experience, following one man's descent into memory and madness using ensemble, Lecoq based techniques and classically trained Juilliard musicians. It humanizes the psychosocial reality of what the system calls "special housing" and inmates call "the box", including the scars former prisoners carry back into the world. Drawing on extensive research, testimonials, medical documents and interviews, the piece pulls the audience into this isolated world, only to ask: what happens when the door opens?
Tickets: £11 at www.edfringe.com.

March 19 - April 11, 2020
THE ANTELOPE PARTY
By Eric John Meyer/ Directed by Jess Chayes.
The Wild Project (195 E. 3rd Street in New York).
In THE ANTELOPE PARTY, five friends gather weekly to revel in their love of the children's cartoon My Little Pony. But they soon find themselves caught between their innocent Brony role playing game and an increasingly dangerous outside world that keeps changing the rules. Eric John Meyer's comic drama wrestles with the importance of community and the dangers of our need to belong.
Tickets: $20 at www.dutchkillstheater.com

Since 2011, Dutch Killshas been committed to developing and producing new plays by the most exciting emerging theater artists in New York and beyond. Dutch Kills full productions include Selkie by Krista Knight at The Wild Project, The Sisterby Eric John Meyer at the 4th Street Theater and later at Paradise in Edinburgh, In Quietnessby Anna Moench at Walkerspace, and Adventure Questby Richard Lovejoy at Just the Tonic in Edinburgh. In the winter of 2017 the company produced two plays developed by Dutch Kills: Latter Daysby Ben Beckley and The Providence of Neighboring Bodiesby Jean Ann Douglass, both directed by Jess Chayes as an Ars Nova Fling. Providence...was also produced in August 2018 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The company has produced dozens of developmental workshops and readings including works by Kate Benson, Alexandra Silber, and Erin Mallon.

Jess Chayes is an award-winning Brooklyn-based director and founding co-artistic director of The Assembly. With The Assembly, Jess has co-created and directed eight original productions. Recent directing includes: Intelligence (Dutch Kills), Holidays In/Coyote (The Tank, The Exponential Festival), Lipstick Lobotomy (Juilliard), Latter Days and The Providence of Neighboring Bodies (Dutch Kills), Half Moon Bay (Lesser America), I Will Look Forward to this Later (The Assembly, Archive Residency 2015-2016), Primal Play (New Georges), The Bachelors (Williamstown Theater Festival), The Sister (Dutch Kills), The Netflix Plays (Ars Nova), and HOME/SICK (The Assembly, NY Times and Backstage Critic's Pick). She has developed new work with The Playwrights Center, NYTW, The Vineyard Theatre, The Civilians, P73, and Labyrinth among others. Jess is a founding member of the New Georges Jam artists lab and a NYTW Usual Suspect. Recent Affiliations: The Civilians R&D Group, The Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Associate Director on Peter and the Starcatcher (Brooks Atkinson Theater and New World Stages) and Misery (Broadhurst Theater). Jess was awarded the 2017 Lucille Lortel Award by the League of Professional Theater Women.

Duane Cooper is a graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse school of the Theatre. He has appeared in plays all over New York City, most recently in the critically acclaimed 'SKIN.' His commercial work involves national campaigns for Heineken, Samsung, Footlocker and Buick. Film credits include Notorious, New York, I Love You, and Cabin Fear. A selection of his short films can be seen at duanecooper.nyc.com. He is a resident company member of Broken Box Mime Theater.

Blake Habermann has performed on streets and stages around the globe. Highlights include: Movement direction for Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera at Juilliard; creating the original mime/butoh piece, The Infinite Bliss of the Hungry Ghost Realm in residency at DanceBox, in Kobe, Japan; performing on Cirque du Soleil's float in the Macy's Parade; developing clown material for Pagliacci at the Metropolitan Opera; and developing original work with the award-winning Broken Box Mime Theater. He is a physical theater instructor and director at the The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre. BFA:TSOA/ETW, completed two year professional program at L'Ecole Lecoq.

Eric John Meyer is a playwright and performer based in New York City. His plays have been developed or presented by Playwrights Horizons, Theater Wit, The Lark, Clubbed Thumb, Vineyard Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Flea, Dutch Kills Theater Company, and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, among others. His play The Antelope Party (Theater Wit, world premiere) was nominated for the 2018 Weissberger Award and is available from Broadway Play Publishing. He has been a resident at SPACE on Ryder Farm and has received a Weingarten Commission from Playwrights Horizons. Eric is also a co-founder of Human Head Performance Group and The Truck Project, both of which he established with his partner, Jean Ann Douglass. He received his MFA in Theater from Sarah Lawrence College.

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