Animus continues its fourth full theatrical season with the New York Revival of

Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness

November 15 – December 9 (Thursday – Saturday @ 7 and Sunday at 3)

(No performances on November 22; but a special matinee on November 24 @ 3)

Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets, New York City.

Visit http://animustheatre.org/ for more info. Tickets can be purchased directly at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1001209.

Animus Theatre Company (Jonathan Judge-Russo, Founding Artistic Director), an ensemble of young, dynamic artists exploring the resilience of the human spirit through new and under-represented works, continues their fourth full season with Frank McGuinness’ gripping drama about ideologies held hostage, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, directed by the acclaimed theatre professional, Alan Langdon.

An American doctor, an Irish journalist, and an English academic are being held captive abroad, but their captors aren’t the only reason for tension.  The cramped confines of their cell intensify their national biases and prejudices, fostering internal resentments and recriminations. They must band together and build a world of fantasy to help keep their sanity… and focus their fight.

Cast and creative team for Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me will be announced shortly.

Earlier this season, Animus mounted the New York premiere of Leslye Headland’s Surfer Girl at the Foley Gallery as well as their 12-Hour Beth Henley Festival at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre.

Past Animus productions have included: at the famed Cherry Lane Theatre, Bob Glaudini’s Dutch Heart of Man (directed by Company Member Alan

Langdon); Collected Shorts by Theresa Rebeck (directed by Pamela Adlon); and John Patrick Shanley’s Where’s My Money?; Other Animus Productions have included Collected Shorts by Tennessee Williams at Theatre Row (directed by Company Member Matthew Lillard); Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre at Walkerspace (directed by Edward Berkeley); at Broadway’s Circle in the Square: John Patrick Shanley’s 12-Hour Reading Marathon, and Leslye Headland’s Sin Cycle Festival.  Committed to promoting new plays as well as lesser known works by established writers, Animus has had the pleasure of collaborating with the following artists: Nnamdi Asomugha, Alexis Bledel, Lynn Cohen, James Badge Dale, Cote de Pablo, Trieste Dunn, Ben Foster, Jared Gilman, Grace Gummer, Jill Hennessey, Andre Holland, Carol Kane, Virginia Kull, Christine Lahti, Margarita Levieva, Andrew Lippa, Natasha Lyonne, Keith Nobbs, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Pasquale, Piper Perabo, Vincent Piazza, Bill Pullman, Michael Rispoli, Paul Schneider, Margo Seibert, Alia Shawcat, Sarah Steele, Aida Turturro, and many others.

JONATHAN JUDGE-RUSSO is a Helen Hayes Nominated actor from Brooklyn, New York and a graduate of Circle in the Square.  He recently completed filming Woody Allen’s 2018 Feature A Rainy Day in New York with Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, and Jude Law, as well as a return to “Law & Order: SVU”.  Other select acting credits include: Off-Broadway: Drama Desk Nominated Falling (Minetta Lane); Beyond the Horizon (Irish Rep); Somewhere with You (Signature); Treasure Island (Irondale); Ask/Tell (LAByrinth Barn – directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman); Snapshot (LAB Barn); La Fanciulla del West (Lincoln Center); Wozzeck (Lincoln Center); The Christmas Revels (Symphony Space); The Enlightenment of Mr. Mole (Sheen) as well as Collected Shorts by Theresa Rebeck (Cherry Lane – directed by Pamela Adlon); Where’s My Money? (Cherry Lane); The Irish Play (directed by Theodore Mann); Nesting (SoHo Rep); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and The Seagull (directed by Alan Langdon).  First National Tour: Echoes of Ireland. Select regional work includes Music City (CFRT); Jumpers for Goalposts (Studio Theatre); Downtown Race Riot (NYS&F); Smile (Deane); Othello (BSF); and with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: Troilus and Cressida (GBTA Award); Comedy of Errors; A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In London, Mr. Judge-Russo appeared in The Philanderer and Twelfth Night.  Other select TV and Film credits include: Jeremy in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”; “Law & Order: SVU”; “Elementary”; “White Collar”; “Black Box”; Eat Me; A Slice and A Sandwich; The Aftershock; and the upcoming feature, Chess.  Jonathan is also a producing partner with Noble Heart Films.

Mike is a freelance director, scenic designer, and arts administrator. He has been the Managing Director of Animus Theatre Company since 2017. He received his BFA in Directing and Scenic Design with a minor in Art History from Columbia College Chicago. He was an ensemble member and managing director of Strawdog Theatre in Chicago, from 2011-2017.  Mike has had to pleasure to work with Steppenwolf Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Steep Theatre, Sideshow, Trap Door Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Red Tape Theatre, The Artistic Home, and Interrobang Theatre. www.mikemroch.com

spit&vigor brings THE BRUTES to The New Ohio Theatre

critically-acclaimed and nominated for seven Planet Awards, spit&vigor presents this story of three brothers – Junius, Edwin and John Wilkes Booth

New York City — spit&vigor announces the return of THE BRUTES, written by Casey Wimpee (2x Samuel French Short Play Finalist and NYIT Outstanding Original Short Script nominee). After a powerful run at Planet Connections 2018 Theatre Festivity, the production moves to the New Ohio Theatre, 154 Chrsistopher Street. Sara Fellini (2018 Planet Award Outstanding Direction nominee) returns as director. Performances are November 23 — December 9 (Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm). Tickets are $30. For advance reservations, please visit https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/999133.

Casey Wimpee’s takes you backstage of an historic performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar featuring the renowned Booth theatrical family – brothers, Edwin, Junius Jr. and John Wilkes, Booth. This was the first and only time that the three brothers shared a stage together. The backstage drama becomes the focus of this portrait of their tempestuous relationship fraught with political conflict ending in an American tragedy. THE BRUTES is a deeply intimate portrait of a family divided. The piece is staged In-the-Round with a minimalist set pieces that can transfoerm into a theatre, a dinner table, and a nation on the brink of sweeping change. Civil strife, family devolution, and a country sharply divided – today or 150 years ago, the parable of this drama remains strong.

The cast features Adam Belvo, Chris Cornwell, Sara Fellini, Colt W. Keeney, Morgan Zipf-Meister, Eamon Murphy, Becca Musser, Pete Oliver, Xandra Leigh Parker, Harlan Short, Nicholas Thomas, and Perri Yaniv.

Lighting by Chelsie McPhilimy and Ms Fellini hqandling costyume design.

For more information please visit www.spitnvigor.com/the-brutes.

A POWERHOUSE CAST
joins two-time TONY Award nominee, Joey McKneely, and his team:
award-winning playwright, Randall David Cook and musicians Edison Woods, Maxim Moston, and Karen Bishko for SHADOWS: A DANCE MUSICAL

November 29 – December 15
The Connelly Theater
220 E 4th St, New York City
www.ShadowsDanceMusical.com 
Tickets: shadowsmusical.brownpapertickets.com

It’s Twyla Tharp meets Stephen King!

In Shadows, a mesmerizing new dance musical directed and choreographed by Broadway notable, Joey McKneely, haunting melodies by mini orchestra, Edison Woods; composer, Maxim Moston; and British singer/songwriter, Karen Bishko, enfold around an eerie and erotic story by Randall David Cook, who scored kudos, Off-Broadway, with the premiere of Sake with the Haiku Geisha and Fate’s Imagination. This gothic and ghostly love story whispers of forbidden love … in this world and the next.  Shadows follow the secret romance of Claire (Janine Divita, who appeared on Broadway in Grease, Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Anything Goes plus on National Tour in Finding Neverland, If/Then, Young Frankenstein) and Alex (John Arthur Greene, who will be appearing in Tootsie on Broadway with previous Broadway credits of School of Rock, Chicago, West Side Story, Matilda, and on NBC in Peter Pan Live).

Well, secret to those on this plane. In the afterworld, behind the chiming clock and shuddered windows, another romance between Woman in Red (Special appearance by Irina Dvorovenko; a Soloist with the American Ballet Theatre as well as having made Broadway star-turns in Encores! productions of On Your Toes and Grand Hotel) weave gracefully with Man in Blue (Waldemar Quinone-Villanueva (Broadway: West Side Story) between the passions of Claire and her young lover.

The other spirits, Man in Black and Woman in Silver, unhappy about this affair, torment the lovers. It isn’t until the last few minutes of this stirring piece that we see how the lovers of this world are the salvation for the ones beyond the grave. Nickemil Concepcion (Broadway: Cinderella; Off-Broadway in George C Wolfe’s On The Town and a member of Ballet Tech for seven years); Naomi Kakuk (Broadway: Encores!’ Crazy for You; Chess; The Producers) plus Kyreed Jordon (Indie film: Are you holding me, or am I holding myself?) and Omar Nieves (principle dancer, Virginal Ballet) completely the spectral company.

SCHEDULE:

November 29 & 30 @ 8:00 p.m.  ٠  December 1 @ 3:00 & 8:00 p.m.
December 4 – 7 @ 8:00 p.m.  ٠  December 8 @ 3:00 & 8:00 p.m.
December 11 – 14 @ 8:00 p.m.  ٠  December 15 @ 3:00 & 8:00 p.m.

Stage and film professional, Joey McKneely, is a two-time Tony Nominated Broadway Choreographer (Smokey Joe’s Cafe and in 1997 for The Life) and the international Director and Choreographer of West Side Story. Other Broadway credentials include Twelfth Night, The Wild Party, The Boy From OZ and the West Side Story revival. He directed/choreographed the U.S. National Tours of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Annie Get Your Gun, Crazy For You and Smokey Joe’s Café. Internationally, he directed/choreographed the world premieres of Love U Theresa, Ah, Kuling! and Jiu Gan Tang Mai Wu in China; The Beautiful Game, Thoroughly Modern Millie, West Side Story in Japan; Evita and Dusty in London. On film, McKneely is known for his work on Zoolander, The In Crowd, and Far East.

Playwright Randall David Cook is a New York-based playwright who originally hails from South Carolina. Two of his plays premiered Off-Broadway: Sake with the Haiku Geisha andFate’s Imagination. Regional: Southern Discomfort; Third Finger, Left Hand; Pomp & Circumstance; Kappa Kappa Scream. Works in development include an adaptation of Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman (New York Theatre Workshop with Len Cariou, Roberta Maxwell and Laura Esterman); In A Town Near Faith (Players Club with Barbara Barrie and Colin Hanlon); and Hanky Panky. His one-act play Sushi and Scones was broadcast by the BBC and won the award for Best Play at the Southeastern Playwrights Conference. He is a two-time Duke Endowment recipient and member of the Dramatists Guild.

Composer Edison Woods/Julia Frodahl. Described as “a beautiful cross between the sounds of Elysian Fields and the sentiments of David Lynch,” Edison Woods is a mini-orchestra of seven that has been haunting stages from New York to Madrid since 2001. The project is led by Julia Frodahl, who is a self-taught composer, writer, pianist, and vocalist. Julia was the recipient of the first annual Studio 42 “Starving Artist Award,” a grant from The Foundation For Contemporary Art and a Mac Dowell Colony Fellowship. She has composed for and collaborated with many artists across a range of genre, including Simon Raymond (Cocteau Twins), Italian sculptor Mimmo Paladino, and dancer/choreographer, Katie Workum. More information on the Edison Woods project can be found at edisonwoodsmusic.com.

Composer Maxim Moston is a multi-faceted musician working in New York City. He has performed around the world as violinist and music director for Antony and the Johnsons. He worked extensively with Edison Woods and has appeared with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Belle and Sebastian, Mary J Blige, and Jay-Z among others.  His arrangements/orchestrations can be heard on numerous albums including worldwide releases from Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright, Keren Ann and Josh Groban.  Performances of his orchestral re-imaginings of William Basinski’s seminal Disintegration Loops 1 and 2 have been warmly received on three continents. More information can be found at maximmoston.com

Composer Karen Bishko was originally a portrait painter, but began pursuing song writing in 2005, In 2007, she opened for Take That on their Beautiful World tour at London’s O2 Arena and Manchester MEN Arena. Her first album Singles for Singles, was substantially turned into the show Therapy Rocks. It premiered at the Urban Stages Theater as part of the NYMF. A concert of the songs, entitled Singles, was performed at 54 Below and also at Soho House NY. She has worked with music producers Gary Kemp and Jess Bailey (Spandau Ballet), Yoad Nevo (Jem, Golfrapp) and Steven Loroni (Jon Bon Jovi, Hansen). She recently wrote the English lyrics for Neapolitan-Austrian, multi-million album selling singer, Patrizio Buanne.

SHADOWS was born between a collaboration of playwright and choreographer, using dance as an equal form of narrative to the book. The dances either tell of past encounters, reveal parallel emotions with the main characters, or foreshadow events. In addition, we have two main female composer/lyricists who give this musical a unique voice by alternating from hauntingly poetic, alternative dance music to emotional, character driven songs. Along with our third composer, the score creates a modern complexity by using music to set the mood of the characters inner selves. Also, we use Kabuki style staging to create the world of the supernatural. It’s a six-character musical, 2 actors and 4 dancers, with 2 crew/dancers to be the Kabuki presence.

Children of all ages … please join F.A.C.T. (Friends Always Creating Theatre) in celebrating their 10th anniversary season with a special showing of their 2013 highly acclaimed production of

“Hansel & Gretel Christmas” By Jack Dyville

Join This Famous Brother & Sister @ During the Holiday Season in 21st Century New York City!

EVERY SUNDAY in NOVEMBER (4th, 11th, 18th, 25th) @ 1:00pm

SUNDAYS in December (2nd, 9th, 16th) @ 1:00pm

MANHATTAN REPERTORY THEATRE, NYC

17 West 45th Street, Elevators to 3rd Floor

This special production is dedicated to Co-Founder/Producer

DAVID GILLAM FULLER

What’ll they think of Macys??!!

Celebrated author and producer, Jack Dyville, revives his widely popular children’s story with a modern twist as a special dedication to F.A.C.T.’s co-founder/producer, David Gilliam Fuller. Together, they created one of the most visible and respected children’s theatres in New York featuring new and engaging works to both entertain and enlighten.

“Hansel & Gretel Christmas” leads the list as the two wandering waifs end up in NYC at Christmas. Aside from uproarious humor and clever dialogue, the piece talks of love and family; understanding and encouragement; and is a perfect vehicle to share with the whole family.

Dyville and his cast and crew organize immersive fun, keeping the kids in the audience on their toes what with some special prizes and making them part of the play.“The most gratifying thing a children’s theatre production can do is make a show that an adult will appreciate! It’s clever and fun!” (William Kozy, TheatreMania)

“A Clever modern twist to a classic tale…Wonderful Holiday fun for the whole family!” (Tym Moss, Artists Exposed Radio)

“A Great story line and Wonderfully Colorful Characters. . . The story moves beautifully, with lots of humor… Highly Original and I predict audiences will love it. Thanks so much, Jack Dyville, for this Marvelous Christmas play!” (Shirley King, prominent playwright)

About DAVID GILLAM FULLER, Co-Founder/Producer FACT Theatre Company:

Fuller, a multi-award-winning theater artist and producer, along with Dyville, had the dream of bringing quality entertainment to all ages at affordable prices. F.A.C.T. grew from their wish. Today, David Fuller, is referred to as a miracle man. Not just because he made his dream come true but, currently, he is fighting unbeatable odds to help continue that dream., Mr. Fuller is suffering from a crippling disease effecting him physically and mentally and making his time with F.A.C.T. rare.

This season – their 10th anniversary – is dedicated to him and will be called THE DAVID GILLAM FULLER SEASON.

Learn how you can make a difference and be a friend always creating theatre: FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AT F.A.C.T. (Friends Always Creating Theatre)

Carrie Edel Isaacman and her company, Shakespeare Sports, will bring a fascinating new production of Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT to New York for the upcoming holiday season starting November 30 at downtown’s historic Players Theater, 115 MacDougal Street, between West 3rd and Bleecker Streets, in NYC.

As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. Ms. Issacman is setting her version in the Midwest in 1968, where we meet a recently homeless Orlando and Rosalind. Living in the woods out of necessity, they meet a merry band of “hippies” heralding the change that is in the air for all of them … and our country.

“This production shows us America’s most pivotal time through the eyes of a group of homeless. When you have nothing, it’s amazing what you see” says Isaacman, a stage director and indie filmmaker.

Using theatre techniques as old as the material, this As You Like It, will be a history lesson, power-packed parable, and enjoyable evening.

The cast includes Giordano Cruz, Melanie Gretchen, Michael Hagins, James Jagiello Sterling A. Johnson, Jr, Kasper Kuzmicki, Charles Lear, Basil Rodericks, Sabrina Seidner, Stephanay Slade, and Roger Stude as Jaques, uttering Shakespeare’s national anthem “All the Worlds a Stage.”

Ms. Isaacman appears in the production as well as directs it.

Historically, the play remains an audience favorite and has been adapted for radio, film, and musical theatre. The piece has also been a favorite among classical artists of stage and screen, notably Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, and Patti LuPone in the role of Rosalind and Alan Rickman, Stephen Spinella, Kevin Kline, and Ellen Burstynin the role of Jaques.

For more information, visit www.shakespearesportstheatrecompany.com

Veronica Moya, an international performer with stage, film, and TV credits heard the call. She tapped into her innate spirituality and combined it with her endless energy and ambition to help those who are lost. Focusing on your people, she is somewhat like a spiritual life coach – helping people tap into their own inner stregeth to move forward. 

ANDREW ROTHKIN, the producing artistic director of White Rabbit Productions has entered into a partnership with producer/publicist JAY MICHAELS.

Currently the partnership is developing two stage works into short films. The first, penned by Rothkin:

Love Bites: With elements of Hitchcock and Takashi Miike’s The Audition, LOVE BITES tells the tale of a young woman who sharing the travails of her bad relationships is simply not enough.

Earthmen: The celebrated period-piece written by Joanne de Simone, about a meeting between a runaway slave and an enigmatic Native American on the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers by Patrick Hickey
Featuring interviews with the creators of 36 popular video games—including Deus Ex, Night Trap, Mortal Kombat, Wasteland and NBA Jam—this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the most influential and iconic (and sometimes forgotten) games of all time. Recounting endless hours of painstaking development, the challenges of working with mega publishers and the uncertainties of public reception, the interviewees reveal the creative processes that produced some of gaming’s classic titles.

“From arcade rats to indie developers, Hickey gives an intimate look at the personalities behind gaming with the passion of a fanboy and the attention of a scholar.” —Cesar R. Bustamante, Jr., New York Daily News

Gary Morgenstein wrote the critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock musical The Anthem, as well as Mad Mel Saves the World, and his dramatic works range from A Tomato Can’t Grow in the Bronx to Right on Target, Ponzi Manand Saving Stan. Morgenstein’s literary works include the upcoming science fiction-baseball novel A Mound Over Hell, set in 2098 following America’s defeat in World War Three. The first book in The Dark Depths trilogy, A Mound Over Hell will be published by BHC Press in March 2018. His other novels include Jesse’s Girl; Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman; Take Me Out to the Ballgame and The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees.

NOVEL

A Mound over Hell (March 2018, BHC Press) – Baseball, a sport now identified with terrorism and treason, begins its final season in 2098 following America’s loss to a radical enemy in World War Three. Revitalized by the miraculous appearance of great players from the past fueling one last hurrah, baseball becomes a pawn between those who want peace and those who want another war.

This first novel in THE DARK DEPTHS trilogy. http://www.bhcpress.com/Books_Morgenstein_A_Mound_Over_Hell.html