Off Broadway Prelude Weekend – Series A

In a New York-first, the CUNY Graduate Center will offer a three-day Prelude Weekend featuring work being produced by the city’s distinctive off-Broadway theater community. The Graduate Center’s Martin E. Segal Theatre Center will join with the Alliance of Resident Theatres (A.R.T.)/New York to present 16 A.R.T. member companies, providing a compacted preview of diverse plays being developed for the 2003-04 season and beyond, and a unique forum for showcasing the extraordinary off-Broadway theater scene.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS for Friday, October 3
(For additional events, see Series B, C, and D)

Series A: Martin E. Segal Theatre (60 seats )

12:00 – 1:30

National Asian American Theatre Company: Tales of Unrest: Joseph Conrad On Stage

NAATCO presents, in association with Fluid Motion Theater & Film, excerpts from two one-acts: Artsat and One Day More. After the performance, Fluid Motion’s Artistic Director and adapter and director of Arsat (based on Conrad’s One Day More), Christine Simpson, and NAATCO’s Producing/Artistic Director, Mia Katigbak, will discuss the project. A question and answer period will follow. Website: www.naatco.org

2:00 – 3:30

Blue Heron Theatre: Bee-luther-hatchee: Three Directorial Approaches

Through its story of a literary “hoax”, Bee-luther-hatchee explores not only the issue of the “truth of the imagination” as the basis of the creative process but also the question of “authenticity” in today’s literature and by extension in today’s life. Who can speak for whom? Director Jim Pelegano will work with actors to create three different approaches to the same scene. Discussion with the audience will follow about the ways a director can influence the meaning of a text. Website: www.blueheron-nyc.org

4:00- 5:30
The Play Company: The Play Company Gives You the Works

Scenes from plays from the US, France, the Ivory Coast, Northern Ireland – all from this innovative company presenting the best in new international theatre. Their ongoing public reading series of plays and literature has featured works by such writers as Rodney Ackland, Kia Corthon, Regina Taylor, Kenneth Tynan and John Updike. Come and be part of a worldwide audience. Website: www.theplaycompany .org

6:00 – 7:30

MCC Theater: Brand New Works

MCC Theater will present first-time readings of two new short plays by members of the MCC Theater Playwrights’ Coalition. And members of the MCC Youth Theater Company will present their provocative and edgy self-generated performance piece identifying and challenging the stereotypes of urban youth. MCC Theatre is the producer of critically acclaimed plays such as Tim Blake Nelson’s The Grey Zone(4 Obie Awards), Margaret Edson’s Wit (1999 Pulitzer Prize), and Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living (2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist). Website: www.mcctheater.com