Jump to Year: 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
2012 |
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CONEYBy David Johnston
Directed by Gary Shrader October/November 2012
With cold weather and the threat of gentrification looming, a group of Coney Island die-hards take to the boardwalk for one last summer fling. Dreams are conjured and confronted by a cast of carnival barkers, freakshow stars, neighborhood old-timers, and Coney newcomers in a panoramic tribute to a world that is “all going away.”
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2011 |
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STANDARDS OF DECENCY 3 - 300 VAGINAS BEFORE BREAKFAST.By Bruce Goldstone, Jordan Seavey, David Johnston, Jacqueline Christy, Matthew Freeman, David Foley, Adam Szymkowicz, Cheri Magid, Mac Rogers. Directed by Kyle Ancowitz, Robert Buckwalter, and Gary Shrader The Internet is now constantly with us, burrowing into our heads, hearts, and pants, changing the way we think, love, lust, and relate. Twelve percent of all websites are pornographic, as are 25 percent of all search engine requests. $2.84 billion a year is spent on porn subscriptions in the US alone. Blue Coyote Theater Group invited nine of its favorite playwrights to help us understand what the new media are doing to us, publicly and privately, for better and for worse, at the place where technology, sex, and relationships interface.
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2010 |
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NANCE O'NEILBy David Foley When Actress Nance O'Neil arrives in Boston in 1904 with her repertoire of tragic heroines, the critics hail her as "the American Sarah Bernhardt." But her relationship with the infamous Lizzy Borden causes an even bigger sensation.
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THAT OLD SOFT SHOEBy Matthew Freeman A Senator from the Pacific Northwest arrives to inspect the goings-on in an undisclosed location, throwing the staff into turmoil. Will they all wind up working at a phone bank in Dallas? After all, it's a new administration.
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GLEE CLUBBy Matthew Freeman A sold-out hit at The Brick Theater's Antidepressant Festival, Blue Coyote remounted this hilarious play about the eight misfit members of Romeo, Vermont's cut-throat glee club, who are on the verge of meltdown after their soloist makes the disastrous decision to save his own life. Will they be ready in time for the big recital? And isn't music the most important thing? GLEE CLUB is a comedy about singing. Singing makes people happy.
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2009 |
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EFFIE JEAN IN TAHITIBy David Johnston Blue Coyote brings original programming to Young Audiences! Princess Effie Jean has mad a bargain with Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, and now she's stuck in Tahiti guarding his jewels. BORING! Even worse, she's supposed to kill any strangers that land on the island, and the first one that shows up is her own brother. Can the wily brother-sister duo find a way to trick Proteus? With the help of vain Cassiopeia (Queen of the Night Sky), a school of flounder, and some good old-fashioned song and dance, YOU BET THEY CAN!
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CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE + 3 MORE PLAYSBy David JohnstonDirected by Kyle Ancowitz, Stephen Speights, and Gary Shrader February / March 2009 PLAY RUSSIA, directed by Kyle Ancowitz Johnston Vs Chekhov! The Hilarious Results Are A Must See For The Theater Nerds. FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE LIVED IN FRANCE, directed by Kyle Ancowitz What do Henry Kissinger, Mary Queen of Scots, and Someone Named Lunelle Snead Have in Common? MOTHRA IS WAITING, directed by Stephen SpeightsTwo Middle-Aged Chanteuses Wait For The Cult-Horror-Classic Bug To Rescue Them From Bridgeport, CT. CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE, directed by Gary Shrader A Man, A Woman, A park Bench, A Bottle of Vodka. A Nuclear Device.
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2008 |
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BLUE COYOTE'S HAPPY ENDINGSBy Blair Fell, David Foley, Christine Whitley, Matthew Freeman, Stan Richardson, John Yearley, Brian Fuqua, Boo Killebrew, David Johnston In its second installment of the Standards of Decency Series, Blue Coyote Theater Group commissioned nine of its favorite playwrights to create new short plays about the lives of sex workers. The resulting plays were raunchy, funny, and surprisingly tender.
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WHEN IS A CLOCKBy Matthew Freeman When Gordon's wife disappears, the only clue to her whereabouts is a dog-eared copy of an old book. Pursued by police as a potential homicide suspect, and perpetually nagged by his smart-ass teenage son, Gordon takes off to a strange Pennsylvania town in search of his missing wife. Both scathingly funny and disturbingly compelling, WHEN IS A CLOCK features Matthew Freeman's celebrated deconstruction of American culture--which has been called "nonviolent, though as savage as any slasher film" by the New York Times.
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2007 |
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DEPARTURESBy Kristen Palmer Cara is an American ex-pat living in Britain who decides to return to the US after three years. But with the death of her father and the loss of her childhood home, what is she returning home to? Complicating things further is the boyfriend who refuses to let go. DEPARTURES is a touching two-hander, starring Keira Keeley (from Adam Bock's Obie-winning play The Thugs) and Travis York (from Anne Washburn's The Internationalist) that crosses time zones and continents to explore questions of family, home, and homelessness.
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THE ORESTEIABy David Johnston Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan war to find his wife may not have forgiven him for sacrificing their daughter. Orestes returns from exile to find his Dad dead, his sister mad, and his Mom in bed with his cousin. Drawing from mythology, bloody horror films, and a streak of gallows humor, celebrated playwright David Johnston infuses this classic Greek tragedy with astounding comic subversion.
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2006 |
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STANDARDS OF DECENCY PROJECT directed by Kyle Ancowitz, Robert Buckwalter, Gary Shrader, Stephen SpeightsBy Stan
Richardson, David Foley, Laura Henry, David Johnson, Matthew Freeman,
Brian Dykstra, Kristen Palmer, John Yearley, Boo Killebrew. What's indecent these days? We asked nine of our favorite playwrights to find out by commissioning them to write short plays that offend conventional standards. They got their hands dirty with nudity, violence, and blasphemy--all fully-warranted and non-gratuitous.
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THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVEBy Matthew Freeman When Mother and Father celebrate their long and happy marriage with an unprecedented ceremonial "unwedding," their friends and relations gather to feast on the spoils. A scathing satire on contemporary marriage and American fundamentalism.
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PARADISEBy David Foley PARADISE, pieced together like a beautiful mosaic, follows three Manhattan couples (and a dissolute priest) who inadvertently set off a chain of events that leads to consequences none of them could have foreseen.
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2005 |
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BUSTED JESUS COMIXBy David Johnston When 19-year-old Marco created a comic book, community leaders in Tallahassee took him to court for obscenity. Now Marco is a convicted felon, banned by law from drawing. Loosely based on a shocking Florida court case, BUSTED JESUS COMIX is irreverently funny and incredibly relevant, a cautionary tale from today's culture wars. |
2004 |
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THE AMERICANSBy Matthew Freeman A young man writes a poem, "The Americans," so beautiful that the walls of his room rise into the sky and explode, covering New York in wood and plaster rain. For three young men vaguely nervous about what their lives are becoming, it is, at least, something different. |
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THE GREAT ESCAPE by Matthew FreemanBy Matthew Freeman Things have changed since Henry last visited Mom; for starters, the decor is decidedly kitschier, and his sister Catherine decidedly creepier; and Mom has a new husband; and she's locked herself upstairs. |
2003 |
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A BUSH CAROL or GEORGE DUBYA AND THE XMAS OF EVILBy David Johnston A musical lampoon of the Bush presidency, based on Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." Transported by Karla Faye Tucker, a born-again Christian executed by the state of Texas in 1998, Dubya travels to the past, present, and future in a series of hilarious and vividly imagined scenes. Will he learn, as Scrooge did, to carry Christmas in his heart? God help us, every one. |
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BUSTED JESUS COMIX + 3 MORE PLAYS!By David Johnston A PHONE CALL FROM WASHINGTON STATE, LATE AT NIGHT, directed by Kyle Ancowitz SATURDAY WITH MARTIN, directed by Kyle Ancowitz LEAVING TANGIER, by Gary Shrader BUSTED JESUS COMIX, by Gary Shrader |
2002 |
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DIMLY PERCEIVED THREATS TO THE SYSTEMBy Jon Klein Marlys is a management consultant who can't seem to manage the slightest problem at home. Her husband, Josh, is developing a film about the American family in crisis--while slipping into an affair with his own producer. Their comically dysfunctional daughter, Christine, torments her school therapist--when she's not channelling the spirit of her grandmother. Reality and fantasy overlap with hilarious results when this unforgettable family attempts to survive the nineties. New York Premiere. |
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KINGFISH by Marlane MeyerBy Marlane Meyer When Wylie's Hasselblad is stolen from his car by a hitchhiker, he decides to adopt the thief and make him his heir. But the young man is reluctant to inherit Kingfish, Wylie's Doberman pinscher, a glowing, barking black box. |
2001 |
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PSYCOPATHIA SEXUALIS by John Patrick Shanley, director Kyle AncowitzBy John Patrick Shanley Arthur, an obscure, struggling New York painter is engaged to Lucille--a powerful, attractive, no-nonsense Texas socialite. But there is a problem; Arthur reveals to his friend, Howard, that he is a fetishist (unbeknownst to Lucille) and cannot make love without being in proximity to his father's argyle socks. A psychiatrist, who "might just be evil," has taken an unconventional approach in Arthur's treatment, reducing him to a sniveling wreck just weeks before his wedding night. Howard promises to intervene, but in the end, it is Lucille who comes to the rescue, going toe-to-toe with Dr. Block. |
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ROOTS IN WATERBy Richard Nelson Twelve short plays, spanning the years from 1976-1988, that display "a fragmented portrait of a generation"--the baby boom children of the 1950's who came to adulthood in post-Vietnam America. New York premiere. |
2000 |
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EILEEN O'CONNOR is...CONTAGIOUS!Written and Performed by Eileen O' Connor Eileen O'Connor 's true-life, hilarious, often poignant adventures as told to her body cast-encased fellow patient, in the Bellevue hospital waiting room. A hit both in New York and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. |
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NEBRASKA by Keith Reddin, director Kyle AncowitzIt's the end of the Cold War, but for the men and women stationed at an air force base outside of Omaha, the tensions of existence seem to increase each day. Dean Swift has been transferred to missile silo duty. Seventy feet underground, in a sealed launch center, the twenty-four hour shifts take their toll on Swift, his wife, Julie, and his duty partner, Fielding. |
