Peter Jay Sharp: Theater Online

History of Productions View Current and Upcoming

MOTHERFREAKINGHOOD! | Open: 08/01/17 Close: 08/06/17

Rachael, wide-eyed and optimistic, is elated to finally put her party days behind her and become a mom...#YAY! Angie has pre-enrolled her unborn child in the most exclusive all-girls preschool (definitely a girl, she already has a boy). After three kids, Marcia thought she was done. Is it bad that she doesn’t want to cancel her wine of the month club or stop having sex on her back? With a soundtrack ranging from rock to pop to funk and more, join these three unlikely friends as they bond in the trenches from pregnancy tests to empty nests, dominating the diapers and tackling the teens with unmotherly charm, one bottle at a time!

I AM, I WILL, I DO | Open: 07/27/17 Close: 07/29/17

As the owners of “Party City Now” rebrand their wedding business to embrace marriage equality, Dave, their gay Music Director, has never felt more alone. Doomed to a life of playing weddings, Dave longs for a love of his own. But, when he’s forced to sing a duet with Human Rights Attorney, Harris, sparks ignite and hope is born. As three diverse couples struggle to find compromise, this new romantic musical comedy I Am, I Will, I Do teaches us that perhaps being “outside the norm” is the new normal. Amas Musical Theatre has been a major supporter in the development of this show over the past few years.

The Zombies: A Musical | Open: 06/12/14 Close: 07/13/14

The Zombie Apocalypse has arrived and everybody's hungry. With 16 songs, great dancing and plenty of laughs, The Zombies: A Musical is a world premiere comedy set in a small town in middle-America, where the cast of characters face issues like racism, gun control, religion and conspiracy theories. The romantic triangle between handsome Junior, suicidal goth waitress Chloe and rich stoner kid Basil is complicated…the secret carried by Little Pete is tearing him apart…will he tell his father? Celebrating Zombie lore and the original genre films made by George Romero, the tuneful score includes songs like “Zombies Shuffle,” “Puppies and Kittens,” and “I Will Be Next.”

RJR & Associates presents The Zombies: A Musical a world premiere musical comedy with book and lyrics by Max Resto, choreography by Tricia Brouk and Compositions/Sound Design by David J. Rios. Max Resto directs a cast of thirteen including Phillip Akogu*, Tammi Cubilette*, Alex Daly*, Luis Galli*, Sam Given*, Tamrin Goldberg*, Emily Holland*, Rich Hollman*, Tova Katz*, Russell Kohlmann*, Christina Pagán*, Alex Parrish*, and Thomas Poarch*.

Normalcy | Open: 08/31/12 Close: 09/05/12

“Normalcy” takes a brutally honest look at transracial adoption, from the point of view of white prospective parents and their circle of family members and co-workers, to social workers and transracially adopted adults. Normalcy” tackles themes of identity, race, terrorism, nationalism, manifest destiny, marriage and the media, all through the lens of one white, affluent couple’s attempt to make the hard choice – adopting a black child and the unexpected and unintended consequences that it has on their happy and complacent lives.

Bennett Windheim (Playwright) received a 2003 OOBR award for Prince Hal (45th Street Theatre). Other plays include Like Batman and The Footloose Chanteuse (Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon finalists), Fixing the Cat (Theatre North Collaborative), and the book to Cross That River, a musical about black cowboys. As a director, his production of Alan Knee’s The Man Who Was Peter Pan led to the script being optioned for the film “Finding Neverland”. He also directed the stage premiere of Phone Tag by Israel Horovitz, Alan Ball’s Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, among others. He was the recipient of a 2002 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Observership with John Tillinger on Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden at MTC. He wrote and produced the documentary “Eleanor: The Godmother of American Fashion” for Vanity Fair, and produced and directed the TV pilot of “The Barn Boys”. For five years he served as co-artistic director of Theatre North Collaborative, where he produced more than 30 new works, including Naomi Iizuka’s Body Beautiful with Calista Flockhart. He was a resident director and served on the executive board of The 42nd Street WorkShop, has served as an advisor to the SDCF, and mentored NYU graduate dramatic writing students as a member of the department’s First Look Theatre Company under Gary Garrison.

Benard Cummings (Director) some of his credits include: Harvest (Off-Broadway), Flying West, The Three Sisters, Dark of the Moon, Tennessee Williams one-acts at SUNY Purchase; As You Like It and Playing for Time at Stella Adler Conservatory. As an Actor has worked in Regional Theatres across the country including Goodman, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Hartford Stage Company, Yale Rep., the Shakespeare Theatre (NJ and Washington, D.C), Signature Theatre and Working Theatre in NYC, as well as some episodic TV. As a Playwright, his work has been produced in the HumanaFestival of New American Plays, The Women's Tapestry Project, Twice as Loud Theatre Company (London, England;) Theatre Geo and Howard Fine Studios in Los Angeles, Stamford Theatre Works, Jubilee Theatre ( Ft. Worth) and The E.T.A. Performing Arts Center (Chicago), to name a few. He is a guest lecturer in acting at SUNY Purchase, The Stella Adler Conservatory, Pace University, and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

Theatre East (Judson Jones, Artistic Director; Christa Kimlicko Jones, Associate Artistic Director) is a New York based theatre company committed to ensemble collaboration through production of vivid theatrical works that explore our mortality and the shared human experience. They seek to build community by confronting isolation, allowing for a better understanding of their audience and ourselves.

Ten Years Later:
Voices From The Post-9/11 Generation Speak | Open: 09/12/11 Close: 09/12/11

“My first view of the Manhattan skyline was without the towers. When I first saw it, I just tried to imagine what it could’ve looked like. It was like putting together a puzzle. I had all the edges set out, some of the inside filled, but there was a bunch of space in the middle. My Manhattan skyline will always be an unfinished puzzle to me.” – Emily Rupp, cast member

Co-Op Theatre East and Project Girl Performance Collective have collaborated to create “Ten Years Later: Voices of the Post-9/11 Generation Speak”, an ensemble devised piece, created by youth between the ages of 9 and 23, exploring the impact of the September 11th terrorist attacks, ten years later. Through monologues, media, and songs developed by the cast, topics explored include questions of terrorism, war, religion, fundamentalism, education, democracy, patriotism, technology, safety, security and what it means to be coming of age in a “post-9/11 society.”

The cast includes Kate Bralower (10, Manhattan), Tiffani-Amber DiGrazia (9, Queens), Samantha Phillips (15, Westchester), Monica Furman (15, Brooklyn), Arianna Hanson (15, Bronx), Hank Chen (23, Washington DC), Nick Wolf (21, New Jersey), Stacey Oliver (18, Connecticut), Deanna Alexandra (16, Long Island), Emily Rupp (21, Brooklyn), Peter Kendall (21, New Jersey), Mariah Adkins (23, Brooklyn), Haleigh Spasjevich (20, Manhattan) and Laura Killeen (23, United Kingdom). It is directed by Ashley Marinaccio and Robert A. K. Gonyo, Artistic Directors of Co-Op Theatre East, Stage Managed by Daniel Mendoza and produced by Jessica Greer Morris, Executive Director of the Project Girl Performance Collective, 9/11 Worker and Chair of the World Trade Center Community Advisory Board (2001-2004).

About Project Girl Performance Collective:

"It was inspiring to see bright, confident young women holding forth onstage" (The New Yorker, September 3, 2010) was the response to the Collective’s most recent show at The Fringe Festival. Project Girl Performance Collective (PGPC) empowers young women by creating a safe space to address contemporary social, political and cultural issues through the performing arts and written word. The Project Girl Performance Collective is committed to the idea of theatre and performance as a medium for awareness, action and social change. www.projectgirlperformancecollective.org

Disoriented | Open: 02/16/11 Close: 03/05/11

Theatre C will present Kyoung H. Park’s (Sex and Hunger; Heartbreak/India; EST’s Youngblood) disOriented, February 16-March 5 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). The production will be directed by Theatre C Artistic Director, Carlos Armesto (Binding; The Who’s Tommy) and will feature Ariel Estrada* (Far East), Daniel K. Isaac* (Miss Electricity at La Jolla Playhouse; Balm In Gilead at Steppenwolf), Talynm Jinn Kim (LABrynth member, Developing Artists Theater Co.), Yanghee Lee, Julian Charles Leong (NY debut), Bert Matias (Snow Falling On Cedars), Amy Kim Waschke* (Somebody/Nobody at Arizona Theatre Company), and Virginia Wing* (Chu Chem). The creative team will include Costume Design by Carla Bellisio (Ghost Light; Southern Promises dir. Jose Zayas), Lighting Design by Jake DeGroot (Call Me Anne with Blue Coyote), Set Design by Adam Koch (Rooms: A Rock Romance; Title of Show), Sound Design by David Margolin Lawson (Kenneth Brannagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; The Man Who Fell to Earth), and Choreography by Elisabetta Spuria (Tess: A New Rock Opera; The Who’s Tommy).

disOriented tells the story of Ju Yeon, an immigrant living in New York, who has distanced herself from her Korean Roots. When a sudden crisis hits her family, she must return to Korea and face the parents and the life she abandoned long ago. A dancing spirit caught between the worlds of tradition and modernity guides us through past and present, propelling the family members to their ultimate fates.

About the Company: Theatre C

THEATRE C was founded in November 2009 to move audiences and open minds by creating vibrant theatre through the unexpected fusion of disparate art forms. Led by Artistic Director, Carlos Armesto, Theatre C presents plays, musicals and events that meld puppetry and burlesque, video and dance, acrobatics and installations, hip hop, rock, salsa, and much more. Blurring the line between disciplines and cultures, the company is a part of the next stage in theatre's evolution.

Shrunken Heads | Open: 08/27/09 Close: 08/30/09

Discover who's really playing head games at this summer's most delightful comedy. Meet Park Avenue head shrinker, Rober Hyde, and his young wife Polly. Witness the showdown when their romantic weekend is invaded by multiple unexpected visitors, including his neurotic patient and her gun-toting husband, his ex-wife, and his daughter with her new boyfriend. Family drama with biting wit equals Shrunken Heads: a case of high comedy.

...another Man's Poison | Open: 08/12/09 Close: 08/23/09

…ANOTHER MAN’S POISON uncovers the irony of success, juxtaposed with the fascinating backdrop of prime time television. When Frankie Masters, a struggling comedian, gets the opportunity to have his own network television show in 1970, his imminent stardom threatens to reveal the hidden conflict and mounting turmoil of his personal life. Taking place prior to the celebrity tabloid when exposés were the norm, it takes a close look at lives intertwined—where each character confronts personal sacrifices that will forever impact them. …ANOTHER MAN’S POISON takes place during a pivotal time in history when the Vietnam War, exposing the racial divide, and the politicizing of sexual identity, all conspire to add depth and texture to the drama.

A quintessential Hollywood story with a distinct New York bite, …ANOTHER MAN’S POISON is full of pointed humor, straightforward drama, and allows audiences to concede to their incessant desire to be a voyeur to the reality of "making of a celebrity." It is a story of family, ambition, and the choices that are made along the way.