|
| Share:
Personal Dreams Clash with Family Responsibility and
Racial Prejudice in Three American Women:
A Trilogy
A Taut Trio of One-Acts Presented by Vincent Scott
and Lori Marra
Beginning July 13 at the June Havoc Theatre
In Association with The Midtown International Theatre
Festival
A hard-charging lawyer from New England struggles with
demands made by her Indian heritage while forever fighting the perception
that all dark-skinned people with foreign accents are terrorists; an elderly
African-American woman just wants to go home to Alabama, but instead gets
caught up in what she perceives is racially-based con game at a local garage;
a 23 year-old Taiwan girl (and recent American citizen) prattles on and
on about how her life will turn out, with no desire to move beyond her
current position as a menial store clerk.
These three inward journeys, all dealing with racial immigration
and integration, appear together under the umbrella title of Three
American Women: A Trilogy. Very loosely connected with one another,
these stories, written by Lori Marra and directed by Vincent Scott, will
begin performances on June 13 at the June Havoc Theatre, located at 312
West 36th Street, as part of the Eleventh Annual Midtown International
Theatre Festival.
"What drew me to these stories was the dark thread
of irony running through each of then," director Scott explained.
These are women who are initially in a place of finally getting what they
want, be it having a career, to be able to go home, or just being able
to glide through life, when circumstances, or their own inactivity, threaten
to destroy all they believe is rightfully theirs. The big question of course,
is how they react to these situations."
The three individual pieces are entitled "Indian
Summer," "Hold Up At The Continental Garage," and "Maid-an
Taiwan;" and feature Paulina Braham, Nalini Sharma, Iftiaz Haroon,
Antoinette Dailey, James Heaphy* and Jarett Karlsberg. Three American
Women is an Equity Showcase.
With writings that cross several genres, including a book
of prayers for animals, short stories, poetry, and technical papers, Lori
Marra began her career as a playwright in 1999. Her full-length play,
Mystic Castle, won top honors at Geva Theatre’s Regional Writers Showcase
and will move into full production in November. Last year, Hold Up At The
Continental Garage ran at the American Theatre of Actors and Manhattan
Repertory Theatre in NYC. Her work No Smoking premiered at the Guernsey
Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Club in the U.K. in 2006 and was seen at
the Spokane Civic Theatre in 2007. Rochester's Spotlight Theatre in Rochester
has produced three of her works, including the comedy Indaba. The Italian-American
Community Center in Rochester recently named Lori the Italian-American
Woman of the Year in the Arts. A member of the Dramatists Guild, her current
work Dinosaur Man, centers on Rocco, an elderly Italian grappling with
growing old. For more information, go to http://www.lorimarra.com
.
Vincent Scott's most recently directed Two Alone
Too Together by Peter Welch at Theatre for the New City. This is his second
year at the MITF, having helmed The American Black Box there last summer.
Other New York directing credits include Hold Up At The Continental Garage
(American theatre of Actors, Manhattan Repertory Theater Festival), A Trip
to the Orient, Barbed Wire, Blithe Spirit, Aesop Rocks, Waiting for Lefty,
The Dining Room, Dillon, The Wager, Laundry and Bourbon, Line, The Indian
Wants The Bronx (the last three at the 13th Street Theatre) and House,
an original opera. He has also directed productions for Theater Rapport
Company in Los Angeles, the Joan White Theater School in London and Trinity
College in Dublin.
The Midtown International Theatre Festival, now in its
eleventh year, celebrates the diversity of theatre. The MITF welcomes theatrical
storytelling across a broad spectrum of genres, forms, identities, cultures,
and appetites. The MITF seeks to nurture these new ideas, perspectives,
and stories on its stages, with an eye set on guiding these productions
toward future success and longevity. The festival, traditionally held in
summer, represents a fantastic, often paradoxical, adventurous and intriguing
cross-section of the forefront of the theatre world. The MITF proudly hosts
production companies from across the country and around the globe, uniting
talent in one of the biggest theatre capitals in the world. For more information,
go to http://www.midtownfestival.org
Running from July 13th to July 31st, American Woman will
be performed at the June Havoc Theatre, located at 312 West 36th Street
(between 8th & 9th Avenues) on the first floor. Show times are: Tuesday,
July 13th at 8pm, Friday, July 16th at 5pm, Sunday, July 18th at 2:30pm,
Saturday, July 24th at 5pm, Tuesday, July 27th at 6pm and Saturday, July
31st at 8pm Tickets to all shows are $18.00. Reservations: at 866-811-4111
or http://www.midtownfestival.org
. Running time for Three American Women
is 90 minutes.
Members of the press are invited to al performances.
* *
*
Information for Listing Editors
WHAT:
Three American Women: A Trilogy
Written by Lori Marra
Directed by Vincent Scott
Part of the Eleventh Annual Midtown International Theatre
Festival
Featuring:
Paulina Braham, Nalini Sharma, Iftiaz Haroon, Antoinette
Dailey, James Heaphy* and Jarett Karlsberg. The production is an Equity
Showcase.
Synopsis:
A lawyer from New England is pressured to by her traditional
Indian family to follow the demands of her heritage; an elderly African-American
woman encounters what she is sure is a racially-based con game at a local
garage; and a newly-minted American citizen from Taiwan knows exactly what
she wants to happen with her life, but has no plan to make any of it come
true. The stories (all very loosely connected) form a trilogy of tales
looking at racial immigration and integration in the United States with
the specter of prejudice always present. Part of the Eleventh Annual Midtown
International Theatre Festival.
WHERE:
June Havoc Theater
312 West 36th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues
1st Floor
Please note: the theatre is wheelchair accessible
WHEN:
July 13th-July 31st
Tuesday, July 13th at 8pm
Friday, July 16th at 5pm
Sunday, July 18th at 2:30pm
Saturday, July 24th at 5pm
Tuesday, July 27th at 6pm
Saturday, July 31st at 8pm
TICKETS:
$18.00
RESERVATIONS:
866-811-4111 or http://www.midtownfestival.org
SUBWAY INFO:
Take the A, C, E, 1, 2 or 3 train to 34th Street
* - member of Actors' Equity
|
|