Friday, August 24, 2012

BROADWAY BOUND FOR 2012-2013 SEASON

Ten Contestants,|
Six Days,
One Truck. 
A new musical about
holding onto a dream…and not letting go.
HANDS
ON A
HARDBODY
MADE IN AMERICA
BROADWAY BOUND FOR 2012-2013 SEASON
BOOK BY
Pulitzer Prize Winner DOUG WRIGHT
LYRICS BY
AMANDA GREEN (Bring It On: The Musical)
MUSIC BY
TREY ANASTASIO (Phish)
 &
AMANDA GREEN
MUSICAL STAGING BY
BENJAMIN MILLEPIED (Black Swan)
DIRECTED BY
NEIL PEPE (Broadway’s Speed-The-Plow)
BASED ON THE DOCUMENTARY FILM BY
S.R. BINDLER AND KEVIN MORRIS
(May 29, 2012– New York, NY) Producers Broadway Across America (John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, Beth Williams), Rich Entertainment Group (Bob and Mindy Rich), Barbara Whitman, Latitude Link, Dede Harris, Sharon Karmazin, and Howard and Janet Kagan are proud to announce that the La Jolla Playhouse production of the new American musical HANDS ON A HARDBODY will bow on Broadway in the 2012-2013 season.
Inspired by true events and based on S.R. Bindler and Kevin Morris’ acclaimed 1997 documentary of the same name, the musical features a book by Doug Wright (Pulitzer Prize winner, I Am My Own Wife), lyrics by Amanda Green (Bring It On: The Musical), and music by Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Amanda Green. Directed by Neil Pepe (Broadway’s Speed-The-Plow) with musical staging by Benjamin Millepied (Black Swan), the world premiere production of HANDS ON A HARDBODY opened Saturday, May 12 at La Jolla Playhouse and will play there through Sunday, June 17. Theater, dates, casting, and ticket information for the Broadway production will be announced shortly.
For ten hard-luck Texans, a new lease on life is so close they can touch it. Under a scorching sun for days on end, armed with nothing but hope, humor and ambition, they'll fight to keep at least one hand on a brand new truck in order to win it. In the hilarious, hard-fought contest that is HANDS ON A HARDBODY only one winner can drive away with the American Dream.
HANDS ON A HARDBODY was commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse (Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director & Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director).
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

DOUG WRIGHT (Book) won the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for I Am My Own Wife in 2004. The play was developed at the Playhouse as the institution’s inaugural PageTo Stage workshop production. He received Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his book forthe Broadway musical Grey Gardens. He also authored the book for the stage incarnation ofDisney’s beloved film The Little Mermaid. In 2009, he adapted and directed August Strindberg’s Creditors for La Jolla Playhouse in a production that was named Best Play of the Year by the San Diego Critics Circle. His stage work has been seen internationally in countries from Japan to Romania. Mr. Wright won an Obie Award for his play Quills. He went on to write the screenplay adaptation, which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and received the Writer’s Guild of America’s Paul Selvin Award. The film garnered three Academy Award nominations and was named Best Picture by the National Board of Review. Other notable film work includes production rewrites on major releases at Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Foxand The Weinstein Company. For director Rob Marshall, he penned the television special Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which received seven Emmy Awards. Mr. Wright currentlyserves on the boards of the New York Theater Workshop, Yaddo and the Dramatists Guild. Heis a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and of the Writer’s Guild ofAmerica.
TREY ANASTASIO (Music). Composer/guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio is a founding member of Phish. One of the most successful and innovative rock bands of the last 30 years, Phish has built a career on uncompromising musicianship and spectacular live performances. Anastasio – who also tours regularly with Trey Anastasio Band – has received GRAMMY® nominations for his recordings with Phish and for his solo work.  He has collaborated with such artists as Dave Matthews, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Toots and the Maytals, B.B. King and The Roots, and – as part of the trio Oysterhead – Les Claypool (Primus) and Stewart Copeland (The Police). Named by Rolling Stone as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, Anastasio has performed his original compositions with numerous symphonies, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The New York Times hailed Anastasio’s Carnegie Hall performance with the New York Philharmonic as “that rarest of rarities, a classical-rock hybrid that might please partisans from both constituencies.” He is currently at work on a new solo album, which will be released this fall.
AMANDA GREEN (Music and Lyrics) co-wrote the lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical which will open on Broadway this July at The St. James Theater following its successful National tour. She wrote the lyrics for High Fidelity on Broadway. Tapped by Arthur Laurents, she wrote additional lyrics for the revival of Hallelujah Baby (Arena Stage, directed by Mr. Laurents). She co-starred/wrote the lyrics for For the Love of Tiffany: A Wifetime Original Musical (NY Fringe Festival). Winner of The Jonathan Larson Award and Abe Ohlman Award for Excellence in Songwriting, she has written episodes of The Wonder Pets for Nick, Jr. and comic essays for Playboy Magazine. In addition to Hands on a Hardbody, Ms. Green and Trey Anastasio have penned songs, a few of which he performs with his bands Phish and TAB. Ms. Green performs her songs everywhere from Birdland to The Bluebird Café in Nashville. Her revue, Put a Little Love in Your Mouth! The Songs of Amanda Green, sold out at Off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theater and Joe’s Pub.
NEIL PEPE (Director) directed the acclaimed Broadway revival of Speed-the-Plow starring Raul Esparza, Jeremy Piven and Elisabeth Moss, as well as the recent Broadway production of David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre, starring Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight. Since 1992, he has been the Artistic Director of the award-winning Atlantic Theater Company, which has produced more than 125 plays, establishing itself as one of the premiere Off-Broadway theater companies. Off-Broadway, he recently directed the world premiere of Happy Hour by Ethan Coen, continuing their collaboration after Offices and Almost an Evening. In the fall, he directed the world premiere of Adam Rapp’s Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling at the Atlantic. Other recent shows include the revival of Frank Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses at Center Theatre Group, starring Martin Sheen, Frances Conroy and Brian Geraghty; David Mamet’s Keep Your Pantheon and School; Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song, his third collaboration with the playwright following the American premieres of The Night Heron and Mojo; David Pittu’s What’s That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling and its transfer to New World Stages; David Mamet’s Romance and its run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; Howard Korder’s Sea of Tranquility; The Beginning of August by Tom Donaghy, starring Mary Steenburgen at South Coast Repertory and Atlantic; Harold Pinter’s Celebration and The Room; and the revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo starring William H. Macy, Phillip Baker Hall and Mark Webber, which had its initial run at the Donmar Warehouse in London before moving to New York.
BENJAMIN MILLEPIED (Musical Staging). Born in Bordeaux, France, Benjamin Millepied began his dance training at the age of eight with his mother Catherine Millepied, a modern dancer. He studied classical ballet at the Conservatoire National de Lyon and later at the School of American Ballet --the official school of the New York City Ballet, becoming principal dancer at the company in 2001. A sought-after dancer and choreographer with an extensive repertoire that includes featured and premiere roles in works by Balanchine, Robbins, Wheeldon, Martins, and Ratmansky, among others, Millepied has directed the Morris Center Dance Workshop and has held the post of Choreographer-in-Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, in New York. Millepied's works have been commissioned, premiered, and presented in collaboration with the Grand Théâtre de Genève; Paris Opera Ballet; Metropolitan Opera; New York City Ballet; Joyce Theatre New York; Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, and many others. For a full list of works, please visit www.benjaminmillepied.com. In 2010, Millepied choreographed and starred in Darren Aronofsky’s feature film “Black Swan”. In the same year he was made Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. The 2012-13 season will inaugurate the newly-conceived L.A. Dance Project -- an art collective that aims to establish new models for creative collaboration with the goal of reaching out to broader audiences. Millepied's upcoming projects include choreography for a world premiere for the New York City Ballet; the musical "Hands on a Hardbody" for La Jolla Playhouse; and an animated feature for Quad Productions. Benjamin Millepied is the face of Yves Saint Laurent’s new fragrance “l’homme libre”.

BROADWAY COMES TO LOWER MANHATTAN!

CONCERT

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012
WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER PLAZA, NEW YORK
12:30pm

Free outdoor concert in the heart of downtown

PRODUCED BY THE BROADWAY LEAGUE
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ARTS BROOKFIELD

SPONSORED BY UNITED AIRLINES
(New York, NY) August 21, 2012 -- United Airlines’ Taste of Broadway concert will take place in lower Manhattan on Thursday, August 23rd at 12:30pm – 1:15pm at the World Financial Center Plaza (220 Vesey Street between North End Ave. and West St.) The free outdoor concert will be hosted by 2012 Tony Award® winners Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath, who are currently performing in Nice Work If You Can Get It, and will feature performances from Broadway shows. The Taste of Broadway concert is a sneak peek of the upcoming “Broadway on Broadway” concert that will take place on September 9th in Times Square.
Participating shows to date* include:

CHICAGO
MAMMA MIA!
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
ROCK OF AGES
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
*subject to change

Additional information can be found on www.ILoveNYTheater.com.

Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League, stated, "There's a popular line that Broadway is the longest street in the world, so it makes sense that we're expanding our reach to lower Manhattan. We're thrilled for the opportunity to bring some of our brightest talents downtown to provide a sampling of Broadway, adding some razzle dazzle to lunchtime!"

“When Broadway’s biggest musicals make their way to Lower Manhattan for the very first time, it will bring to life this already vibrant community of workers, families and tourists,” said Debra Simon, Vice President and Artistic Director of Arts Brookfield. “Arts Brookfield is thrilled to work with the Broadway League and United Airlines to continue our commitment to presenting the best, free arts and culture programming in one of the busiest business hubs in the world.”

United Airlines is the title sponsor of Taste of Broadway and the official airline of The Broadway League.

About The Broadway League
The Broadway League, founded in 1930, is the national trade association for the Broadway industry.  The League’s 700-plus members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 240 North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry. Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 30 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.BroadwayLeague.com, or follow The Broadway League on Twitter @TheBwayLeague or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BroadwayLeague.

About Arts Brookfield
Since 1988 more than 3.5 million people have enjoyed over 2,500 cultural events at the World Financial Center presented by Arts Brookfield, one of the largest free, year-round, privately funded performing and visual arts programs on the east coast. As an initiative of Brookfield Office Properties, the owner, developer and manager of premier office properties in the United States, Canada and Australia, Arts Brookfield animates public spaces in major cities across North America including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver and Toronto. Brookfield’s portfolio is comprised of interests in 110 properties totaling 78 million square feet in the downtown cores of New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Denver, Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, making it the global leader in the ownership and management of office assets

Labyrinth Theater Company Announces 2012-13 Season at the Bank Street Theater

LABYRINTH THEATER COMPANY
ANNOUNCES 2012-2013 SEASON
AT THE BANK STREET THEATER
21ST SEASON INCLUDES THREE WORLD PREMIERE PLAYS
BY COMPANY MEMBERS CUSI CRAM, BOB GLAUDINI, STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS
AND DIRECTION BY PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN

New York, NY (July 31, 2012) Labyrinth Theater Company (Co-Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O’Donnell, Yul Vázquez and Managing Director, Danny Feldman), Off-Broadway’s home of groundbreaking and incendiary theater, today announced its 2012-2013 season of new works, including the three World Premiere productions of: Radiance byCusi Cram, A Family for All Occasions, written by Bob Glaudini,and a new play by Stephen Adly Guirgis.All three plays will be presented at the Bank Street Theater (155 Bank Street), Labyrinth Theater Company’s new home in New York City’s West Village.
Opening the 2012-2013 Season in the Fall is the new play, Radiance by Cusi Cram, directed by Suzanne Agins. In 1955, at El Gato Negro - a seedy bar just off Hollywood Boulevard - a mysterious stranger arrives and quickly turns the quiet universe of the local watering hole upside down. Radiance spans ten years and thousands of miles, delving into a single moment in time that irrevocably changed the world. It retraces the human fallout of fragile, ordinary people forever caught in the cross-hairs of history.
Up next, in the Spring of 2013, is A Family for All Occasions, written by Bob Glaudini and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. The play tells the story of Howard, who just wants to express himself and be lent an ear! But his wife is way past listening, and his teen-aged kids prefer their Dad rarely seen and never heard. So when his promiscuous daughter’s latest suitor drops by with his flair for words and odd devotion to family, Howard’s prayers appear answered -- until his home life is thrown dangerously and irrevocable off-course. A Family for All Occasions is a wry, heartfelt comedy from the author of Jack Goes Boating and A View from 151st Street.
Concluding Labryinth’s 21st season in the summer of 2013 is a new playby our Co-Artistic Director, Stephen Adly Guirgis.  Whether it's a few Saints fighting over Judas's fate or a bunch of down-and-outs dreaming of a land in which they'd all be kings, Mr. Guirgis’s plays tackle life’s biggest questions with a streetwise wit and an open heart – always searching for that touch of grace in an ugly, violent world.  This season, Labyrinth is thrilled to present the latest work from the Tony-nominated author of The Motherf**ker With The Hat, Our Lady of 121st Street, and Jesus Hopped The A Train.
Alongside these three World Premiere productions, Labyrinth Theater Company is presenting two full festivals of play readings, free of charge, to their audiences. NEWYORKNEWYORK is a week-long tribute to the plays and culture of New York City featuring Labyrinth artists, friends, and special guests. They will be reading plays new and old from all over the five boroughs in order to create a diverse theatrical mosaic of the place we are proud to call home.  It will be a marathon and a party – kind of like living in the city that never sleeps. 

And coming back for its fourteenth consecutive year is the BARN SERIES, the annual festival of brand new plays, featuring the work of Labyrinth Company Members and guest artists engaged in Labyrinth’s unique development process.  The readings, which take place over the course of the entire Season, are the first public presentations of these dynamic new works.  It’s a rare chance for our audiences to participate in shaping plays that are eventually seen fully produced on our stage, as well as on stages across the country – and the world. 
In an effort to make great theater accessible to all New Yorkers, Labyrinth offers the Labpass, which gives our audience the chance to see all three shows in our 2012/13 Season for just $99.  Labpass holders are guaranteed the best seats in the house for the performances of their choice and receive front of the line access to all our events, including advance reservation privileges to our NEWYORKNEWYORK festival and the Barn Series.  It’s a chance to get up close and downtown with Labyrinth – all year long. 
To purchase a Labpass, and to find more information on the Season, please visit our dedicated Season website at labtheater.org/upclose.
Labyrinth receives generous, year-round support from the following sponsors: Bank of New York Mellon; and Morgans Hotel Group, the official hospitality partner of Labyrinth Theater Company.  Time Warner is the lead sponsor of new play development at Labyrinth Theater Company.
Additional support is provided by: Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Shubert Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.  Labyrinth acknowledges the generous support of The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Kate D. Levin, Commissioner.  Labyrinth’s productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
BIOS______________________________________________________________
Suzanne Agins (Director)is the Director of New Play Development at Dorset Theater Festival.   She made her Off- Broadway debut with the critically acclaimed world premiere of Jailbait by Deirdre O’Connor for the Cherry Lane Theatre.  Ms. Agins served as Artistic Associate for New Plays at Williamstown Theatre Festival from 2005-2007.  Other recent directing projects include:  Alligator by Hilary Bettis (Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference); Fuente Ovejuna: A Disloyal Adaptation by Cusi Cram, inspired by Lope de Vega's play, at Princeton University (developed with Labyrinth Theater Company); The Burden of Not Having a Tail by Carrie Barrett (Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference); Noel Coward's Fallen Angels at Dorset Theater Festival;  Lucy and the Conquest by Cusi Cram (World Premiere, Williamstown Theatre Festival);  Wing It, a new musical inspired by Aristophanes’ The Birds, by Gordon Cox and Kris Kukul (World Premiere, Williamstown Theatre Festival); three Maddy Mann stage shows created with Ryan Migge (Ars Nova, soloNOVA festival at the DR2, Dixon Place); Maddy Mann's webseries QUADS!; The Secret Narrative of the Phone Book by Gordon Cox (World Premiere, Kraine Theater); Lascivious Something by Sheila Callaghan (Cherry Lane Mentor Project).  She holds an MFA in Directing from the University of California, San Diego, is the recipient of a 2006 Princess Grace Directing Fellowship (Robert & Gloria Houseman Theater Award), an adjunct faculty member at Princeton University (her alma mater), and a member of SDC and the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab.
Cusi Cram (Playwright). Plays include: Dusty and the Big Bad World (Denver Theater Center), Lucy and the Conquest (Williamstown Theater Festival), All the Bad Things (LAByrinth Theater Company at the Public Theater), Fuente (Barrington Stage), The End of it All (South Coast Repertory), Landlocked (Miranda Theater), A Lifetime Burning (Primary Stages), and Fuente Ovejuna: A Disloyal Adaptation
(Lewis Center for the Arts). She has received commissions from The Atlantic Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, The Actors Theater of Louisville, Princeton University, New Georges, Rising Phoenix Rep, and The Echo Theater Company. Her work has also been produced and developed by: The O’Neill Playwrights Conference, The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, PS122, and the Dag Hammarskjold Theater at the United Nations, amongst others. She is the recipient of the Herrick Theater Foundation New Play Prize, a Camargo Foundation fellowship in Cassis, France, and was recently a Bogliasco Fellow in Italy. Her work is published by Samuel French, Smith & Kraus, Playscripts, and Broadway Publishing. Cusi has also received three Emmy award nominations for her extensive work in children’s television. She most recently was a story editor on the Showtime series “The Big C”, starring Laura Linney. Her play Dusty and the Big Bad World was optioned by Points West Films (Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt, producers). She is a founding playwright of The Fulcrum Theater, a member of Labyrinth Theater Company, and sits on New Georges’ Kitchen Cabinet and on the board of Leah’s FEWW (Fund for Emerging Women Writers). She teaches playwriting with Labyrinth and ESPA at
Primary Stages. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Lila Acheson American Playwright’s Program at Juilliard.
Bob Glaudini (Playwright). Labyrinth Company Member since 2004. Plays include A View From 151st Street, Jack Goes Boating, Dutch Heart of Man (Labyrinth); The Identical Same Temptation (Theater for a New City); On Borrowed Time, Against the Sun (Theater Genesis), and The Claiming Race, Sickness of Youth, and The Poison Tree (Mark Taper Forum). He also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of “Jack Goes Boating.” Acting credits include the World Premieres of Guinea Pig Solo and Ninth and Joanie by Brett C. Leonard.
Stephen Adly Guirgis (Playwright is a Co-Artistic Director and proud Member of Labyrinth Theater Company.  His plays have been performed on five continents and throughout the United States.  Jesus Hopped The A Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and The Little Flower of East Orange were all produced by Labyrinth and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Judas and Little Flower were co-productions with the Public Theater, and his Tony-Nominated Broadway debut The Motherf**ker With The Hat, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, was a co-production between Labyrinth, The Public Theater, and Scott Rudin.  Other plays include Den of Thieves (Labyrinth, dir. Max Daniels), Race Religion Politics (Labyrinth, dir. Charles Goforth), Dominica: The Fat Ugly Ho (EST Marathon, dir. Adam Rapp).  UK and regional premieres at the Donmar Warehouse (Olivier Nom.), the Almeida (dir. Rupert Goold), the Arts, the Hampstead, Edinburgh (Fringe First Award) and two Midwest premieres at Steppenwolf.  New Dramatists alumnus, MCC Playwrights and Ojai Playwrights member.  TV writing credits include NBC's "UC: Undercover," David Milch's CBS Drama "Big Apple," "NYPD Blue," and "The Sopranos."
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Director) Labyrinth Company Member since 1995. Former LAByrinth Co-Artistic Director (1999-2009). Directing credits for Labyrinth include The Little Flower of East Orange, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street, Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train and In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings all by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Other directing credits include: Andrew Upton’s play Riflemind (Sydney Theatre Company), Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living (MCC Theater), Brett C. Leonard’s The Long Red Road (Chicago’s Goodman Theatre) and True West (Sydney Theatre Company). As an actor, his stage credits include Death of a Salesman, Othello, Jack Goes Boating, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Seagull, True West, Defying Gravity, The Merchant of Venice, Shopping and F**king and The Author’s Voice. His film credits include Ides of March, Moneyball, Jack Goes Boating (feature film directorial debut), Pirate Radio, Doubt, Synecdoche NY, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Mission Impossible III, Capote, Cold Mountain, Love Liza, Punch-Drunk Love, 25th Hour, Almost Famous, State and Main, Flawless, Magnolia, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Boogie Nights, Happiness, The Big Lebowski, and Scent of a Woman.
Labyrinth Theater Company (Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell, Yul Vázquez, Artistic Directors; Danny Feldman, Managing Director) is a diverse, award-winning ensemble of artists who have changed the face of American theater through groundbreaking productions of provocative new plays.  Founded in 1992 by a group of actors who wanted to push their artistic limits and tell new, more inclusive stories that expanded the boundaries of mainstream theater, Labyrinth has grown into a nationally renowned company of actors, directors, playwrights and designers from a wide array of cultural perspectives. Over the past 20 years, Labyrinth has developed hundreds of original works and premiered 57 new American plays here in New York including Guinea Pig Solo, Jack Goes Boating, Jesus Hopped The A Train, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street, Sailor’s Song, Sistah Supreme, and the Company’s multi-Tony nominated Broadway debut, The Motherf**ker With The Hat.
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