Archive: Arts & Entertainment

June 11, 2006 (ITHACA, NY)- There’s an unprecedented amount of activity in the Hangar Theatre this summer—a Mainstage season of five productions (one of which is actually comprised of FOUR classic Greek plays) and a Kiddstuff series that features eleven shows for the whole family. Thanks to four emerging directors and the Hangar’s Lab Company, there are at least eight more cutting edge productions “wedged” into the season as well. The Hangar Theatre is proud to announce the 2006 Lab Company Wedge Season.

An alternative theatrical space cut out of the Hangar’s lobby, the Wedge is the three-sided realm of the Lab Company’s exciting series of new plays, classic tales, and experimental work. The free-admission shows of the Wedge take place on select nights both before and after Mainstage performances and are helmed by four young artists from the Drama League Directors Project: Arin Arbus, Peter James Cook, Michael Silverstone, and Pirrone Yousefzadeh. The summer is split into four “rotations” for the visiting directors, allowing each to have an opportunity to direct one Kiddstuff performance, two plays in the Wedge—one established play of his or her choice and one original script from the Hangar’s Annual New Play Contest—and also to serve one rotation as the Lab Company Producer, overseeing the overall work of the company.

The Wedge offers an atmosphere of experimentation and innovation in which the entire Lab Company—actors, designers, playwrights, and directors—can explore their craft. Shows in this space frequently challenge the audience as well as the performers. The spatial limitations of the performance area force the imagination of spectators and artists alike into new and often unexpected terrain. Free reservations for any Wedge performance can be made in advance.

MISGIVINGS by Cristina Pippa
Directed by Peter James Cook
June 13 at 5:30, June 14 at 10:30, June 15 at 5:30, June 16 at 11:00, June 22 at 5:30, June 24 at 11:00
It’s 1962 and Betty McGiveney has to memorize all 50 state capitols. Minnie McGiveney is hiding a hickey. Brenna McGiveney is setting the table and Michael McGiveney just wants to read the paper. Will everybody be ready for dinner in five minutes? What about for the end of the world? A startling new play about a nation beneath the sword of Damocles. Part of the Lab Company New Play Festival.

ICARUS’ MOTHER by Sam Shepard
directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
June 13 at 10:30, June 14 at 5:30, June 15 at 10:30, June 16 at 6:00, June 22 at 10:30, June 24 at 6:00
The Fourth of July.
Fireworks. A mysterious plane. Smoke signals.
Five friends’ lives change forever.

LEFT by Laura Henry
directed by Michael Silverstone
June 29 at 11:15, June 30 at 11:00, July 6 at 11:15, July 8 at 11:00
A revolution is at hand. Linked only by telephone, Sam and Posy spend their evenings sending postage prepaid reply envelopes back to the credit card companies that fill their mailboxes with junk mail. But on this night, as the unspoken secrets they share make their way out of the darkness, the fate of the revolution hangs by one tenuous thread. An examination of armchair activism, the weight of corporate America, and what happens when you fall in love with someone you’ve never actually met. Part of the Lab Company’s New Play Festival.

THE WEDDING RECEPTION by Anton Chekhov
directed by Arin Arbus
June 29 at 10:30, June 30 at 6:00, July 6 at 10:30, July 8 at 6:00
In Chekhov’s blustering minor masterpiece, slip-ups, squabbles, and extreme emotions quickly reduce Dashenka and Aplombov’s wedding reception to chaos.

WHAT HAPPENED TO BILL VIOLA? by Cory Hinkle
directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
July 20 at 5:30, July 21 at 11:00, July 27 at 5:30, July 29 at 11:00
On leave from her Banraku puppet piece on Amelia Erhart, Violet Foster brings Ithaca, NY her tour de force inquiry into the life of Bill Viola and a personal look at obsession. Guerilla video, emotional ballad and ground-breaking performance art converge to ask THE ONLY QUESTION THAT MUST BE ANSWERED. Part of the Lab Company’s New Play Festival.

THE INSECT GOD by Edward Gorey
directed by Michael Silverstone
July 20 at 10:30, July 21 at 6:00, July 27 at 10:30, July 29 at 6:00
theatricalized by the ensemble
from the short story by Edward Gorey
“O what has become of Millicent Frastley?
Is there any hope that she’s still alive?
Why haven’t they found her? Its rather ghastley
To think that the child was not yet five.”

This reflection, streaked with luminous slime, and insects working their
mysterious ways.

FLAG by Mike Batistik
directed by Arin Arbus
Aug 2 at 5:30, August 3 at 10:30, August 4 at 6:00
Guyson is a man of fervent religious convictions. But when his convictions get him into trouble, he retreats with his sister to a deserted childhood hideaway in the Florida panhandle. When the two of them arrive, however, they can’t escape the feeling that there’s someone else in the room with them. Part of the Lab Company’s New Play Festival.

BLUEBEARD by Charles Ludlam
directed by Peter James Cook
August 2 at 10:30, August 3 at 5:30, August 4 at 11:00
In dialogue equal parts B-movie and Byron, Marlowe and Molière, Bluebeard tells the harrowing tale of a lovelorn vivisectionist’s bargain with the occult. Venture into the alchemical laboratory of Dr. Khanazar von Bluebeard (somewhere off the coast of Maine) and witness a bizarre fable of ambition, cruelty, necromancy, revenge, resurrection, loyalty, folly and love. A pitiless production of the savage and hilarious classic.

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