theAtrain(re)plays, part I & part II

theAtrainplays are a celebration of New York. During the last 3 years and 17 productions of theAtrainplays, 96 individual one-act plays and musicals have been created and staged 24 hours after they were cast, conceived, written and shaped during one round trip on the NYC Subway System’s A train. theAtrain(re)plays revisits 18 of these pieces, divided into 2 parts (4 plays and 5 musicals per part).

Alumni of theAtrainplays include Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Tony Randall, Alice Ripley, Anika Larsen, Sheri Rene Scott, Siobhan Fallon Hogan and Tracie Thoms.
Performers scheduled to appear in theAtrain(re)plays include Ashlie Atkinson (Fat Pig, Rescue Me), Linda Gabler (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cabaret), Christine Pedi (Forbidden Broadway), Jay Rogers (When Pigs Fly), John Leone (Les Miserables), Michael Pemberton (I’m Not Rappaport, Not About Nightingales), Lisa Barnes (Rescue Me, Law and Order), Donovan Patton (Blue’s Clues) and 5 time MAC Award Winner Natalie Douglas. Lyricists and Composers include 6 time EMMY Award Winner Lanny Myers and Marcy Heisler and ZIna Goldrich (MAC, Bistro and ASCAP Richard Rogers New Horizons Theatre Award). Directors and Choreographers include Hope Clarke (Lucile Lortel Award, Caroline or Change), Lainie Sakakura (Fosse) and Edie Cowan (Original Little Shop of Horrors).

theAtrain(re)plays, part I will be performed on Tuesday March 1, 2005 and will run through Sunday March 6, 2005. Showtimes are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Matinee at 3 p.m.

theAtrain(re)plays, part II will be performed on Tuesday March 8, 2005 and will run through Sunday March 13, 2005. Showtimes are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Matinee at 3 p.m.

The format for theAtrainplays is as follows: before each team begins their journey from 207th Street on the A train, the writers pick a number between 2 and 5 to set the amount of characters. The writer then chooses that number of headshots through a blind draw to determine which actors are in each piece. When the librettists and playwrights reach the Far Rockaway stop, they randomly select, through another blind draw, their collaborators (lyricists, composers, directors and choreographers, for the librettists and a director for each playwright) who have been awaiting their arrival at a nearby McDonalds! With the creative teams now fully assembled, they all return to 207th street and then proceed to Columbus Circle where they meet the pre-selected actors, decipher their scribbles, copy the scripts and begin rehearsals. They have until show time THE NEXT DAY to develop these works into an electrifying, unique and entertaining theatrical experience.