Join us for our Spring 2009 season!
Welcome to Accidental Repertory's spring season. In our inaugural season this past fall our audiences told us that some of our most interesting and compelling presentations were our "working sessions." In the working sessions we invited audiences into our home — our workshop — where they could watch actors who were still searching and discovering their characters, still discovering what the possibilities of life were, in the words, in the relationships onstage, still hoping to have the moments of spontaneity that define all creative processes.
This spring, all of our presentations are working sessions. This artistic choice highlights our professional workshop, which is at the core of our artistic endeavors. The professional workshop provides participants with a studio in which they can work on themselves and their craft — a place of high standards where artists can explore and develop.
Every night the actors, the text, and what we imagine the world of the play to be, will be different. Even if you see the same scenes, what each group of actors focus on changes the characters and what the context of the play is — as we explore, discover, and develop what I and a varying group of actors believe. Some choices may be more modern, some may change an aspect of the characters, without fundamentally altering the play. The goal is to illuminate the people and their situation, so that the different productions of the play change what you see and what you think is happening. It is like seeing different painters interpret the same subject. The difference makes us aware of what art is. This is a new adventure for me, and I hope you will join us.
John Strasberg, Artistic Director
Spring 2009
Working Sessions from Great Plays of the 20th Century
Thursday, Friday and Saturday May 28 - 30, June 4-6
Here we invite you into our home, our workshop, where you can watch the creative process at work: exploration, frustration, spontaneity, serendipity, surprise the stuff of human relationships and life. Scenes will be drawn from current work in our ongoing professional workshop.
Suggested contribution: $10
This is a series of working sessions. We are exploring the scenes from the plays you are coming to see. Anytime an actor is in front of the public, they feel a responsibility towards them. It is normal in any performance situation. You can't take the time to do your work, you've either done it, or not. But, tonight, you are being invited into a privileged situation. Here, you can watch actors who are still searching and discovering their characters, still discovering what the possibilities of life are, in the words, in the relationships onstage, still hoping to have the moments of spontaneity that define all creative processes. And, while I am working with them, the work is not directed, not staged in the conventional sense of a directed or staged play. They don't know what they are going to do, or where they are going to sit, or how they are going to say the lines. They don't even know what some of what they are saying, or hearing, means. This is an exciting moment in the process, and one that audiences rarely see, because the minute the public enters, most actors are performing for them. However, while we hope you are entertained and enlightened, ART is about the process. Because, the result is the process. Hopefully, you will enjoy yourself, and be moved and entertained, as you share this evening with us, discovering the process of creating life. — John Strasberg
The spring 2009 season will be presented at John Strasberg Studios, 555 Eighth Avenue (at 38th Street), Suite 403.
For tickets call 646.435.7867 or email tickets@accidentalrep.org. Please include a phone number on all reservations.
For details of each evening's performance, see our calendar.
Previously at ART...
Variations on "A Doll's House":
A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, translated by William Archer
Playing House, by John Strasberg, inspired by Ibsen's A Doll's House
Directed by John Strasberg
Thursday, Friday and Saturday April 23 - May 16 at 8pm.
"Hidden patterns and thoughts that define our relationships, from then to now."
Using multiple casts and multiple texts, ART presents in open rehearsal scenes from Ibsen's groundbreaking drama that reveals the world of who we really are. Come see how different the same play can be when the actors, texts, and the spirit of the productions are different every night.
For details of each evening's performance, see our calendar.
Tickets: $15
Full House season pass (attend any and all performances of Variations on "A Doll's House": $60
It's My Divorce — Y'all Come
Original cabaret written and performed by Keith Herron
Directed by John Strasberg
Thursday, Friday and Saturday December 4 - 20.
December 4, 11 and 18 at 8pm.
December 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 7 pm
(In the event of a sold-out performance, additional shows may be added at 9pm.)
Interweaving deeply personal stories with songs from the great American songbook, Keith explores the many faces of divorce in a quiet, intimate setting. Sheldon Harnick, noted lyricist, remarked that "Keith’s song interpretation ... was the most intelligent I’ve ever seen." Musical direction and arrangements by jazz pianist Jay Flippin.
Tickets: $15
Tennessee Williams: The Writer and His World
Conceived and compiled by Anne Pasquale.
Directed by John Strasberg and Anne Pasquale
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday October 16 - November 8 at 8pm
Suggested contribution: $10
The World of Writers Series are one-hour biodramas that weave together glimpses into the personal and artistic aspects of the lives of some of America's finest playwrights. Tennessee Williams: The Writer and his World, our premiere classroom seminar, features intriguing biographical anecdotes and selections from the works they inspired, brought to life by company members with commentary by John Strasberg.
Working Sessions from Great American Plays of the 20th Century
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday November 13, 14, and 15 and 8pm
Suggested contribution: $10