INTERNATIONAL CRINGE FESTIVAL'S
BAD PLAYS FESTIVAL 2007
Run for the hills -- the Bad Plays Festival is back! No, Virginia, these plays are not really bad, they're really GOOD -- but naughty (politically incorrect, political satire, bad language, bad puns, over-the-top silliness, and the like). The Bad Plays Festival returns for its second year, this time to the Players Theatre at 115 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, running from September 10 through 30. Each night starting at 8 p.m., there's a unique theme of 3-6 new plays for one all-inclusive ticket price of $15-$25 (varies with discounts and advance sales). This year’s festival also features a special Brown Bag Lunch Series of staged readings on Wednesdays at noon.; “Ebony Black,” a new children’s musical on Saturdays at 3 p.m., and special Sunday night presentations of festival lovechild “Best Little Crackhouse in Philly."
There is a Carmen Miranda opening night benefit to start things off with a samba on September 10. Throughout the festival, audiences vote on their favorite bad play. Closing night brings presentation of the Fruit Cup Awards: Golden Pineapple, Silver Tomato, and Bronze Banana. Wild and woolly comedy and singing acts entertain nightly during set changes and intermissions, including Bronze Fondue, a band of nutty university professors.
From the get-go, this festival has intrigued the press & media: extensive coverage has appeared in The New York Times (Sunday Arts & Leisure section), New York magazine (The Matrix & Happening This Week), TimeOutNY, and many more publications. The coverage has drawn audiences and provided tremendous exposure for a great number of artists: 50 in the first Bad Plays Festival and 100 in the Bad Musicals Festival. The house is packed nearly every night with producers, press/media people, and a large/growing audience of locals and tourists. Renowned writers, composers, directors, and actors have taken part. Richard Pryor Jr. was featured in "Best Little Crackhouse."
This year’s festival presents 6 THEME NIGHTS of fun and exciting "bad" plays on a rotating basis:
SOMETHING TO OFFEND EVERYONE featuring: “Hollywood Saves Africa” by K. Knapp, “The Mexican Cleaning Lady or How I Almost Offended the Dalai Lama” by Leslie Bramm, “The Hootens of Hollerville” by Michael Paul Girard, and “The Jewish Roaches” by Richard Ravits.
SEX, THUGS AND ROCK ‘N ROLL featuring: “Revenge Is Best Served Cold” by Samuel Toll, “God’s Pants Too Huge” by George Holets, “Artist vs. Landlord” by Doron Braunshtein a/k/a Apollo Braun, “Sexual Perversity in Connecticut” by Mike Folie, “The Age Game” by Joan Blake and Tia Maria, and “Perfect Pitch” by Patricia Lee Stotter.
SWINGTIME FOR HITLER (& FRIENDS) featuring: “Goebbels! One Night Only! Live From Hell!” by Scott Munson, “Better Than Hitler” by Jon Brooks, and “God Bless America” by William Morton.
LITTLE BOXES MADE OF TICKY-TACKY featuring: “Going Postal” by George Holets, “The Greatest in the Whole Wide World” by David Kosh, “A Fake Fiasco” by Frederick Timm, and “The Canary” by Don Chan Mark.
IS THAT A GUN IN YOUR POCKET? featuring: “Aphrodite’s Nightie” by Frank O’Donnell, “Berry Season” by Rosemary Toohey, “Down Goes Rocky” by Reid MacCluggage, “The Devil and His Sunglasses” by Csaba Teglas, and “Time Went by but Slowly” by J. Boyer.
POKING AT SACRED COWS (a faux classical romp) featuring: “The Moor’s Pastiche" by Jean Hart, “Come Again?” by Richard J. Budin, and “The Queen’s Privy” by Michael Paul Girard.
Saturdays at 3 p.m., the company’s original children’s musical “Ebony Black," a multicultural take on Snow White, will perform for children and family audiences. Tickets are $7/children & $10/adults.
Every Sunday night at 8 is a special performance of the newly expanded “Best Little Crackhouse in Philly (or Crackwhore… the Musical)" by Stan Peal, with costume prizes for best-dressed audience crackwhore, drug dealer or other street character. It will not compete for the Golden Pineapple this year, but will be a special event in the downstairs theatre, followed by a party. The one-act version of this outlandish musical won both the Golden Pineapple and Platinum Pineapple in previous festivals. The new version takes us further into the crackhouse than ever before!
Wednesdays from noon to 2 p.m., the Brown Bag Lunch Series of staged readings will feature eight new plays with open discussions in a workshop setting with brown bag snacks and beverages included in the $10 admission. Readings include “Long Night’s Journey into Day” by Stuart Boyce, “An Acute Triangle” by Rosemary Martino, “60 Guilders’ Worth” by Anthony Pennino, "Chunnel" by Paavo Tom Tammi, “Don’t Wait/’Til It’s Too Late” by Lenore Blumenfeld, “Woman-Bomb/de Sade” by Allan Graubard and Caroline McGee, “Vilification” by Laura K. Emack, and “Red November, Charlie December” by Penelope Prentice.
Directors for this year’s festival are: Jordana Zeldin, Kristofer Holz, Court Sweeting, Thomas Amici, Kenny Wade Marshall, Jared Culverhouse, Mary Lee Kellerman, Karen Raphaeli, Will Nunziata, Charles Major, Isaac Byrne, Dyana Kimball, David Sheppard Jr., Jason Weiss, Catherine Lamm, Robyne Parrish, Paul Nicholas, Julie Rossman, and Melba LaRose.
NY Artists Unlimited is a 25 year old nonprofit organization that provides theatre and art to under-served audiences. The company is supported in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Nancy Quinn Fund, Puffin Foundation, corporate and individual contributors.
Reservations are strongly suggested. For more information or reservations, please call 212-242-6036 or visit www.nyartists.org. For online ticketing: www.theatremania.com. The Players Theatre is at 115 MacDougal St. (betw. Minetta Lane & West 3rd St.), Greenwich Village.
Melba LaRose, Artistic Director
NY Artists Unlimited