Little Opera - Ada

the little opera theatre of ny
presents

NEW VOICES
a concert featuring new operas by three living composers: Edward Ficklin,
Kim D. Sherman, & Inessa Zaretsky

Wednesday, April 15th at 8pm

The Kosciuszko Foundation
15 East 65th Street
New York, NY 10065

Tickets through www.smarttix.com (212 868 4444)
$20.00

Looking for the Pony Photos

Critical praise for Pony:

"Looking for the Pony ... deserves a bouquet of pink ribbons for investing its dark subject matter with nearly equal doses of humor and poignancy.

It's virtually impossible not to be moved by its depiction of compassion, courage and humanness -- or to resist the high-caliber performances that director Lisa Rothe coaxes from her cast of four."

- Wendell Brock, AJC

"...director Lisa Rothe has staged a smooth-flowing, fast-paced journey..."

- Brad Rudy of Theatre Buzz

Performed at 7 Stages, 1105 Euclid Ave
Little Five Points (driving directions). (Thru March 8)

Cast includes Suehyla El-Attar, Jennifer Levison, Stacy Melich, and John Benzinger.

All photos: Stacey Bode, www.staceybode.com

PONY

Heading to Atlanta to direct Andrea Lepcio's LOOKING FOR THE PONY. Play is produced by Synchronicity Theatre at 7 Stages and runs Feb 6 - March 8. Check back for more info.

ADA Redux

Composed by Kim Sherman
Libretto by Margaret Vandenburg
Directed by Lisa Rothe
Musical Direction by Kimberly Grigsby

Cast: Jacqueline Antaramian, Christopher Burchett, Sarah Chalfy, Cherry Duke, Bryce Pinkham, David Schmidt, Abigail Shue, Sarah Statler, Timothy Thomas and Lars Woodul.

We will present the first 75 minutes of our new chamber opera at Ensemble Studio Theater on two dates:

Saturday, December 6 at 8:00 pm
Monday, December 8 at 7:00 pm

Location: Ensemble Studio Theatre
549 west 52nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)

"Ada Byron, daughter of the famed Romantic poet Lord Byron, was one of the most spectacular characters in computer history. Like her father before her, Ada embarks on a Romantic quest very much at odds with the prevailing Victorian ethic of restraint. Her vision of mathematics transforms stark theorems and numerical figures into rich metaphors and linguistic constructions, thus paving the way for the invention of computer languages."

Reservations: 212-247-4982 x105
Suggested donation: $10

HOT L

Directing HOT L Baltimore at NYU Graduate Acting Program.



Reservations click here

Oct 22 @ 7 pm
Oct 24 @ 7 pm
Oct 25 @ 2 pm
Oct 26 @ 7 pm
Oct 28 @ 7 pm

PENELOPE at Gallatin

You are invited to

a workshop presentation of

PENELOPE

by Ellen McLaughlin

and composer Sarah Kirkland Snyder

Directed by Lisa Rothe

A woman's ex-husband appears at her door after
an absence of 20 years, suffering from brain damage.
A veteran of a modern war, he doesn't know who he is
and she doesn't know who he's become.
While they wait together for his return to himself, she reads him 'The Odyssey,'
and in the journey of that book, she finds a way into her former husband's memory
and the terror and trauma of war.

Help us kick off the inaugural season of

NYU Gallatin School's
Labowitz Theatre
715 Broadway
Ground Floor

Wednesday, Oct 29 @ 7 pm
Thursday, Oct 30@7 pm
Friday, Oct 31 @ 7 pm
Saturday, Nov 1 @ 2 pm
Saturday, Nov 1 @ 7 pm

*

performed by Ellen McLaughlin

and the

Penelope String quartet:

Olivia De Prato

Amie Weiss

Beth Meyers

Lauren Radnofsky

*

Set design by Eliza Brown

Lighting Design by ML Geiger

Video design by Marilys Ernst and Lisa Rothe

*

Tickets are $10, with free admission to NYU students presenting valid ID.

Tickets are available online at

https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/75242

and can also be purchased at the

Ticket Central Box Office in the Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, on the day of performance.

Students must present ID at Ticket Central to obtain free seats.

Tickets will not be sold at the door.

Penelope was first produced in 2008 by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

It will also play Princeton University's Taplin Auditorium Nov. 4 & 5 at 8 PM (In a much less realized production)

Award

Outstanding Direction

Lisa Rothe, Couldn't Say

Award Noms

Couldn't Say, and the the incredibly talented team that created it, has been nominated for SIX awards including:

Outstanding Overall Production of a New Drama Play
Outstanding Direction
Outstanding Lead Actor
Outstanding Lead Actress
Outstanding Lighting Design
and
Outstanding Scenic Design

The awards ceremony and party will be on Friday, Sept 5 at The Bleecker St Theater.

Playwrights Week

THE NOISEMAKERS
by Mark Borkowski
directed by Lisa Rothe

When a mentally disturbed father seeks forgiveness for sins against his family, he asks his son to help him take the only action he believes will fully absolve him: he wants to be crucified. His request unveils the family’s darkest secrets and forces them to confront their demons.

Saturday, September 27 @ 4pm
Lark Play Development Center
939 Eighth Avenue, Ste 301

Morgan Street

Musical Reading of

Morgan St.

Book by Jeremy Alan Richards

Music by Jeremy Alan Richards, Anika Noni Rose, Eugene Gwozdz

directed by Lisa Rothe

Featuring: Ronnell Bey, Caitlin Mahoney, Adam McNulty, Chivas Michael, Nyambi Nyambi, Anika Noni Rose, Emily Swallow, Tim Thomas,

A story of the American melting pot and the love that abounds when you can actually choose your own family; Morgan Street follows Travis, a Bi-racial child adopted into a white, Quaker family, as he searches for himself, his roots, and his birthparents, and discovers whether he has the mental capacity to travel that road intact.

Monday, July 21 @ 7pm in the Shubert Theatre at NYU - 721 Broadway

Couldn't Say

I am directing a show for the Midtown International Theatre Festival this summer. We have 7 performances and opening night is already sold out. The theatre is fairly small (56 seats?) and tickets are going fast. That's all I'm saying...

The play is COULDN'T SAY, a two-hander by Christopher Wall. The cast is terrific - Brent Langdon and Elizabeth Rich. And it is being designed by a fabulous team: Eliza Brown (sets), Christina Bullard (costumes), Melissa Mizell (lights) and Dan Kluger (sound). And our stage manager, Sid King, rocks.

Because it's a festival, there is a mish mosh of dates and times, so check carefully. Running time is around an hour, so you can plan something else in your evening as well!

DATES and TIMES:

Saturday, July 19 @ 5 pm (SOLD OUT)
Monday, July 21 @ 8:30 pm
Tuesday, July 22 @ 6:30 pm
Sunday, July 27 @ 5:45 pm
Wednesday, July 30 @ 5:15 pm
Friday, August 1 @ 5:30 pm
Sunday, August 3 @ 3:00 pm

PLACE:

Dorothy Strelsin Theatre
Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
312 W 36th St - 1st floor
Just west of 8th avenue

Tickets can be purchased through our web site:

http://www.couldntsay.com/

or directly through Ticket Central at

http://www.ticketcentral.com/showdetails2.asp?showid=1714

Thanks for the support! Hope to see you there...

Keen Teens

May 9, 10 & 11

Off-Broadway theatre company Keen Company,
in a partnership with Playscripts, Inc.
invites you to join its free theatre program for students,
KEEN TEENS.

http://www.keencompany.org/teens.html


***************************

Dawn's Light

photo by Lia Chang

Thursday, May 1, 7pm

co-presented with the Lark Play Development Center and Epic Theatre Ensemble

DAWN'S LIGHT: THE JOURNEY OF GORDON HIRABAYASHI by Jeanne Sakata

Directed by Lisa Rothe
Featuring Thom Sesma

The Lark Studio, 939 8th Avenue

DAWN'S LIGHT is a one-person show inspired by the true story of Gordon Hirabayashi, a 24-year-old Japanese American Quaker college student, who, during World War II in 1942, openly defied and legally challenged governmental orders forcing over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry into desolate concentration camps without due process of the law. Throughout this shocking upheaval, his subsequent imprisonment and Supreme Court trial, Gordon struggles to arrive at a deeper understanding of his own experiences, his community's sufferings, and America's triumphs and failures.

"DAWN'S LIGHT: THE JOURNEY OF GORDON HIRABAYASHI" was originally commissioned by Center Theatre Group's Asian Theatre Workshop in 2003."

Ada - Chamber Opera

First Light Festival at EST

Friday, April 25, 2008
7:00 - 8:30 pm

ADA
Composed by Kim Sherman
Libretto by Margaret Vandenburg
Conceived/Directed by Lisa Rothe

We received a grant from the EST/SLOAN foundation to write an opera about Ada Byron. Come and listen to the first 40-45 minutes of material
sung by an incredible cast:

Christopher Burchett, Sarah Chalfy, John Ellison Conlee, Cherry Duke,
Malcolm Gets, David Schmidt, Abigail Shue, and Sarah Statler.

"Ada Byron, daughter of the famed Romantic poet Lord Byron, was one of the most spectacular characters in computer history. Like her father before her, Ada embarks on a Romantic quest very much at odds with the prevailing Victorian ethic of restraint. Her vision of mathematics transforms stark theorems and numerical figures into rich metaphors and linguistic constructions, thus paving the way for the invention of computer languages. "

Suggested donation - $10
For reservations, call 212-247-4982 (x20)

Ensemble Studio Theatre
549 West 52nd Street

Likeness

LIKENESS by David Caudle
Director: Lisa Rothe
Cast: Michael Emerson, Laura Heisler, Ryan Metcalf, Carrie Preston,
Nancy Robinette, Charles Semine

5 PM Monday, Feb 11 at

PRIMARY STAGES studios

307 W. 38 st, 15th Floor
RSVP (important-- space is limited)
tessa@primarystages .com

In Colonial Boston, young Edmund Farraday
gets a career-launching gig: the portrait of a wealthy
Loyalist's daughter. But there's more to the job than
meets the eye. LIKENESS was developed at the New
Harmony Project in 2006. The world premiere
production at Miami's New Theatre has just received a
Carbonell Award nomination for Best New Work.

Penelope

Just got back from LA where I was working with Ellen McLaughlin and composer Sarah Kirkland Snyder on a project at the Getty Villa. It is a beautiful new piece that was performed by Ellen and the LA based string quartet, Eclipse Ensemble.

from the Getty website:

Award-winning actor and playwright Ellen McLaughlin brings her one-woman theatrical/musical piece Penelope to the Getty Villa's Theater Lab. A woman's husband appears at her door after an absence of 20 years, suffering from brain damage. A veteran of a modern war, he doesn't know who he is and she doesn't know who he's become. While they wait together for his return to himself, she reads him The Odyssey, and in the journey of that book, she finds a way into her former husband's memory and the terror and trauma of war. McLaughlin combines her talents with those of composer Sarah Kirkland Snider and the Eclipse Ensemble under the direction of director Lisa Rothe to present a modern adaptation of this ancient text, which continues to resonate today.

Chautauqua

Currently in Chautauqua, New York directing Ah, Wilderness!



Equity Company: Marcia Debonis, Stuart Margolin, Paul Niebanck, Amy van Nostrand, David Warshofsky
Conservatory Company: Nick Carriere, Caitlin Clouthier, Kimiye Corwin, Gabriel Ebert, Jason Hois, Andrew Hovelson, Kate Hurster, Lena Hurt, Corey Jones and Charlie Murphy.

www.ciweb.org/Theater/about.html

New Harmony Project

Just spent 2 weeks in beautiful New Harmony working on a new play by Austin Bunn called TIMBERLAND. Had a fabulous time working with a great group of actors: Gary Bayer, Jonathan Dickson, Paul Kite, Katie Kreissler, Devin Norik, Darren Pettie, Amanda Sykes and Christia Ward. The dramaturg was Gavin Witt.

Check out the Project website at: www.newharmonyproject.org

The Common Swallow

PRIMARY STAGES' Fresh Ink Reading Series presents a reading of THE COMMON SWALLOW, a new play by David Caudle.

THE COMMON SWALLOW was developed in the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages.

Directed by Lisa Rothe.

With Catherine Curtin, Jeff Galfer, Annie Golden, John Magaro, Kim Martin-Cotton, Erin Raftery, Randy Ryan and Paul Savas.

Synopsis: A baker's dozen of Americans grapple with unraveling ties to home, humanity, andenvironment, while an idyllic community of swallows thrives unnoticed beneath the bridge in the heart oftheir mid-western river town.

59 E 59 Theatres

Thursday, April 26th3:00 PM.

For reservations, call Michelle at 212-840-9705.

365 Days/ 365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks

Epic Theatre Center's contribution to the Suzan-Lori Parks 365 DAYS / 365 PLAYS FESTIVAL: "WEEK 20".

www.365days365plays.com by Suzan-Lori Parks

Directed by Hal Brooks, Ben Klarich Kahn, Lisa Rothe, & Leigh Silverman

Featuring a company of professional and student actors including:Ariana Bernstein, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Sarah K. Chalmers, Lida Colon, Jeff dePicciotto, Joslyn Guijarro, Rachael Holmes, Desiree Idrogo, Matthew Malave, Reggie Manigault, Hope Mayes, Jacob Ming-Trent, Jessica Morris, Anna O'Donoghue, Teomily Pichardo, Yoneidy Reyes, Sofia Rodriguez, Shaquana Taylor, Godfrey L. Simmons Jr.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.

The Kirk Theatre on Theatre Row 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)

There will also be two special presentations on Sunday, April 1, 2007, 3pm & 7pm at the Public Theatre

For Reservations for March 28-31: 212-239-1770 or EpicTheatreCtr@aol.com

For information on how to get tickets for the April presentations, go to www.publictheater.org/365.