STAGED READINGS
The Merry Devil of Edmonton
By (Not) Shakespeare
A supernatural rom-com that was one of the most popular plays of the early modern era. Featuring original theremin accompaniment by Sarah Rice and a new ending by Ben Prusiner.
Featuring Opal Alladin, Sheila Bandyopadhyay, Alexander Carney, Dan de Jesus, Carson Elrod, Adam Green, Andrus Nichols, Rebecca S'manga Frank, David Ryan Smith, Derek Smith, Raphael Nash Thompson, Ryan Brooke Taylor, Sam Tsoutsouvas, and Andrew Weems.
Produced by Red Bull Theater. Post-show discussion with Pamela Allen Brown.
The Atheist's Tragedy
by Cyril Tourneur
"Let all men lose, so I increase my gain;
I have no feeling of another's pain."
Will God punish him? This spine-tingling tale of murder, revenge and deceit by “one of the most shadowy figures of Jacobean drama” follows a ruthless atheist in his uncompromising pursuit of wealth and power.
Produced by Red Bull Theater
Featuring Johnny Lee Davenport, Jacob Fishel, Ryan Garbayo, Philip Goodwin, Miriam A. Hyman, Whit Leyenberger, Kathryn Meisle, Bhavesh Patel, Tom O'Keefe, Raphael Nash Thompson, Alexander Sovronsky, Sam Tsoutsouvas, Alejandra Venancio, Lisa Wolpe
with live music by Alexander Sovronsky
Post-show discussion with Gail Kern Paster, Director Emerita of the Folger Library
The Catiline Conspiracy
by Ben Jonson
Which will triumph - dictatorship or democracy? Not performed in over 400 years, this little-known play was written a decade after Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and takes place nearly 20 years earlier in Roman history. Ben Jonson's blank-verse translations of Cicero's Latin speeches are sophisticated forerunners of documentary theatre. This reading featured cast members from the company's summer production of Caesar.
With Andrew Borthwick-Leslie, Nigel Gore, Charls Hall, Cloteal Horne, Adam Huff, Dennis Krausnick, Mat Leonard, Carmen-maria Mandley, Tina Packer, Douglas Seldin, Eric Tucker, James Udom
Dramaturgy by Alissa Mesibov
Produced by Carmen-maria Mandley & the Shakespeare & Company Fringe Festival
Cut & Paste
by Prabha Pandey
Ben directed one of the winners of the Castillo Theatre’s international political play-writing contest. The playwright flew from New Delhi to New York to attend. This touching piece about mental illness had an experimental structure of speeches and scenes that mirrored the disintegration of the mind from Alzheimers.
Produced by the Castillo Theatre
Cast: Judy Gyle, Janetta King, Gloria Miguel, Shubhra Prakash, Anil Ramani, Rao Rampilla, Mary Round, Zenobia Shroff, Bernard Tarver
Stage Managed by Sarah Jones
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
by Thomas Middleton
Money and marriage collide in this cacophonous city comedy as poor Moll contends with the aptly-named Whorehound, her arranged husband to be. How chaste would you be?
Produced by Red Bull Theater
Featuring Bill Army, Jenny Bacon, Sheila Bandyopadhyay, David Barlow, Nigel Gore, Miriam Hyman, Colby Lewis, Ted Lewis, Renata Melillo, Caitlin O'Connell, Petronia Paley, Liv Rooth, Raphael Nash Thompson, Sam Tsoutsouvas, Marc Vietor, Andrew Weems
The Massacre at Paris
by Christopher Marlowe
Adapted by Ben Prusiner
This adaptation played on the idea that Shakespeare's play Love's Labour's Lost was a prequel to Marlowe's Massacre at Paris. Based on recent historical events, Marlowe's play detailed the religious warfare between Protestant King Navarre and the Catholic French court. This reading was presented outdoors to explore the mood of a massacre in the streets. Much of the original text has been lost, so Ben wrote a narrator character: Marlowe himself.
Produced by Re:Verse Theatre, Presented by Accidental Shakespeare Company with support from Red Bull Theater.
Cast: Polly Adams, Yinka Adebola, Joie Bauer, Andrew Borthwick-Leslie,Alexander D Carney, John Hardin, Whit Leyenberger, Jamie Nelson,Lindsay Tanner, Ryan Brooke Taylor, Kevin Vavasseur
The Roaring Girl
by Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton
Based on a real woman named Moll Cutpurse who wore men's clothes, smoked tobacco, and beat men in duels, this renaissance comedy is a glorious celebration of all the different types of people in London. Soon after the original premier in 1611, Moll herself took the stage (which was illegal for women to do), wore men's clothing (also illegal) and sang a bawdy song (you guessed it: illegal). We know all this from the court record of her arrest. This play, written by some of the most socially conscious playwrights of the era, is a lively tribute to a brave pioneer in female independence and performance.
Click here to read the article from Broadwayworld.com
Produced by Red Bull Theater at the Lucille Lortel, off-Broadway
Cast: Sheila Bandyopadhyay, Emily Bergl, Justin Blanchard, Michael Braun, Rebecca Brooksher, Clifton Duncan, Miriam Hyman, Whit Leyenberger, David Manis, Alex Morf, Tom O’Keefe, Bhavesh Patel,
Rocco Sisto, Raphael Nash Thompson, Sam Tsoutsouvas, Lisa Wolpe
Original live music by Pearl Rhein
Stage Managed by Mary Spadoni
Othello
This reading examined the often-overlooked religious aspects of "the Moor" in the Christian society of Renaissance Venice and Cyprus, with parallels and questions for the western world today.
Produced by Alchemist Theatre
With Rahi Azizi, Al Badger, Ava Roy, Brian Trybom, Kate Willett.
Original music in English and Farsi by Arianne Shamszad