Friday, July 31, 2009

Black Box Theater In NYC Has A Treat For You! Julius Caesar W/ All Female Cast


We may be taking the month of August off, but the Black Box Theater Shows must go on... Check this out


HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP
PRESENTS A
PIGEON CREEK SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
PRODUCTION OF
JULIUS CAESAR

FEATURING AN ALL FEMALE CAST
ONLY FOUR PERFORMANCES!
AUGUST 13-16

William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar takes place in a world of male power and dominance. The Rome of Shakespeare’s play is an arena of male competition, in which the female characters attempt to avert tragedy but find themselves powerless to do so. The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company takes on this testosterone-filled play with an entirely female cast, exploring the performance of gender and challenging preconceptions of male and female. Alisha Huber directs a cast featuring Pigeon Creek actors Heather Folkvord as Brutus, Katherine Mayberry as Cassius, and Kate Bode as Caesar.

The production, presented by Horse Trade Theater Group and Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company, will play at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) August 13-16, Thursday through Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm.Tickets ($18, $15 students/seniors) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info

The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company Based in Grand Haven, Michigan, the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company seeks to offer performances of Shakespeare's works to Michigan audiences in a variety of non traditional theatre venues. Pigeon Creek Shakespeare employs techniques of theatrical performance such as universal lighting and audience contact to adapt its productions to multiple performance venues, and to actively engage audience members in performance. The company's goals are to explore the original theatrical practices of the acting companies of Shakespeare's time; to provide high quality productions of works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries to egional theatre audiences; to provide local actors, directors, and stage managers the opportunity to work with these wonderful scripts and to receive training in an original practice approach to Shakespeare's plays; and to maintain an organizational philosophy in which theatre practitioners participate in the administration of the company on a regular basis.

Horse Trade Theater Group is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade’s Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York – the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Gallery Players Getting Noticed Again!

THE GALLERY PLAYERS NOMINATED FOR 9 INNOVATIVE THEATRE AWARDS

(NEW YORK, NY) – Just weeks after announcing their 43rd season, The Gallery Players is proud to announce nominations for nine New York Innovative Theatre Awards for productions in its 2008-2009 season, including two for Outstanding Production of a Musical and one for Outstanding Production of a Play. This marks the third consecutive season The New York Innovative Theatre Awards has recognized The Gallery Players, who have received the honor of Outstanding Production of a Musical for the past two seasons.

The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (June 2008) premiered in The 11th Annual Black Box New Play Festival and is nominated for three awards in playwriting, performance and production: Outstanding Full Length Script, Nat Cassidy; Outstanding Leading Actor, David Ian Lee and Outstanding Production of a Play. The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots was co-produced with Engine37.

The Gallery Players’ production of the new hit musical, Like You Like It (November, 2008) is nominated for five awards in production, design and performance: Outstanding Choreography, Keith Andrews; Outstanding Featured Actress, Brynn Curry; Outstanding Costume Design, Hunter Kaczorowski; Outstanding Featured Actor, Clint Morris and Outstanding Production of a Musical.

The Gallery Players’ production of The Who's Tommy (May 2009) is nominated for Outstanding Production of a Musical.

Now celebrating its fifth season, The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation was created to bring recognition to the great work being done in New York City's Off-Off-Broadway, to honor its artistic heritage, and to provide a meeting ground for this extensive community. The organization advocates for Off-Off-Broadway and recognizes the unique and essential role it plays in contributing to American and global culture. The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation believes that publicly recognizing excellence in Off-Off-Broadway will expand audience awareness and appreciation of the full New York theatre experience. At the end of the theatre season, a high-profile awards ceremony celebrates this entire community while honoring some of the most extraordinary work of the year. http://www.nyitawards.com/

A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals. Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of “New York’s Best Kept Secret.” The Gallery Players is the recipient of the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement and was the recipient of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical in both 2007 & 2008 for their productions of Urinetown! the musical and Yank! A New Musical.


Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein; Broadway regulars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman and Diedre Goodwin; New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky and many others. For more information on tickets or subscriptions to The Gallery Players’ 2009 – 2010 season, visit http://www.galleryplayers.com/


Morgan Lindsey Tachco (Press Relations)

Only The Best Is Recommended @ Black Box Theater NYC & terraNova Collective Gets The Nod


TERRANOVA COLLECTIVE NOMINATED FOR 17 NEW YORK INNOVATIVE THEATRE AWARDS


The New York Innovative Theatre Awards announced on Monday that terraNOVA Collective has been nominated for seventeen NYIT Awards including Outstanding Solo Performance (Martin Dockery, Leigh Evans, Jeff Grow, Abena Koomson, Micia Mosley) and Outstanding Production of a Play (Blue Before Morning).


“This is an absolutely thrilling experience for all of the artists involved.” says Jennifer Conley Darling, Artistic Director. “It has been an amazing year for all of us at terraNOVA and we look forward to the awards ceremony in September.”


The full list of nominations is below.


Kether Donohue, Phyllis Johnson, Jenny Maguire, Chris McKinney, Flaco Navaja, and
Jennifer Dorr White for Outstanding Ensemble (Blue Before Morning)


Katie Down for Outstanding Sound Design (Blue Before Morning)


Gia Forakis for Outstanding Director (Blue Before Morning)


Phyllis Johnson for Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role (Blue Before Morning)


Kate McGovern for Outstanding Full Length Script (Blue Before Morning)


Bruce Steinberg for Outstanding Lighting Design (Blue Before Morning)


Outstanding Production of a Play for Blue Before Morning


Abena Koomson for Outstanding Solo Performance in Cozi Sa Wala: Magic Words (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Jeff Grow for Outstanding Solo Performance in Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Jeff Grow for Outstanding Original Short Script, Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Creating Illusion for Outstanding Performance Art Piece (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Martin Dockery for Outstanding Solo Performance in The Surprise (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Martin Dockery for Outstanding Original Short Script, The Surprise (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Leigh Evans for Outstanding Choreography/Movement in Traces (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Leigh Evans for Outstanding Solo Performance in Traces (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Traces for Outstanding Performance Art Piece (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


Micia Mosley for Outstanding Solo Performance in Where My Girls At? (soloNOVA Arts Festival)


terraNOVA Collective is a vibrant playground for artists devoted to innovative new and original theatrical works. Our multi-layered development process, solo arts festivals, and productions serve to nurture and liberate New York City. terraNOVA is best known for its’ soloNOVA Arts Festival, as well as the Groundbreakers Program, a unique way of fostering and nurturing new work throughout the developmental phases. terraNOVA is proud to be a theatre in residence at the DR2 Theatre in Union Square.


# # # #


http://www.terranovacollective.org/

RadioTheatre Is Making News Again In Black Box Theater NYC

NEWS! RADIOTHEATRE JUST NOMINATED FOR 2009 NY INNOVATIVE THEATRE AWARDS
BEST PERFORMANCE ART and BEST SOUND DESIGN
WINNER OF 2008 NY INNOVATIVE THEATRE AWARDS FOR
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL MUSIC AND OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN
Want to see how Dan Bianchi and company did it?
Check out Sunday With Poe This weekend at Under St. Marks Theater


This Sunday With Poe performance will feature:
William Wilson,
The Pit And The Pendulum,
The Fall of The House Of

Show Begins @ 2:00 PM

94 St. Marks Place @ 1st Ave.

East Village NYC

Tix Price: $18:00 or $15:00 w/Discount


What, you don't know your Poe? Well maybe this trailer will get your blood flowing in the right directions again!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

RetroVision Media’s Black Box Theater NYC (Twisted)


We know we promised to have some full length performances of Twisted, but the writers got a little camera shy with their works. However we did get to piece together some really cool clips of the Rising Sun Performance Company’s Teddy Knows Too Much currently playing at Under St. Marks Theater in the East Village. We’ll have more of their very funny vignettes later this week. In the meantime Click here for the download

Sunday, July 19, 2009

RetroVision Media Recommends Rising Sun Performance Company's Twisted


We want to give you guys and gals in the Tri-State area a heads up on some really great theatre kicking ass on the lower east side again at Under St. Marks. The Horse Trade Theater Group is currently presenting Twisted; five very funny and tightly written vignettes highlighting the screwball-like, dysfunctional lifestyles of the weird and shameless. Placing another jewel of theatre in their crown of Black Box Theater productions, the Horse Trade Theater Group is quickly out pacing their competition for theatergoers looking to save a buck on alternative entertainment options in the city.

This production is so cool, we will be featuring the entire show over the next few weeks in our video-cast of Black Box Theater NYC. Stop by the site tomorrow for the first installment of this performance and more from one of the most talented theater production companies south of uptown’s Broadway;
Rising Sun Performance Company.

We will be shooting the show today @ 2:00 PM. Why not come down and join the fun and enter our contest to win a billion bucks. Okay, we lied about the billion bucks, but you will have a bunch of laughs for a mere $15.00. 94 St Marks Place between 1st and 2nd Ave. We would not recommend you dilly dally since this show closes soon!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

RetroVision Media Presents Issues Under Fire



As promised, we have our first video-cast of Issues Under Fire this Sunday morning for your pleasure. However due to a few sunny, tennis friendly days last week, we got really lazy and combined our weekly Black Box Theater NYC review within this episode. Consequently, in the show, we get to cover everything from Dan Bianchi’s Radio Theatre bringing Poe to the masses to President Obama’s predicted slide in popularity as the economy continues to plummet. And as always, if you like our brand of infotainment and commentary, please share this file with a friend. Click here to view at our media channel

BTW, as we strive to remain an alternative to the mainstream media, we did not breath a word of the late great Michael Jackson, nor his sphincter sniffing hater, Peter King.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

20 Things You Must Know to Write a Great Screenplay


Okay, so the Theatre ain't your thing; what about writing something for the screen! Here is a cool place to start.

The Consequences Should Be On your Calendar

We Are Going To Check This One Out & So Should You

TERRANOVA COLLECTIVE & PACE UNIVERSITY
PRESENT
THE CONSEQUENCES
Book by Kyle Jarow
Music & Lyrics by Nathan Leigh & Kyle Jarrow
Directed by Amy Rogers
AS PART OF THE
undergroundzero festival @ Performance Space 122

Ripped apart when they were teenagers, ten years later, Elle & Jeremy are thrust into each other’s lives again and forced to discover if maybe they’re meant to be together after all. THE CONSEQUENCES is a bittersweet rock and roll love story about the road not taken, dreams not followed, and whether you can start over again.
THE CONSEQUENCES is the new indie-rock musical from Kyle Jarrow and Nathan Leigh, the team behind Love Kills (NYMF), Big Money (Williamstown Theater Festival), and the rock band Super Mirage.

This workshop of THE CONSEQUENCES is the first collaboration between terraNOVA Collective and the Pace Musical Theater Program, integrating terraNOVA’s method of script development with Pace’s interest in developing and exposing students to new work. The piece will be directed by the director of Pace’s Musical Theater Program, Amy Rogers, and features Emily Stockdale and Ari Fife, both part of the Pace Program. Jaimie Mayer, Managing Director of terraNOVA Collective, produces.

THE CONSEQUENCES will play as part of the undergroundzero festival at Performance Space 122 (150 First Avenue at East 9th Street), July 22 at 7pm, July 23 at 9pm, July 24 at 7pm, July 25 at 9pm, and July 26 at 2pm. Tickets ($15) are available online at www.ps122.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

KYLE JARROW is a writer and musician based in New York City. He writes for the stage as well as film and television, and he plays in the bands Super Mirage and The Fabulous Entourage. He won an OBIE Award for his Off-Broadway hit A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, which has subsequently been produced all over the country. Kyle's play Armless won the Overall Excellence Award at the New York International Fringe Festival. Other plays include Love Kills, Trigger, President Harding is a Rock Star, Rip Me Open (co-writer), Gorilla Man, Big Money (with Nathan Leigh), Hostage Song (with Clay McLeod Chapman) and Whisper House (with Duncan Sheik). Kyle's playwriting work encompasses both music theater and straight plays, and has been presented at New York Theatre Workshop, Performance Space 122, The John Houseman Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Abron Arts Center, HERE Arts Center, Boston Theatre Works, New Dramatists, The Flea, The Hangar Theatre, and Dad's Garage in Atlanta among others. Kyle was a 2005-2006 Dramatists Guild Fellow. He was nominated for a 2004 Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award and a 2004 Backstage West Garland Award, and was runner-up for the 2002 Princess Grace Playwriting Award. He was winner of the 2001 John Golden Prize. Kyle has guest-lectured at Juilliard, Pratt, and the Actors Studio. More info on Kyle atwww.landoftrust.com

NATHAN LEIGH is a composer, sound designer, musical director, and arranger. His theater credits include work at Berkshire Theatre Festival, ART, Speakeasy Stage Company, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, The Ohio Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Theatre Row, and PS 122. He has been the sound designer and composer in residence for Boston Theatre Works from 06 - 08, and for the Brown/Trinity Consortium for the 07 - 08 season. Nathan is currently the resident designer and composer for Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre and The Debate Society. He has also created film scores and produced several records through his own label, Keroscene Records. Nathan plays guitar and sings in the rock bands A Thousand Ships and Super Mirage. He has collaborated with Jarrow on the scores for Big Money and the forthcoming The Consequences. Gothamist awarded him Best Sound Designer of 2007.

AMY ROGERS is the Director of the BFA Musical Theatre Program at Pace University. Amy’s professional/academic directing credits include: The original workshops of Darling (Ryan Scott Oliver/B.T Rybeck, COLLEGE: The Musical (Fornarola, Elmgreen), the R&B Musical Warm, But I’m a Cheerleader (conceptual director), Hoods and Hoofers (Rob Lindsay Nassif) and LUCK!(Brad Ross and Mark Waldrop). Full productions include; Ragtime, Carousel, Wild Party (Lippa), The Most Happy Fella, Flora The Red Menace, Little Women, My Name is Alice, Urinetown, Violet, Pippin, Into The Woods, Funny Girl, and A Grand Night for Singing. Amy has assisted critically acclaimed director Lonny Price on the Pre-Broadway workshop of 110 in The Shade starring Audra McDonald, the Emmy Award-winning Passion for Live at Lincoln Center on PBS (Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Michael Cerveris); Candide with the New York Philharmonic (Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth); Anyone Can Whistle at the Ravinia Festival, and both Kismet (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie) and Can-Can with Encores! at City Center.

TERRANOVA COLLECTIVE is a vibrant playground for artists devoted to innovative new and original theatrical works. Our multi-layered development process, solo arts festivals, and productions serve to nurture and liberate New York City. terraNOVA is best known for its’ soloNOVA Arts Festival, as well as the Groundbreakers Program, a unique way of fostering and nurturing new work throughout the developmental phases. terraNOVA is proud to be a theatre in residence at the DR2 Theatre in Union Square.www.terranovacollective.org

PACE MUSICAL THEATER PROGRAM, a part of the Performing Arts Department at Pace University, began with six majors in 2002, and has grown to 100 majors in just six years. In 2006, Pace became only the second school in New York City to offer a BFA in Musical Theater. The Pace New Musicals Program was developed in 2007 to nurture the creation of new musical theater in New York City, while at the same time providing an invaluable educational opportunity for students to work directly with top professionals in the field. Perhaps most importantly, the program allows students to experiment with new, untested works without precedent-setting productions, a rare opportunity in theater education.

Friday, July 3, 2009

It Ain't Black Box Theater But 22Leroy Will Do Just Fine For This Week's Review




Although we should be doing Black Box Theater NYC today, we caught the 22Leroy band in the East Village Monday night at Fontana’s Bar with Wes Shippee on keyboard/lead vocals and we just had to share the experience with you. 22Leroy self describes their genre as Rock-Pop-Alternative and we agree adding only very cool and rocking the clean cut.
While our assessment of “clean cut” could be the death of many bands playing bars in the Village, their high energy and high spirited style was surprisingly refreshing. You could actually feel safe letting your seventeen year old daughter see the show; I know this for a fact since my kid came along with me to check them out.

Not to be misleading, I must say the women over 21 did all they could to deflower the group’s innocents with alcohol induced shouts of “ I’ll love you” and “take your shirt for me please”, but they held their composure and simply let the music answer their fans request.
I could write volumes about this really cool band, but I won’t waste the copy and let you see for yourselves. .
Click here to download the performance. Click here to view at our movie channel
BTW, you are going to see a lot more of Wes Shippee here at RetroVision Media in the coming months, as he is part of a documentary we are doing on
Radio Theatre
 
Here are some links you need to find out more on this band and what they are doing around town:
22leroy.commyspace.com/
22leroymusicsonicbids.com/
22leroytwitter.com
/22leroy