"RealPolitik" by Elyse Cogan and Ivy Livingston. Running time: 60 minutes. $15.  (world premiere) http://www.theaterforthenewcity.net or http://www.dreamupfestival.org 212-254-1109

 “Out, damn spot! Out, I say.” Is that Elizabeth Edwards washing her dirty laundry or Lady Macbeth? "Realpolitik" will make you wonder.  It’s a new morning for America as a US presidential hopeful floats his candidacy on YouTube.  He makes his announcement in front of a debris-strewn property in New Orleans Ninth Ward, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina a year before. But the cameras are missing the real breaking news.  Away from the campaign trail, in a diner on the edge of town, the candidate’s wife lies in wait, ready to ambush the candidate’s mistress.  The unraveling of this presidential campaign starts before it begins with a distinctly feminine battle for power that has no morals, just practical means of securing interests.  Power politics at it best, "Realpolitik" conjures Shakespearean overtones with singular parallels to "Macbeth."  This political satire shoots an arrow directly from 11th century Scotland to land with a bulls-eye into the heart of modern American political life.

This play is part of the "Dream Up Festival"; a theater festival that takes place at the Theater for the New City (TNC) from August 8 to September 5, 2010.