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All Kinds of Shifty Villains
Posted May 22, 2008
Note: Hard to tell how much circus will actually be in it, but the
director's circus credentials are pretty impressive. You can also
check out the troupe at the Laugh Out Loud Festival (see listing.) Posted as
received.
Disgraced Productions Presents All Kinds of Shifty Villains
carnival-noir
A new play by Robert Attenweiler
Directed & Choreographed By Rachel Klein
A dame is in trouble. The detective sees suspects everywhere. And
that's not all he sees…
ALL KINDS OF SHIFTY VILLAINS follows private detective, Max
Quarterhorse, as he winds his way through a dark and seedy underworld
filled with beautiful but manipulative women, lowlife villains,
vagrants, and … um, clowns… all of whom are likely plotting his
doom.
Dick Tracy meets Tom Waits in this carnival noir, blending elements of
circus with 1930's crime fiction. What results is a hysterical
hallucination of a new play fueled by the singularly dynamic language
of playwright Robert Attenweiler and the spectacular, physical staging
of director Rachel Klein.
ALL KIND OF SHIFTY VILLAINS features Erik Dies, Bret Haines,
Christopher Loar*, Michael Porsche, Rob Richardson, Elizabeth
Stewart*, Joe Stipek*, Karl Warchock and Nathan Williams.
The design team for ALL KINDS OF SHIFTY VILLAINS includes Rachel Klein
(Director, Set Design, Choreography), Lisa Soverino (Lighting Design)
and Emily Taradash (Costume Design).
The production, produced by Disgraced Productions, will play at the
Kraine Theater (85 E. 4th Street) June 12-28, Thursday through
Saturday at 8pm. Sunday at 2pm. Tickets ($18) are available by calling
Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at smarttix.com
*Appearing courtesy of The Actors Equity Association
The script for ALL KINDS OF SHIFTY VILLIANS was a collaboration
between playwright, Robert Attenweiler, Director Rachel Klein and the
actors in the cast, based on workshop rehearsals of generic film noir
inspired scenes. Attenweiler was able to give color and originality to
each scene, and the story as a whole by writing to each actor's
individual voice and to build characters around what each actor
brought to the workshop sessions. Rachel Klein's staging is as dynamic
and heightened as Robert Attenweiler's writing and their collaboration
with the cast enabled a more complete fusing of the language of the
script with the overall theatrically of the production.
Robert Attenweiler (Playwright) is a playwright and independent
theater producer living in New York's East Village. He received his
M.A. in English from The Ohio State University and his M.F.A. in
Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied
with Arthur Kopit, Doug Wright, and Neil LaBute, among others. In
2005, he formed his production company, Disgraced Productions, through
which he has produced five of his plays: Places Like Here (FringeNYC,
2005), Thick Like Piano Legs (The Red Room, 2006), Kansas City Or
Along The Way (The Red Room, 2006), The Butterfield Tones (FRIGID New
York, 2007), ...and we all wore leather pants (co-produced with Horse
Trade Theater Group, UNDER St. Marks, 2007). His new play, Torrents
just ran at the TBG Arts Complex, produced by the Barracuda Theatre
Club. He is a member of the Lark Play Development Center and the
Dramatists Guild and he was a recent recipient of a FAR rehearsal
space grant from The Field. He was a semi-finalist (top 25 of 2500)
of the 2005 ABC Television Writing Fellowship and ...and we all wore
leather pants was recently published in the New York Theatre
Experience's Plays and Playwrights 2008.
Rachel Klein (Director, Choreographer) attended Columbia College in
Chicago where she studied theatrical directing. She then pursued her
fascination with circus arts and studied trapeze, tumbling and tight
rope walking at the Actors Gymnasium and clown with Kapoot Clown
Theater.. Since moving to New York Rachel has directed and
choreographed nearly 20 shows and events with many theater companies
including Parallel Exit, Push Productions, Blue Box Productions, the
Looking Glass Theatre, Groove Mama Ink, Another Urban Riff Theater
Company, the Bushwick Starr and is the resident director of the Rising
Sun Performance Company. Rachel is active in the New York clown and
circus community, having volunteered at the New York International
Clown Theater Festival, the Clown Parade and having directed and
choreographed a Commedia dell'Arte production of Aristophanes' The
Frogs in Central Park. She has also contributed time to the Innovative
Theater Awards and the New York Theater Review at PS 122. Recent works
include Metro, an acrobat, dance, and clown show about people's inner
thoughts while riding a subway and The Canterville Ghost, a movement
play that she adapted from the Oscar Wilde short story. Rachel's work
is influenced by Cirque du Soleil, Julie Taymor, Bob Fosse, Tim
Burton, Edward Gorey, Blue Man Group, and Dario Fo.
For more information, contact Emily Owens, emily@emilyowenspr.com or 972.743.3746 or see disgracedproductions.com
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