New York Stage and Film at Vassar College's Powerhouse Theatre will present, among its summer season offerings: the new David Marshall Grant (Snakebit) play, Current Events, July 1-3 in the Susan Stein Shiva Theatre; and NY Stage and Film co-Founder and Producing Director Mark Linn-Baker (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) in the world premiere of Lee Blessing's Chesapeake June 23-July 3 at the Powerhouse Theatre.
Grant's play dissects the complexity of local politics gone personal when a congressman returns home to his family.
Chesapeake, directed by Max Mayer, is a comic one-man "look at a man and his dog and his man."
Also featured this summer in the Powerhouse are:
Intrigue With Faye, July 7-17: The world premiere of Kate Robin's romantic comedy based on the modern obsessions with self-examination, voyeurism and celebrity. Gramercy Park is Closed to the Public, July 21-Aug. 1: Toni Ann Johnson's urban tragedy faces the issues of mistrust
The Susan Stein Shiva Theatre will host:
Yield of the Long Bond, June 25-27: David Strathairn (Ashes to Ashes) stars in Larry Atlas' psychological thriller where a corporate raider, his lover and a priest clash over business and religion.
Another American: Asking and Telling, July 9-11: Marc Wolf has written and performs a piece culled from 150 interviews with gay and lesbians dealing with the government ban on homosexuals in the military. Joe Mantello (Love! Valor! Compassion!) directs.
The Trail of Her Inner Thigh, July 16-18: Fifteen year old Kaspar is taught the joys of sex and heroin by thirty-year-old Patricia in this play by Erin Cressida Wilson. Years later he seeks out the daughter he fathered to replace the mother he's lost.
James and the Handless Maiden, July 30-Aug. 1: Max Mayer wrote this dark comedy about marriage and anger set off by a sister's visit.
The Bomb-itty of Errors, July 29-31: Written and performed by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, Gregory J. Qaiyum and Eridk Weiner, Bomb-itty is a meeting of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and hip hop with a live DJ spinning the tunes.
Two special reading festivals will also be offered at the theatre. The series on June 18-20 features Family Week by Beth Henley, Drifting Elegant by Stephen Belber, Measure of My Days by Keith Bunin and Suicide Weather by Jeff Whitty. New Voices of 99, the second on July 23-25, will be dedicated to plays selected from graduate theatre programs across the country. Ny Stage and Film theatre artists will direct and read the pieces.
Recent productions at NY Stage and Film have included early stagings of Side Man, Snakebit, Honour and Tongue of a Bird.
For tickets, call the box office at (914) 437-5999. The Powerhouse Theatre is located on the web at http://www.vassar.edu/powerhouse.
-- By Christine Ehren
