Caridad Svich, Gisela Cardenas, Mac Wellman, et al. to Participate in 2010 New York Fornés Festival

INTAR and NYU’s Department of English and its Program in Dramatic Literature will celebrate the 80th birthday of playwright, director and teacher Maria Irene Fornés with The 2010 New York Fornés Festival, to run March 25 – April 5. The event will feature presentations of the acclaimed writer’s works at multiple venues around Manhattan.

The Festival will begin with a presentation of Dr. Kheal & Tango Palace (March 25), directed by Gisela Cardenas at the Cherry Lane Theater. Bill Hopkins will stage Fornés’ seminal Fefu and Her Friends in a one-night-only performance on March 29 at Theatre for the New City. On March 30, Summer in Gossenass will also be seen at this venue, in a performance directed by Alice Reagan.

Two presentations will be at the Goldberg Theatre, the playwright’s Successful Life of 3, directed by Zisan Ugurlu (April 2) and Michelle Merman’s film about her “The Rest I Make Up”: Documenting Irene. The final theatrical presentation in the two-week event will be What of the Night?, staged by Kay Matschullat, Jacquelyn Landgraf, and Mayra Ferrer at the Cherry Lane.

The Festival will also include the presentation on April 1 at the Goldberg Theatre of a theatrical piece that P.J. Paparelli’s has devised based on conversations with Fornés. Following the performance, Mac Wellman, Caridad Svich and Dawn Williams will participate in a roundtable discussion about Fornés work and its influence on theirs.

Fornés’ other plays include Tango Palace, Promenade, The Danube, Mud, Sarita, The Conduct of Life, Abingdon Square, Enter The Night, and Letters From Cuba. Fornés has been awarded many prestigious prizes and honors, including nine Obie Awards.

For further information, visit: www.intartheatre.org.