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VITAL DRAMA Postcard / CLICK TO ENLARGE

POOR OPHELIA
a new play by Shawn B. Hirabayashi
             
part of the
VITAL DRAMA League Alumni Directors Fest

                

Drama League Directors Project / Vital 

McGinn/Cazale Theatre

 DRAMA . Surreal journey of a young woman into an underworld where a mystifying, yet intriguing  cave beckons.  I especially loved that we got to do a Tango (thanks to choreographer Danielle Quisenberry) to some maddeningly great Piazzolla music.

     

     

Young Woman reads HAMLET / CLICK TO ENLARGE   Young Woman is first tempted / CLICK TO ENLARGE   Looking like Bette Davis, The Snake warns of the Cave   Young Woman unwittingly tries out her grave / ENLARGE   Young Woman's funeral march / CLICK TO ENLARGE

The murderous, mute tango dancing boyfriend / ENLARGE   Mom insists she come shopping / CLICK TO ENLARGE   Father spins a black hole / CLICK TO ENLARGE   Devil trying to sell her a car / CLICK TO ENLARGE   "Any interest in a slightly used Hummer?" / ENLARGE
The step in... / CLICK TO ENLARGE   Young Woman's dress floating in the current / ENLARGE CAST .                   

JENNA KALINOWSKI*
LAURA LEBLEU
R. PAUL HAMILTON*
JULIAN ELFER

                     

Young Woman
Snake & Mother
Clown & Father
Boyfriend & The Devil

                        

The Skinny

In this dream-like, 30 minute tale, a sad young woman sits and sips champagne while reading Hamlet, poised on a limb over a pond of cool water. Undone by her own bizarre life, she speaks to Ophelia looking for guidance.  "My boyfriend didn't kill my father -- that’s tough, it is -- but he did kill all those people in the Der Wienerschnitzel. Hot dogs and guts. Mustard and blood. It's hard, Ophelia. Nobody understands. Nobody. There’s no more champagne. Oh."  Finally taking the ultimate  plunge, she finds an oddly familiar mix of beings – Bette Davis as The Snake, a Fellini-esq clown gravedigger, her mass murderer boyfriend and his oblivious mom, her physics-crazed dead father, and finally, the Devil as car salesman – all trying to tempt her away from the mysterious cave that calls to her...

                 

PRODUCTION TEAM .

HEAD HONCHOS .

SHAWN B. HIRABAYASHI

JULIE HAMBERG

DANIELLE QUISENBERRY

KOREY KENT

BRIAN PRATHER

ALISON CHERRY
SUSAN WOLDMAN

DANNY MARTIN

JULIE WESTLIN-NAIGUS

LISA BRENNER, PHD

JULIE HAMBERG

Playwright

Director
Choreographer

Stage Manager

Scenic Designer

Lighting Designer
Scenic Advisor

Lead Producer

Producer

VITAL DRAMA Curator

VITAL DRAMA Curator

ROGER T. DANFORTH
        

STEPHEN SUNDERLIN

LINDA AMES KEY

Artistic Director .
Drama League Directors Project

Artistic Director . Vital

Producing Director . Vital

          

VITAL DRAMA League Alumni Directors Fest . FABULOUS COLLABORATORS

Vital Theatre Company invited alumni from the renowned Drama League Directors Project to tackle pieces they love, with playwrights they admire. The results were unmistakably intriguing.  (I conceived this event and worked with both entities to bring it to fruition.)

DIRECTORS : Mahayana Landowne . Andrew Volkoff . Julie Hamberg . Pesha Rudnick . Gregory Lamont Allen . Tom Rowan . 
Moritz von Stuelpnagel . Rob Urbinati . PLAYWRIGHTS : Mahayana Landowne & cast . Brian Sloan . Shawn B. Hirabayashi . 
Yehuda Hyman . Cassandra Medley . Maria Gabrielle . Michael John Garcés . Max Sparber

 

SPECIAL THANKS

Caryn Neman for the basis of the play.  Richard M. Danziger for his generosity.
Matt O'Hare for assistance with sound.  Frank Pisco for dramaturgical thoughts.  

 photos credits:

Shawn Hirabayashi
Alison Cherry

     

LINK TO VITAL DRAMA at VitalTheatre.org

LINK TO VITAL DRAMA at TheaterMania.com

     

Copyright Julie Hamberg 2007-2008. Last updated 02/04/2008.  Site hosted by jovi enterprises.  Ask me if you're in need of a host for your site.