The Tank
354 West 45th Street
between 8th and 9th Aves.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
May 13, 14, 15 2010 9:30 pm
Click to Buy Tickets: $15
Two one-act plays, each adapted from other works, one literary the other visual. THE MAD BROOKLYNITE, based on short stories by novelist Jonathan Lethem, poses the question, what happens when you ask directions of a stranger on a Brooklyn subway platform? SUNLIGHT IN A CAFETERIA imagines the two subjects of an Edward Hopper painting come to life, fully aware that they are in a work of art.
Followed by a conversation about art, authority, inspiration and appropriation.
The Mad Brooklynite
by Ben Bowman
based upon the short stories “The Mad Brooklynite” and “Breakfast at Brelreck’s”
by Jonathan Lethem
directed by Ben Bowman
with Ato Essandoh, Clare Barron and Almeria Campbell
Sunlight in a Cafeteria
by Anna Ziegler
directed by Dina Leytes
with Jessica Dickey and Andrew Garman
Produced by Dina Leytes and Gbenga Akinnagbe
About the Plays:
The Mad Brooklynite is a dramatic re-working of two short stories by Brooklyn writer Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn, 1999 National Book Critics Circle Award Winner; Fortress of Solitude, 2003 NY Times Best Seller) by filmmaker Ben Bowman, staging his first play. Set in a Brooklyn subway station, a young traveler seeks directions from an eccentric borough denizen.
Sunlight in a Cafeteria is a beautiful and haunting recasting of an Edward Hopper painting. It depicts the two lone figures of the painting as having come to life. The author of Sunlight in a Cafeteria is Anna Ziegler, a Brooklyn playwright. Anna recently won the Third Annual STAGE Competition for her play Photograph 51, which was judged by David Auburn, John Guare, David Lindsay-Abaire and two Nobel Laureates.
About the Production Team:
Dina Leytes (Producer/Director Sunlight in a Cafeteria):
In 2009, Dina produced Two Girls, a solo show about two girls, one black, one white, coming of age in post-apartheid South Africa. Two Girls played to sold-out audiences as part of the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C., and the Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. Dina has directed Beckett’s Play and Chekhov’s The Bear at Stanford University and assisted on professional productions of Antigone and Stolen Child in Dublin, Ireland. Dina is an attorney with the firm Lewis & Hand, LLP, where she concentrates her practice on intellectual property law.
Gbenga Akinnagbe (Producer):
Gbenga Akinnagbe is best recognized from his role as enforcer Chris Partlow on HBO's acclaimed series, THE WIRE. Since then, Gbenga (the first “G” is silent) has worked at the The Public Theatre, Shakespeare in the Park, and appears in the world premier of the one person show The Thin Place at Seattle's Intiman Theater in the Spring of 2010. Gbenga made his film debut in the Oscar nominated, THE SAVAGES, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney. His latest projects include Tony Scott's THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 with Denzel Washington and John Travolta, EDGE OF DARKNESS alongside Mel Gibson for director Martin Campbell and THE GOOD WIFE on CBS. Gbenga is a producer of the film Knucklehead.
Ben Bowman (Writer/Director The Mad Brooklynite):
Ben grew up acting in the regional theaters of Minneapolis, Minnesota before becoming a filmmaker. His award-winning short films, including "New Detroit" (2001), have screened at festivals around the world. Ben’s Brooklyn set feature screenplay Knucklehead was written with Bryan Abrams. Their twist on the gritty urban drama won a cash prize as a finalist for the 2006 Richard Vague Award. Ben's 2003 screenplay One Thousand Feet Deep, an off-beat seafaring thriller, won the Minnesota Independent Film Fund, the nation's only development grant for independent features. Ben holds an MFA from the NYU/Tisch graduate film program, where he has also taught. “The Mad Brooklynite” is his first play.
The Housewife, 2009 Alfred Steiner
Image Design by Juliana Kreinik
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