Thinking Theater NYC

Yoga with Jillian Written by Lia Romeo Directed by Andrew W. Smith Presented by Project Y Theatre and Richard Jordan Productions in association with The Pleasance June 2-17, 2023 Penguin in Your Ear Written and performed by Eliza Bent Directed by Jess Barbagallo June 10, 2023 Part of the Women in Theatre Festival , presented by Project Y Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres Michole Biancosino. Photo courtesy of Project Y Theatre This June, Project Y Theatre Company presents the eighth annual installment of its Women in Theatre Festival (WIT), which showcases new work by women and maintains "more than 50% female representation of all artists involved." This year, the festival includes a lobby installation project, titled In the Betweens , from scenic designer Chen-Wei Liao, through which audience members pass on their way into the theater proper. One first chooses first between "light" and "dark" rooms and then moves into "the gardens" before re...

7th Annual Women in Theatre Festival : Hybrid Two-Handers and Monologue Slam Hybrid Two-Handers written by Eliza Bent, Kaaron Briscoe, Georgina Escobar, Amina Henry, and Erin Mallon  Monologues written by Suzanne Bradbeer, Rachael Carnes, Alexis Craig-Hart, Catalina Florescu, Julienne Hairston, Judith Leora, Francesca Pazniokas, Sally Seitz, and Lia Romeo Directed by Michole Biancosino and Andrew W. Smith Presented by Project Y Theatre Company via weekly pass for streaming on-demand February 4-March 18, 2022 Natalie Nankervis and Starr Kirkland in #GirlPowerHour . Photo by Julianna Austin As part of the seventh installment of the annual Women in Theatre Festival (WIT), in which more than half of all the artists involved are women and which produces new work by women, Project Y Theatre Company commissioned five women playwrights to create short works "that invite in an audience of simultaneously streaming and in-person audiences" and require only two actors. Sadly, the omicro...

  Planet of the Grapes Live Created by Peter Michael Marino Directed by Michole Biancosino Presented by Project Y Theatre Company and PM2 Entertainment via YouTube Live April 16-May 15, 2021 Photo credit: Mikiodo Even if you've somehow managed never to see 1968's Planet of the Apes , moments of which remain cultural touchstones more than 50 years later, that won't make Peter Michael Marino's Planet of the Grapes Live any less of a blast. Marino reimagines the sci-fi classic as a live hourlong toy theater production, blending the main beats of the film's story and its unintentional humor with some added comedy (yes, there are some grape puns; and yes, at least one of them made us laugh out loud). The show's website includes some great background on toy theater, as well as on the Apes film and the creation of this miniaturized parody, which viewers should make some time to peruse before or after their live Grapes experience. The plot finds a quartet of astro...

Sleeping Beauty Written by Amina Henry Directed by Michole Biancosino Presented by Project Y Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres 502 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, NYC June 22-30, 2019 Kyle Decker, Chelsea Melone, Veronica Cooper. Photo credit: Eric Bondoc Photography Fairy tales have been a consistent site for feminist rewriting, remixed and reimagined by authors including Angela Carter, Anne Sexton, and A.A. Balaskovits, among many others. With Sleeping Beauty , playwright Amina Henry joins these ranks, but, in contrast to the darkness, violence, and eroticism of the aforementioned authors, Henry’s critique of gender roles and expectations is aimed squarely at younger audiences (but with a sense a humor that will keep the adults entertained as well). Henry has several plays on NYC stages this summer: The Great Novel , which we reviewed here , is currently running at The Flea ; Rent Party will premiere on July 12 at The Tank ; and Sleeping Beauty is part of Project ...

Christina Liang, Ashley Bufkin, Essence Stiggers, Kate Margalite, Ella Dershowitz. Photo credit: ClintonBPhotography Three Musketeers 1941 Written by Megan Monaghan Rivas Co-directed by Michole Biancosino and Andrew William Smith Presented by Project Y Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres, NYC June 5-29th, 2019 You can read John and Leah's review of the WWII-set Three Musketeers 1941 , about an all-woman French Resistance cell, over on Culture Catch :  http://culturecatch.com/node/3851 .

Playwright Gena Femia. Photo credit: Jody Christopherson T he fourth annual Women in Theatre Festival , presented by Project Y Theatre Company , will run June 5-30, 2019 at the Jeffrey and Paul Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres , located at 502 W 53rd St. in Manhattan, NY. The Festival will feature ten productions, each with at least fifty-percent female representation among the artists.  Productions include:  Three Musketeers: 1941 A commissioned World Premiere by Megan Monaghan Rivas Co-Directed by Michole Biancosino & Andrew W. Smith June 5-29  Inspired by characters from Alexandre Dumas’ classic adventure novel, this new play is set in the occupied Paris of World War II. The Third Reich has hung every balcony in the City of Light with swastika banners and filled the streets with the tramp of goose-stepping boots. While the French police pander to Nazi occupiers, in a secret room five brave women struggle to keep ho...