BOSTON - Aug 31, 2006 New Repertory Theatre proudly announces “Downstage @ New Rep,” an ambitious series of productions that builds on the company's long-standing innovative approach to incisive, intense writing. The series will be comprised of three plays in the 2006/07 season: Will Eno's Thom Pain (based on nothing), Sept. 30 – Oct. 22, 2006; David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries, Dec. 21 – 31, 2006; and J. T. Rogers' White People, March 10 – April 1, 2007, at the Black Box at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown. Tickets and information (617) 923-8487 or www.newrep.org. (Press day for Thom Pain is October 1 at 3 p.m.).

“It has long been part of our dream to be able to create an alternative series of works – plays that are fundamentally different from the type of work we do on our main stage, yet are vital, compelling ‘New Rep' plays,” said Producing Artistic Director Rick Lombardo. “And now in our new home, with its multiple performance spaces, that dream is realized. New voices, new works, new artists, unusual forms, unexpected surprises – these will all be part of this new series in the future. What won't be new is our commitment to exploring important, timely ideas in through electrifying theatre.”

by Will Eno
Sept. 30 – Oct. 22, 2006
Thursdays 7:30 p.m., Fridays 8 p.m., Saturdays 4:30 and 8:30 p.m., Sundays 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (evening shows on Oct. 8 and 15 only) and Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Dubbed “stand-up existentialism” by The New York Times, Thom Pain (based on nothing) is a wry, sardonic monologue by an ordinary man. The play, a surreal meditation on life's unfulfilled promise, is ultimately optimistic, but not before Thom Pain muses on childhood, yearning, disappointment and loss. Cataloguing the eternal agonies of the human condition, he draws his audience into his last- ditch plea for empathy and enlightenment. The work was first performed at the Soho Theatre in London as a Launch Pad reading, and then premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004, where it won several awards. Its U.S. premiere was in January 2005 in New York. New Rep is honored to be presenting the New England premiere of this important work. Lowell-born, Brooklyn based Will Eno, is a Guggenheim Fellow, Edward F. Albee Foundation Fellow, and an Oppenheimer Award winner. He has been called “a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation,” by The New York Times.

The “Downstage @ New Rep” production of Will Eno's 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing) stars Diego Arciniegas, who is well known to Boston audiences, and has performed frequently with New Rep and other area theatres. He serves as Artistic Director for the Publick Theatre. The production is directed by Adrianne Hewlett, who has directed several works at Brandeis, where she is Assistant Professor. She has appeared as an actress Off Broadway and in numerous regional theaters including New Rep, most recently in last season's Frozen.

by David Sedaris
December 21 – 31, 2006
Wednesdays and Thusdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8:30 p.m., Saturdays at 4:30 and 8:30 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.

John Kuntz reprises his role as the wickedly funny Crumpet the Elf in The Santaland Diaries, David Sedaris' acerbic account of working as an elf at Macy's at Christmas. Satirical master Sedaris made his comic debut on National Public Radio in 1992, reading his hilarious strange-but-true account of retail holiday adventures.

Kuntz previously performed with New Rep in True West, Scapin, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and Waiting for Godot. He is a founding company member of The Actors' Shakespeare Project. Other recent credits include twenty roles in How I Got That Story with the Nora Theatre Company, forty roles in Fully Committed with the Lyric Stage, and Guildenstern/Osric in Commonwealth Shakespeare's production of Hamlet. He is the recipient of an Elliot Norton, IRNE and New York International Fringe Festival Awards, and the author of twelve produced plays. His latest, Jasper Lake, was the winner of both the Michael Kanin and Paula Vogel National Playwrighting Awards.

by J. T. Rogers
March 10 – April 1, 2007
Thursdays at 8 p.m., Fridays at 8:30 p.m., Saturdays at 4:30 and 8:30 p.m., Sundays at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (evening shows on March 18 and 25 only) and Wednesday, March. 28 at 8:00 p.m.

An unflinchingly honest, darkly funny examination of race and language in America, J. T. Rogers' White People uses the interwoven monologues of three white people – a bitter former homecoming queen who is now a housewife with a special needs child; a New York college professor whose family was attacked by a group of black men, possibly injuring his unborn baby; and a smug conservative lawyer who moved from New York to St. Louis, so his family can be safer – to work through the blame, guilt and assumptions related to feelings about their own whiteness and the non-whiteness of others.

White People had its world premiere at the Philadelphia Theatre Company in 2000, and then received the L.A. Drama Critics Circle and John Barrymore Award nominations for Best Play of the Year. J. T. Rogers is an award-winning American playwright who lives in Brooklyn. He was artist-in-residence at the Eugene O'Neill Center in 2004 and was selected as one of ten playwrights in the United States to receive a NEA/TCG Theatre Residency for 2004-2005. Other works include Madagascar, produced at the Summer Play Festival in New York in 2005 and received the American Theatre Critics Association' M. Elizabeth Osborne Award and the 2005 and Pinter Review Prize for Drama, and Seeing the Elephant which was nominated for the Kesserling Prize for Best New American Play. His most recent play, The Overwhelming is currently playing at the Royal National Theatre in London.

Tickets for “Downstage @ New Rep” are $25, senior citizens and Mainstage Subscribers $20, students $10 The Arsenal Center for the Arts is located at 321 Arsenal Street in Watertown. This is New Rep's second season as the resident company at the new Arsenal Center. The facility is ADA-compliant.

For more information, call the New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 or visit the website below.

New Rep website

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March 6, 2006

New Rep announces a season of premieres for 2006-2007

Following the success of its inaugural season in Watertown, New Repertory Theatre announces its second season as the resident company in the Arsenal Center for the Arts.  The upcoming season at New Rep will be comprised entirely of Boston, New England, and world premieres.

 “I believe the plays in our upcoming season will find a wonderful home at New Rep and with Boston audiences,” says Rick Lombardo, Producing Artistic Director.  “What they all have in common – beyond extraordinary writing – is that each play, in its own way, makes us confront our secrets, our fears, and the fragile quality of our humanity.”

As part of its continuing commitment to bring new work to local and regional audiences, New Rep will present two New England premieres, two Boston premieres, and an NNPN world premiere.   In association with the National New Play Network (NNPN), New Rep will engage in a unique collaboration with San Francisco's Magic Theatre, Tucson's Borderlands Theatre, and Indianapolis's Phoenix Theatre, presenting the “rolling world premiere” of David Rambo's The Ice-Breaker, which will introduce the play to a national audience.

For the 2006-07 season, please note that New Rep's press nights will return to Friday evenings at 8:00 PM.

The Pillowman, a comedy by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Rick Lombardo
September 6 – October 1, 2006.  Press night: September 8, 2006 at 8:00 PM
New England Premiere

For its season opener, New Rep presents last season's Tony-Award winning hit, The Pillowman.  In an unidentified totalitarian state, Katurian - a butcher by day, a writer of haunting fairy tales by night – faces two interrogators from the local police force.  As Katurian soon learns, his stories, in which characters meet grisly and macabre fates, have inspired a string of copycat crimes.  As the police resort to increasingly absurd and hilariously unconventional methods to crack the case, Katurian's stories come to life, blurring the line between fact and fiction, truth and storytelling.  In The Pillowman, Martin McDonagh celebrates with dark humor the spellbinding power of narrative, while exploring the dark corners of the human imagination and the delicate balance between the freedoms of the individual and the security of the state.

The Ice-Breaker, a drama by David Rambo
Director TBA
Oct. 25 – Nov. 19, 2006.  Press night: Friday, Oct. 27 at 8:00 PM
An NNPN world premiere (National New Play Network)
Featuring Will Lyman

New Rep's production of The Ice-Breaker will be part of a National New Play Network “rolling world premiere,” in conjunction with productions at San Francisco's Magic Theatre, Tucson's Borderlands Theatre, and Indianapolis's Phoenix Theatre.  Written by David Rambo – known nationally for his writing on the hit television series Crime Scene Investigation – The Ice-Breaker depicts the developing relationship between two scientists.  Sonia, a brilliant academic completing her thesis on climatology, arrives on the desert of the American Southwest in search of Lawrence, a once-legendary scientist (now living in self-imposed exile), whose research on polar ice inspired Sonia's work.  When the two meet, sexual and intellectual sparks fly, but in the course of one sleepless night, both learn that their romantic attraction is as volatile and mysterious as the potential climate change they fear.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Adapted for the stage by Rick Lombardo 
December 10 – 24, 2006.  Press night: Wednesday, December 13 at 7:00 PM

Following the success of last year's production, New Rep revives its popular adaptation of Dickens' classic holiday story, which has all the trimmings of a lavish Victorian Christmas.  The production offers a feast for the senses, ranging from a pre-show caroling concert to luxurious period costumes, from singing and dancing – the performers accompany themselves on over a dozen different instruments – to ghosts that fly through the air and evaporate into the London fog.  For audience members of all ages, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is the perfect holiday celebration.

Silence, a comedy by Moira Buffini
Directed by Rick Lombardo
January 17 – February 11, 2007.  Press night: Friday, January 19 at 8:00 PM
New England premiere

The time is the Dark Ages and the place England, as Ymma, a young noblewoman in exile from Normandy, arrives on the shores of Canterbury.  Passionate, brilliant, fiery, and beautiful, Ymma quickly offends Ethelred, England's narrow-minded king.  As punishment, he commands her to marry Silence, a fourteen-year-old lord who longs to become a warrior.  Quickly, the newlyweds conspire to take advantage of their mismatched marriage, reaching an agreement that grants them both their freedom.  Ymma and Silence set out on the open road, but as Viking warriors threaten the shores of England, as the new millennium dawns and the faithful wonder if the apocalypse is at hand, the young couple's strength is tested.  Smart, sexy, silly, and overflowing with ideas, Silence interweaves youthful adventure with a profound meditation on questions of identity, freedom, religion, nationalism, and the possibilities of faith and tolerance in an uncertain world.

Orson's Shadow, a comedy by Austin Pendleton
Director TBA
February 21 – March 18, 2007.  Press night: Friday, February 23, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Boston area premiere

Movie stars, legendary talent, declining fame, and explosive egos all collide in the off-Broadway hit Orson's Shadow, written by New Rep regular Austin Pendleton and selected by Time Magazine as one of the top plays of 2005.  In 1960, film director Orson Welles travels to London, persuaded by Kenneth Tynan - himself a powerful theatre critic - to direct a production of Ionesco's Rhinoceros.  The Royal Court Theatre production stars the brilliant Laurence Olivier and his latest flame, Joan Plowright, though their romance is complicated by a visit from Olivier's eccentric wife, Vivien Leigh.  Filled with risqué, behind-the-scenes intrigue, Orson's Shadow depicts the fragility and humanity of these titan personalities.

The Wild Party, a musical comedy by Andrew Lippa
Directed by Rick Lombardo
April 25 – May 20, 2007.  Press night: Friday, April 27, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Boston area premiere

Evoking the glamour, sensuality, and decadence of Manhattan in the roaring twenties, The Wild Party chronicles an evening in the life of Queenie and Burrs, lovers and fellow vaudeville performers.  To test the limits of their fierce and hot-blooded relationship, Queenie throws the wildest, most hedonistic party New York has ever seen.  However, as the reckless and alluring guests arrive - all with stories of their own - seduction gives way to unbridled passion, and what began as an evening of games and titillation ends in violence.  The Wild Party, with a driving score by Andrew Lippa, blends contemporary music with the sounds of the Jazz Age.

Subscription information

Subscriptions for New Rep's 2006-2007 season are on sale now.  Information on different membership packages can be obtained by contacting New Rep's box office at 617.923.8487 or via e-mail at info@newrep.org.  Please note that Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is not included in any subscription package.

New Repertory Theatre presents provocative and intelligent works of both established and emerging playwrights in an intimate setting that involves and engages the audience.  New Rep has earned a reputation for dynamic productions that honor the writers and feature talented professional actors from the New England theatre community as well as guest artists from around the U.S.  New Rep has received Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for outstanding acting, scenic design, direction, and production.  Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, with additional support from Bank of America and CN8, the Comcast Network.

FACTS AT A GLANCE

NEW REPERTORY THEATRE'S 2006-2007 SEASON

Producing Artistic Director:    Rick Lombardo

The Pillowman, by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Rick Lombardo
September 6 – October 1, 2006
Press night: Friday, September 8, 2006 at 8:00 PM

The Ice-Breaker, by David Rambo
Director TBA
Oct. 25 – Nov. 19, 2006
Press night: Friday, Oct. 27 at 8:00 PM
Featuring Will Lyman

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, adapted by Rick Lombardo
December 10 – December 24, 2006
Press night: Wednesday, December 13 at 7:00 PM

Silence, by Moira Buffini
Directed by Rick Lombardo
January 17 – Feb. 11, 2007
Press night: Friday, January 19 at 8:00 PM

Orson's Shadow, by Austin Pendleton
Director TBA
February 21 – March 18, 2007
Press night: Friday, February 23, 2007 at 8:00 PM

The Wild Party, by Andrew Lippa
Directed by Rick Lombardo
April 25 – May 20, 2007
Press night: Friday, April 27, 2007 at 8:00 PM

PERFORMANCE TIMES:

Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 PM
Fridays at 8:00 PM
Saturdays at 3:30 and 8:00 PM
Sundays at 2:00 and 7:30 PM
One Wednesday matinee at 2:00 PM

TICKETS:

In the 2006-07 season, tickets for non-musical productions will range from $30-$50 (for musicals, $35 – $55), depending on the day of the week and seating location.  Senior, student, and group discounts are available, as well as student rush.  For more information, call 617.923.8487 or e-mail info@newrep.org.

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