Michael Weller Theatre

The Milk Can Theatre Company concludes its fifth season with The 5 Borough Plays, a showcase of five original short plays inspired by the five boroughs of New York City. Five playwrights randomly drew a borough from a hat: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan and Queens. The resulting work is The 5 Borough Plays, a marathon evening of theatre through the five boroughs of New York City.

Playwrights and work include: 1600 Feet, public fighting is a New York phenomenon and in this musical version, the fight stems from an inter-borough romance. Music, lyrics and direction by Colleen Darnall, book by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (inspired by Brooklyn); A Visit to the Bronx, where time collides in this family drama by Sharon E. Cooper, directed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (inspired by the Bronx); Stan and Illy Await the Coming written and directed by ML Kinney. With a nod to Samuel Beckett, our sock puppet heroes wait for the Ferry (inspired by Staten Island); Peace Through Understanding where a trip to the 1964 World's Fair brings a couple's relationship into focus. Written by Cheryl L. Davis, and directed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (inspired by Queens); Hot Corn Girl Sings Her Song where an obscure bit of Manhattan history prompts a woman to examine her modern life, written and directed by Bethany Larsen (inspired by Manhattan). Further information is available to view at www.milkcantheatre.org.

Set design by Ann Bartek, lighting design by Christopher Edwards, costume design by Deb O., sound design by Scott O'Brien, with performances by Nnamudi Amobi, Sarah Brill, Ashley Griffin, Lian-Marie Holmes, Zak Kostro, Michael McGuirk, Brad Makarowski, Katie Northlich, Emma O'Donnell, Caley Rose, Mike Steinmetz, Natalie Weaver, Chris Yonan, and Jonathan Zipper.

Saturday evening May 10th will be a special benefit performance and party to celebrate The Milk Can Theatre Company's amazing 2007/2008 Season. The festivities will include dancing, drinking, food, a silent auction showcasing work from various area artists, and plenty of surprises., all at O'Lunney's Times Square Pub, 145 West 45th Street. Tickets to join the celebration are $45 per person, which includes The 5 Borough Plays theatre ticket, and pass to the Spring Fling Party at O'Lunney's. Theatre tickets can be used for any performance of The 5 Borough Plays. Please note that all tickets for the 7 pm performance May 10th will include a ticket to the Spring Fling and will be $45. Tickets to join the celebration only at O'Lunney's are $30.

The Milk Can Theatre Company is proud to presents a staged reading of Consequences a new play by ML Kinney. As the hour of Wade's execution nears, his brother Denny waits at the prison with attorney Scott Reese. With the death penalty as a lens, Consequences examines the overlapping events of three men's lives and the consequences of their choices. Directed by Riv Massey, with performances by Zak Kostro, Daren Taylor, Jack Wallace and Justin Zimmerman. Further information is available to view at www.milkcantheatre.org.

Consequences will be performed as part of The Milk Can Theatre Company's monthly reading series Scene Herd Uddered. To call it a reading series is a misnomer. Scene Herd Uddered isn't actors sitting in chairs simply reading a script. Instead, each presentation is the culmination of seven weeks of intense developmental work. We give ateam — usually composed of a playwright, a director and a group of actors — a budget, rented space in which to show their work, a stage manager, publicity, and a support staff of dramaturgs. This is a rare opportunity for emerging artists to spend seven weeks developing a project together, without the intense pressures and constraints usually associated with the production of a new play. We gladly push teams to take huge creative risks and stretch the boundaries, rather than driving towards a neat, traditional end product. Each month we invite the public to view these projects-in-progress and share their views on them. We hope you will join us.

The Milk Can Theatre Company opens its exciting fifth season with the world premier of By Oscar Micheaux, a stirring new play by Kleban Award-winning playwright Cheryl L. Davis. This is the (mostly) true story of Oscar Micheaux, one of the nations first African-American filmmakers. Against all odds, Micheaux became a successful playwright, novelist and director of over 40 films in segregated, early 20th century America. Through a compelling mixture of historical film clips, imagined scenes, and recreated moments, By Oscar Micheaux tells the story of a man whose legacy has been all but lost to the forces of history.
By Oscar Micheaux is directed by Milk Can Artistic Director Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, with original music by Elise Morris, video recording and design by Rene Migliaccio, set design by Ann Bartek, lighting design by Christopher Edwards, and features performances by Garrett Hendricks, Becky Lake, April McCants, Harold Suratt, Vladimi Versailles, Amelia Workman, and Justin Zimmerman.

By Oscar Micheaux is a stirring new play by Cheryl L. Davis that tells the story of Oscar Micheaux, an African-American who recreated himself and the newborn American film industry in the name of "uplifting the Race." Against all odds, Micheaux became a successful playwright, novelist and director of over 40 films in segregated, early 20th century America. Directed by Catherine Miller Hardy, with performances by Michelle Brown, Garrett Hendricks, Sarena Kennedy, Vadim Newquist, and Kyle Younger. Further information is available to view at www.milkcantheatre.org.

By Oscar Micheaux will be performed as part of The Milk Can Theatre Company's monthly reading series Scene Herd Uddered. To call it a reading series is a misnomer. Scene Herd Uddered isn't actors sitting in chairs simply reading a script. Instead, each presentation is the culmination of seven weeks of intense developmental work. We give a team — usually composed of a playwright, a director and a group of actors — a budget, rented space in which to show their work, a stage manager, publicity, and a support staff of dramaturgs. This is a rare opportunity for emerging artists to spend seven weeks developing a project together, without the intense pressures and constraints usually associated with the production of a new play. We gladly push teams to take huge creative risks and stretch the boundaries, rather than driving towards a neat, traditional end product. Each month we invite the public to view these projects-in-progress and share their views on them.

Calderón's play about the dream of life is given contemporary urgency in Flux Theatre Ensemble's upcoming production. "I am very concerned about the importance of individual liberty and the necessity of a person to be fully free in order to reach his or her potential," says director Kelly O'Donnell. "It is a fundamental right that is denied to so many people. It is heartbreaking and Segismundo's story is the perfect vehicle to explore that theme."

Segismundo is born a prince, but when prophecy predicts he will be a tyrant, his own father locks him in a tower. "[He] basically embarks on a crash-course to adulthood. In the beginning of the play, he is literally chained and cut off from the rest of the world" continues O'Donnell. "By the play's end he grows to a sturdy, self-actualized adult with a bright, however fragile, future."

Director, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, and cast members John D'Arcangelo, Ruth Darcy, Timothy Downey, Loren Dunn, Desiree Maumus, Geoffrey Parrish, Martin Soole, Maria Estine Taylor, and Cheri Wicks are exploring Bertolt Brecht's classic, Galileo, through Milk Can's Scene Herd Uddered (SHU) workshop process. Regarded as one of Brecht's masterpieces, Galileo is a fictionalized history of the scientist Galileo Galilei. The play's major themes are science versus religion, poor versus wealthy, knowledge versus ignorance, and the ethical responsibilities of the scientist.
The Milk Can Theatre Company's monthly reading series Scene Herd Uddered. To call it a reading series is a misnomer. Scene Herd Uddered isn't actors sitting in chairs simply reading a script. Instead, each presentation is the culmination of seven weeks of intense developmental work. We give a team — usually composed of a playwright, a director and a group of actors — a budget, rented space in which to show their work, a stage manager, publicity, and a support staff of dramaturgs. This is a rare opportunity for emerging artists to spend seven weeks developing a project together, without the intense pressures and constraints usually associated with the production of a new play. We gladly push teams to take huge creative risks and stretch the boundaries, rather than driving towards a neat, traditional end product. Each month we invite the public to view these projects-in-progress and share their views on them.

Do we really need the opposite sex to make our lives work? This is just one of the questions the five women in Theresa Rebeck's Loose Knit consider as they get together weekly to knit and decompress from their hectic New York lives. Lily is the perfect hostess and mother; Liz, a celebrity journalist who hates the liars she's forced to interview; Paula, a psychologist who wonders who she really helps; Margie, a caterer, is looking for love and all lawyer Gina wants to do is knit! Add in Bob, Lily's husband, and millionaire capitalist Miles and the group begins to unravel. Can the women pick up the all dropped stitches and knit their friendships back together again?

What's your dirty little secret? In today's upgraded personal existence, virtual relationships are as common as virtual imaging. Is anything, as it truly seems? Who is one to trust? Your lover, friends your superiors, NEVER TELL examines the fine line between trust and greed, repression and aggression - because sometimes you can never tell.

L.A. & Pitching to the Star

"In L.A. a washed-up young movie star explains to a willing fan in a bar how he went from a happy, married young novice to a wealthy, gambling, overnight sensation and back to hungry, divorced wanna-be who only wants to recapture his original dream of having "enough" and being married for life."

"When Peter finally gets a good break for his Hollywood script, he finds himself Pitching to the Star of the pilot show. Promised control over something he's worked long and hard on, he finds his integrity and his storyline attacked every time the star makes a suggestion to completely change his script and make the lead character exactly like herself."
-Dramatists Play Service

Please join us in the telling of this lovely and not often told true story of the days after the assasination of President Lincoln, through the remainder of Mary Todd Lincoln's life.

It's a "Broken" take on a Christmas classic as three playwrights conspire to irreverently update Dickens' masterpiece for the 21st Century. Scrooge gets shoved out of the spotlight when two Jewish kids search for the true meaning of Christmas, a lapsed homeboy is spooked into keeping it real, and Bob Cratchit pimps his family out to reality T.V. Filled with laughs, gasps, and (we swear) real Christmas Spirit, A Broken Christmas Carol will haunt you like "an undigested bit of beef." This ain't your daddy's Christmas Carol.