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In place of Waiting For Godot, Miscreant will show a series of very short one-acts written by promising less-established writers. Many of these plays have never been produced before. Bring a blanket and a beverage and enjoy free theatre in a beautiful spot in Central Park. Opens September 4th, just south of the pool near West 103rd St.
A play does not truly come alive until an audience is present. The actors make choices and experiment through their four-week rehearsal process, devouring the text to bring themselves to a point of readiness where the audience can then come in and take part. However, it is in those four weeks of rehearsal that the actors are most creative. They take great risks, listening intently not sure of what will come next. What if that four-week rehearsal process were taken away?
The Smash and Grab utilizes what Miscreant calls “Open Connection Impro-Acting”. Open Connection Impro-Acting combines a classic text with traditional acting techniques and improvisation. It demands that each actor make bold choices and listen with fresh ears while the audience watches it unfold.
The ensemble will have never rehearsed the play together. They will have never done a run-through of the play or even their individual scenes. They will not have been given blocking or any direction. Prior to “opening night” the actors will never have spoken their lines in the same room with their fellow actors. That being said, the ensemble will have worked together prior to opening. They will use the rehearsal period to build a connection between each other; to truly build an ensemble fusing any number of games and ensemble building techniques.
The Smash and Grab looks to bring a new level of courage, spontaneity, and creativity to the stage asking the actor, the improviser and the audience, as artists, to each listen and play with equal intent.
In an effort to return the character of Hamlet to the story of Hamlet, Miscreant will abandon a single actors interpretation of the role. This abandonment comes in pursuit of focusing on the story itself: the grief of losing a parent, the madness of skepticism, the hatred of abandonment and the guilt of guilt. By distributing the title role we look to allow the themes of Hamlet, the play, to supercede the single actors construction of Hamlet, the character. Sharing the part, in order to crack the story, we’ll undergo an investigation divorced from egoism and greed, devoid of accepted answers on how “to make it work”.
“What is this quintessence of dust?”
ALENA SMITH’s plays include The Lacy Project (Ice Factory 2007, Ohio Theatre, NYC; developed in Soho Think Tank’s 6th Floor Series, 2006; Carlotta Festival of New Plays at Yale School of Drama, 2006), Alice Eat Your Words (Northwestern University, Yale Cabaret, Haverford College), It or Her (Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Brown University), Saturnalia in Poughkeepsie (Yale School of Drama), and Apple of Discord (Philadelphia Fringe). She is a co-founder and the resident playwright of Dead Genius Productions, an independent dance-theater company. The Lacy Project was a finalist for the 2006 O’Neill Playwrights Conference as well as the 2006 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting. MFA, Yale School of Drama; ASCAP Cole Porter Prize in Playwriting.
VICTOR KAUFOLD has had productions at The Hudson Theatre (Los Angeles), The Avery Theatre (Annandale), and The Yale Cabaret. His full-length plays include The Why, Tethered, The Special Interest Case of Special Agent Esteban Martinez, Muke the Inquisitive, The Death of Milton Hubbell, and Bridesburg. The Why was produced by The Blank Theatre in Los Angeles in ‘00 and was nominated for an Ovation award for best new play. Now published with Playscripts, Inc., it has enjoyed numerous performances and readings in and outside of the country. Victor currently teaches English at Borough of Manhattan Community College and holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. |
