West End Theatre

Written by Rachel Crothers and directed by Katrin Hilbe
Starring Anna Malinoski, Loren Dunn, Chris Gatterdam, Michael Deleget, Rhonda Ayers, Ann Parker, Ben Sumrall, Dan Jacoby, Stephanie Schweitzer

In the dramedy Mary the Third, three generations of Marys ponder the question--Is there only one love in a lifetime or is free love the solution? Rachel Crother's classic wit and shrewd observations show us that every generation will struggle anew to answer the pesky relationship riddle!

Produced in 1923, it is interesting to note how relevant the question remains, and how, 80 years later, we still want to avoid the mistakes of our elders, but continue to let our desires trump our most brilliant thinking!

Five Russian revolutionaries plan an assassination. Under what circumstances does justice demand murder? Les Justes, "the just ones," is a play in five acts by Albert Camus following the attempt by a group of socialist revolutionaries to liberate the people of Russia from the yoke of the aristocracy. The play, based on historical events, explores the notion of what defines an occupation, portraying tsarist aristocrats as an illegitimate, outside force acting to suppress the freedom of the Russian people. By inviting an associate artist to present a new, English-language translation of a French play about the Russian Revolution, Stone Soup examines the critical issues of liberty and identity in a global context. Albert Camus (Playwright) is a Nobel Prize-winning French novelist, essayist, and playwright. While best known for such novels as L'Étranger (The Stranger), La Peste (The Plague), and La Chute (The Fall), he was also a well-known playwright (Caligula, Cross Purpose), journalist, and activist in leftist causes. In 1941, he joined the French resistance movement against the Nazis and became editor of the underground newspaper, Combat. Camus was primarily associated with the existentialist movement, though he preferred not to associate himself with any one school of thought. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Adam Hunault (Translator/Director) is a writer and Michigan native. A fluent French-speaker, he has lived and worked in France several times over the past few years, making him an ideal candidate to tackle the translation of this pivotal Camus work. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, his short story "The Royal Flush Saga," was published in the Winter 2007 issue of The Iowa Review. "Penetralia," a play he co-authored with members of Stone Soup Theater Arts in 2006, discussed the dangers of doing away with personal privacy and was the company's most popular play to date. His politically-charged one-act satire, "The Maguffin", was performed by Stone Soup in April 2007 causing the Gay CIty News to proclaim "This is what satire should be!" Stone Soup Theatre Arts was founded in 2001 in order to produce socially conscious, ensemble-based work. Each season, the company examines a new contemporary social issue, presenting a published work by an established playwright and an original piece, written collaboratively after months of research. The company's productions, created to initiate change both outside and inside the theater through its balance of activism and art, have been featured in USA Today, The Village Voice, and The Jewish Week. NYTheatre.com commended Stone Soup's ability to "see the human journey through the eyes of many races, homelands, and periods in time [and using] the theatre as a means to educate." The staged reading of Les Justes will be presented on September 16th and 17th at 7:00PM at the West End Theater (W. 86th St. and West End Avenue). Tickets are $10 and include a post-show discussion with the cast/creative team and a special guest. Following Les Justes, the Staging Occupation Reading Series will continue with the following works at various NYC venues: The Jewish Wife by Bertolt Brecht - October 14 & 15, 2007 Directed by Gia Forakis The Yellow Boat by David Saar- November 18 & 19, 2007 Directed by DR Mann Hanson The Cure at Troy by Sophocles - January 27 & 28, 2008 Directed by Kate Temple-West Translated by Seamus Heaney

Enjoy the entertaining style of David Ives with his two one-act plays, "Sure Thing" and "Variations on the Death of Trotsky". Relationships, romance and history are explored through Ives' undeniable flair for comedy, and the use of a single ringing bell. It is an evening of theater with something for everyone!

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre celebrates Asian Heritage month with a PAN ASIAN FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS, the premiere of four original work theatre pieces written by and performed by emerging Asian-Americans.

Line up is as follows:

RECOLLECTIONS
a Butoh-Inspired Movement
by Kendra Ware
The last day of a homeless woman.

ELEVATOR SEX
by Lan Tran
Five strangers stuck in an elevator on 9/11: a surfer, an immigrant, a professional hugger, a model and a pickpocket. What is the one thing they have in common? Post traumatic sex disorder, the new PTSD. In this dark comedy, the trapped elevator is a metaphor for all the trauma in their lives.

ABC
(American Born Chinese)
by John Quincy Lee
ABC was written, to ask: why isn't there one single American Asian leading man in American film or television? Why can't we name one single Asian American anchorman when we watch the news? Where are our Asian American role models?

38TH PARALLELS
by Terry Park
A multimedia, autobiographical solo performance of divisions and reunifications. Weaving together storytelling, character monologues, spoken word, hip hop and photographs, Park takes his audience on a fast and furious journey from his mother's house in Pyongyang to a Salt Lake City "nut house" to the World Cup in Seoul and all points in between, mixing and spinning multiple memories, voices, spaces, and histories to explore themes of migration, trauma, war, language, race, and rebellion.

The works will be presented in repertory.

An exciting program of new 10 minute plays. Eight talented emerging playwrights were commissioned to write a new piece based on one 3-hour period of the day. They were then paired up with eight thrilling young directors and given two weeks to cast, develop, and rehearse. Performed all together, the plays will encompass one 24-hour day. These eclectic new works – from the realistic to the fantastical, the serious to the absurd, including a new musical and an appearance by Fidel Castro, prove that a lot can happen in a DAY.

Curated by Michael Lew and Christopher Maring, the Dark Nights Series features everything from magic acts to dance, from new plays to cabaret. The Dark Nights Series is developmental, experimental, and just plain mental!

After sold-out performances in the New York International Fringe Festival, Nancy Ancowitz's play, "Cemetery of Lips," was selected in to the Six Figures Theatre Company Artists of Tomorrow Festival. Performances are on Saturday, October 1 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, October 2 at 5 p.m. at the West End Theatre at 263 West 86 Street, 2nd floor.

"Cemetery of Lips" is the story of a woman who thought she had nothing to say. With her signature brand of macabre humor and her deliciously surreal language, playwright Nancy Ancowitz lures us down the alimentary canal to a reservoir of unspoken thoughts and desires. Here amid her swallowed words, our intrepid heroine sets off to reclaim her missing truth. Fearless in its message, the play combines thrillingly poetic riffs, deliciously surreal rants, and a powerhouse performance with hand-drums and violin. Expect a wild ride. Bring your lips. Bring your chap stick.

Nancy Ancowitz is a nationally recognized marketing strategist and coach who helps people express themselves with confidence. She wrote "Cemetery of Lips" to mark her return to a creative life after a long stint in the corporate world. Originally developed as part of the Artists-In-Residence Program at Makor (West Side Center of the 92 Street Y), "Cemetery of Lips" was selected into the CUNY Human Rights Theatre Project. Ms. Ancowitz's full-length play, "Hablo, Diablo" (translation: "I Speak, Devil") enjoyed sold-out staged readings at Makor in May 2005.

Performer Jaye Austin Williams is an actor, director, playwright, teacher, and novelist. Her critically acclaimed performance of Suzan-Lori Parks' one-woman play, "Pickling," was presented at HERE, Joe's Pub, the Mint, and at the Cherry Lane. Jaye's work has been seen on and off Broadway and regionally. Her first novel, "Jasmine," will be published by HarperCollins in the fall of 2006.

Director Barbara Rubin made her Off-Broadway debut last season with Antigone Project at The Women's Project, and she was the associate director on the recent Broadway production of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Previously on Broadway she was assistant director on "The Dance of Death" and "The Elephant Man." She was also assistant director to Athol Fugard on "Sorrows and Rejoicings" at McCarter Theatre and at Second Stage in New York.

"Cemetery of Lips" is an enchanting spoken word performance. A percussive dream with a lot of surprises and a little bite....

By: Nancy Ancowitz
Directed by: Barbara Rubin
Starring: Jaye Austin Williams
On drums: Anoush
On violin: Joyce Chen
Assistant director: Greg Cicchino
Production stage manager: Jamie Rog
Costume designer: Anoush
Set designer: Michael V. Moore
Lighting designer: Jesse Belsky
Associate producer: Samuel A. Morris

Graphic design: Liz Kinnmark
ekinnmar@andrew.cmu.edu

A full-length play adapted from the "Girl Blog from Iraq" written by Riverbend, an anonymous twenty-five-year old Iraqi woman living in Baghdad. Already familiar to thousands of web surfers and a major influence in the blogging community, Riverbend's text will be brought to life through an adaptation by Six Figures Theatre Company.

Since August 2003, Riverbend has chronicled her day-to-day life as an educated Muslim woman in occupied Iraq with humor, insight, compassion, and candor. A multicultural ensemble cast will utilize music, movement, monologue and more, to explore America's encounter with Riverbend's complex reality: her love for Iraq and its people; the devastation caused by war and occupation; and her mounting fear as fundamentalists gain power and limit the freedoms she once enjoyed.

Adapted by Kimberly Kefgen and Loren Ingrid Noveck

Four fairy tales re-told for adults (A workshop production)