Monday, October 25, 2010

Who's Who in Emergency Used Candles...

Here's a look at the director of our Off-Broadway, World Premiere production of Emergency Used Candles by Chiara Montalto:

VICTORIA MALVAGNO

Director, Actress and Dancer, Victoria Malvagno was featured across the globe in the award winning documentary Mad Hot Ballroom from Paramount Classic. She has directed numerous readings and productions for the Barefoot Theatre Company since 1999. Victoria directed the staged workshop production of Emergency Used Candles presented at the Emerging Artists Theatre festival. Theater Acting Credits: Liberty, the new musical (New Workshop Theater, Cherry Lane Theatre), The Water Engine (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Scotland), Israel Horovitz's New Shorts (Theatre Row Theatres), the workshop and premiere of Dog Day Afternoon (Theatre Row Theatres), Jose Rivera's Marisol (Looking Glass Theatre), Women and Wallace (78th Street Theatre Lab), The Audition Play (Boston Theatre Marathon, 2007), Originated the role of Shelly in Israel Horovitz's Security (Gloucester Stage Company / 78th Street Theatre Lab.) T.V.: The Glamorous Life (Pilot). Film: Security, Mad Hot Ballroom. Victoria is also an Educational Liaison and teaching artist for The American Ballroom Theater. Her work with ABrT's Dancing Classrooms program was the subject for the award winning documentary Mad Hot Ballroom. She is a founder and currently the Managing Director of the Barefoot Theatre Company. Barefoot Theatre Company Ensemble Member Since 1999.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

BACKSTAGE PASS: in the rehearsal room.

Here's a note from Chiara Montalto (writer and performer of Emergency Used Candles) on the rehearsal process:

Victoria Malvagno. Palma Dellaporta. Me. 3 Italian-American women. One script. 47 pounds of Imported cheese. 2,000 cerignola olives. 10 pounds gained on each of us. Ok, that last bit was an exaggeration and a joke, but consensus is that the cheese and olives have just got to go. Rehearsing EUC with Victoria and Palma is such an incredible experience. What's truly amazing is how each of us have not only brought our experience, but our hearts to this process. Victoria's brilliance, experience and nurturing has shed such light on my own story and experience. She is the lens that is bringing the whole thing into focus. What's also incredible is how this process has enabled each of us to grow personally. I don't want to speak for anyone else, but for me, the last few years of my life have really been about loss. Maybe it's partly my age, but in the last few years, I have lost so many people. Rehearsing this material with these women, has helped me to process those painful personal experiences in the best possible way. (pictured: Pop and Chiara)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

who's who in Emergency Used Candles...

CHIARA MONTALTO (playwright/performer)

Theater: NYC Revival of Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, Metropolitan Operas and The 40th Anniversary Production of Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead with the Barefoot Theatre Company, also appeared in an Italian language production of Pirandello's La Giara. Writer and Performer of Emergency Used Candles which was first heard in BTC's bareNaked Reading Series and workshop series. Film: Saturday, and One to One, directing a short documentary, Something Special, about a very remarkable group of Senior citizens. Barefoot Theatre Company Ensemble Member Since 2001.

Who's who in Emergency Used Candles by Chiara Montalto...

Meet our Production Stage Manager and Associate Producer:

PALMA DELLAPORTA: Palma is a Brooklyn native. She has been a member of the professional staff at Brooklyn College for over ten years. A long time Barefoot Theatre Company supporter and friend, she is thrilled to be Stage Managing, for the first time, on this production of Emergency Used Candles. She also helped Chiara prepare for her previous performances of Emergency Used Candles and has enjoyed seeing this work grow. In her spare time, she attempts to teach Chiara how to attract firemen in non-emergency situations.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Ensemble Member, Dan Graff

Check out what one of our newest members, Dan Graff is up to. He was also most recently seen in our 70/70 Horovitz Project and is also one of the co-founders of Barefoot Studio Pictures, an independent film production company born out of Barefoot Theatre Company's mission and aesthetic.

John Chatterton presents
Short Play Lab Program B
Saturday, October 16, 2010 through Sunday, October 17, 2010

Good things come in small packages.

Program B (Sat. 9 pm & Sun. 2 pm)
In order of performance
DRAWING THE LINE by V.E. Kimberlin, directed by Gary Ray Bugarcic; starring Natasha Lee Martin & Dan Graff. A man learns the horrible price of his family's acceptance into a very exclusive community.
A CERTAIN DEGREE OF NEUROSIS by Leah Benavides and Michael Hirstreet, directed by Leah Benavides; starring Michael Hirstreet & Rachael Hip-Flores. When therapy takes a turn for the worse...who's treating who?
BOOT CAMP by Steve Gold, directed by Mark Stone; starring Maureen Schreyer & Roland Sands. Welcome to the Marines, Girly!
TIERESIUS written and directed by Leo I Rodriguez.
HOPSCOTCH by Josh Sohn, directed by Jeff Crosley; starring Melissa Gordon & James Parenti. A couple tries to get to the bottom of some burning questions.
PURGATORY written and directed by Nicholas Linnehan; starring Gillian Hurst & Alvaro Sena. Ever wonder what happens when you die?
http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=SHO114

Who's Who in Emergency Used Candles...

Here's a look at our Understudy/Assistant Stage Manager for Chiara Monalto's Emergency Used Candles directed by Victoria Malvagno at the Cherry Lane Theatre - beginning this Nov 3rd! Welcome Samantha Fontana! She was most recently seen in our SMASHED, workshop series at The Sackett earlier this month.

A native New Yorker, Samantha Fontana received her BFA in Acting from Brooklyn College. She is proud to make her off-Broadway debut as the Understudy and Assistant Stage Manager in Emergency Used Candles with the warm and talented Barefoot Theatre Company. Samantha is the co-writer, director and lead actor for "S&M", a new comedic series of web shorts. She recently performed in GI60: International One Minute Play Festival playing multiple roles and has been shooting Grounded: The Documentary, an independent film. Samantha would like to thank Victoria Malvagno and Frank Solorzano for this wonderful opportunity and to Chiara Montalto for her beautiful writing and touching story.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Ensemble Member, John Harlacher

Penetrating the Space runs one more week! John Harlacher directs Penetrating The Space at Dixon Place. It's a one woman show about a performance artist who believes that by gathering big time agents to watch her perform a piece where aspects of her split personality confront the men who have abused her, she will achieve Hollywood stardom. It's a funny multimedia piece about theatre and some of the strange people who make it. Penetrating the Space will be performed on Friday, October 8 & 15 at 9:30pm; Saturday, October 9 & 16 at 7:30pm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8179x5lRLLg

The second thing is the haunted house project that he's been creating and directing with Tim Haskell for the past 5 years. It's this: www.NightmareNewYork.com "We take what we've learned from working in experemental theatre and apply it towards scaring people. It's really interesting to see how kids from the Bronx who won Hot 97 tickets react to hearing Shakespaere in our "Never say Macbeth in a theatre" room, or to the Bunraku puppets in our "Cameras steal your soul" room."

Who's Who in Emergency Used Candles...

Here's a look at our Dramaturg for Emergency Used Candles by Chiara Montalto at the Cherry Lane Theatre beginning this November 3rd thru 20th directed by Ensemble Member Victoria Malvagno.

Nicole Haran is a co-founder and Director of Education for the Barefoot Theatre Company. She holds a BA from Boston University and an MFA from Brooklyn College. She began her professional career as an actress on stage and in film. Her focus shifted to directing in graduate school where she co-founded The Barefoot Theatre Company, directing numerous plays including Orphans by Lyle Kessler, Home Free! & Rimers of Eldritch by Lanford Wilson. In 2008 Nicole began her film work; writing, directing and editing short films.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Who's Who in Emergency Used Candles...

Here's a Backstage Pass on who's who in our production of Emergency Used Candles by Chiara Montalto - we are excited to introduce you to long time Barefoot family member Josh Iacovelli as lighting designer!

JOSH IACOVELLI (Lighting Designer) Josh is an actor and has also been designing Off-Broadway productions for the past ten years. He is the in-house Technical Director for the Players Theatre, St. Luke’s Theatre, and the Actors Temple Theatres in NYC . Recent design credits include:The Zero Hour, Phantom of the Opera, Black Angels over Tuskeegee, Cinderella,, A Christmas Carol, Danny and Sylvia, Lansky, Don’t Leave It All to Your Children, Joseph and The Amazing..., Cabaret, The Rise of Dorothy Hale, Treasure Island, Eightballs, The Selfish Giant, At War, Give‘Em Hell, Harry!”, Loader #26, and Annulla. Josh has a B.A. from Stockton College and an MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School University.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Who's Who in Emergency Used Candles by Chiara Montalto...

We are proud to introduce Tom Lenz, Production Designer for our Off-Broadway, World Premiere Fall production at The Cherry Lane Theatre.
Tom Lenz
Production Designer - Tom is a Co-Owner and Principal at 513, a full service Production Design studio, providing the entertainment industry with highly collaborative, innovative & inspiring designs (513e12.com). His most memorable experience in the theater was as Tony Walton's Associate for "Our Town" at the Booth Theater, Starring Paul Newman, Directed by James Naughton with Lighting Design by Richard Pilbrow. Tom is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Ensemble Member, Therese Plaehn

Here's a look at another of our newest members who most recently appeared as Sandy in Israel Horovitz's Beirut Rocks when we presented it to 400 students at Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse this past summer. Therese was also recently seen in our Workshop Series - SMASHED - and will be seen in our upcoming 2nd Annual bareNaked Reading Series at The Cherry Lane Theatre this Fall.

THERESE PLAEHN

Theater: A.R.T.- Paradise Lost (dir. Daniel Fish), The Lady Hamlet (reading w/ Kate Burton dir. Peter DuBois), From Prague (reading w/ Jim True-Frost dir. Adrianne Krstansky); MFA A.R.T’s Institute with the Moscow Art Theatre at Harvard. Institute credits- The Winter’s Tale (Autolycus), Hamletmachine (Mom), History of the American Film (Loretta), The Little Tragedies (Mary). Other theater- Helen in The Cripple of Inishmaan (Queens Theatre in the Park) and Molly Byrne in The Well of the Saints (Sugan Theatre, Boston) TV- Onion News Network (IFC), 12:21 Demetri Martin Comedy Lab (BBC). Therese is originally from Scituate, Massachusetts and is the proud aunt to 14 nieces and nephews. She is thrilled to be back in Brooklyn and working with Barefoot!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Who's Who in Emergency Used Candles...

We invite you to take a closer look at our Design Team for our upcoming Off-Broadway production of Emergency Used Candles by Chiara Montalto beginning with Sound Designer, Eric Nightengale. Eric most recently directed Israel Horovitz's Mid-East Pieces (a collection of short plays: Security, A Mother's Love, What Strong Fences Make and Beirut Rocks) for our 70/70 Horovitz Project. He's also known for directing Barefoot Theatre Company's acclaimed 40th anniversary production of Landford Wilson's Balm In Gilead featuring Ensemble Members, Anna Chlumsky, Francisco Solorzano, Victoria Malvagno, Jeremy Brena, Christopher Whalen, Ruben Luque and more... We're excited as ever to be working with Eric Nightengale.


Eric Nightengale design credits in New York include work for the Circle Repertory Theatre, The Acting Company, The Manhattan Theatre Club, Circle in the Square, Minetta Lane Theatre, Webster Hall, Symphony Space, The Cherry Lane Theatre, 78th Street Theatre Lab, HERE, Ensemble Studio Theatres, Bleecker 45, Theatre for a New City, and The Classic Stage Company. In Chicago design credits include productions at Victory Gardens Theatre, Baliwick, Chicago Dramatists Workshop, the Shedd Aquarium, and Second City. He has worked as a teaching artist for the Lincoln Center Institute, Theatre Development Fund, and as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, Towson University and Antioch. His work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has resulted in seven Fringe First awards, six published scripts, four adaptations for BBC radio, a Best Ensemble award, and a London transfer. Recent work includes The Frog Singer, an electro-luminescent-wire puppet play;The Natasha Plays, which toured Bratislava, Slovakia and Varna, Bulgaria this summer; and An Idiot, which just concluded a sold out run at the New York City Fringe Festival. His production of Dead Dogs, by Greg Steinbruner, will open in Shanghai, China in November.

Ensemble Member, Jessica Langer

As we continue to welcome our newest ensemble member during our 2010-2011 Season - we bring you Jessica Langer who will later be featured in our Off-Broadway production of Teeth of the Sons written by Ensemble Member, Joseph Sousa.


JESSICA LANGER - grew up in Los Angeles and has been acting on the stage and for the camera since she was five years old. She moved to New York in 2005 where she received her M.F.A in Acting from Brooklyn College, which turned out to be one of the best decision of her life. It was there where she became aquainted with the talented members of The Barefoot Theater. Jessica is deeply honored to be a member of such an awesome company of artists and friends.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Off-Broadway World Premiere...

Barefoot Theatre Company - now in its 12th season Off-Broadway - will present the world-premiere of Chiara Montalto's play EMERGENCY USED CANDLES, with previews beginning November 4 and a press opening night set for November 6 at the Studio Theatre (38 Commerce St.) at Cherry Lane Theatre in Manhattan. LIMITED RUN ONLY!!!!

EMERGENCY USED CANDLES is a tale set in Brooklyn about the profound effect a grandfather and his granddaugh
ter have on each other as one's life is ending while the other's is just beginning. Written and performed by Chiara Montalto, EMERGENCY USED CANDLES is based on the playwright's own experience growing up as a caretaker to her grandfather.

EMERGENCY USED CANDLES is directed by Victoria Malvagno. Sound design is by Eric Nightengale, set design is by Tom Lenz, lighting design by Josh Iacovelli, and costume design by Ms. Malvagno.

3 ways to purchase tixs:
1)By Phone: (212) 239-6200 (Telecharge call center)
2)Online:
www.telecharge.com
3)Box Office: Tickets can be purchased in person at the box office during hours of operation. I don’t know what the hours will be when you come in but right now it’s Tuesday-Saturday from 5-7pm.
Student and senior tickets can only be purchased in person with a valid ID.

Chiara Montalto has appeared in the Barefoot revival of "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?," and the 40th anniversary production of Lanford Wilson's "Balm in Gilead." She also appeared in an Italian language production of Pirandello's "La Giara." EMERGENCY USED CANDLES was first presented in Barefoot's bareNaked Reading and workshop series. Her film credits include "Saturday," and "One to One." She is directing the short documentary "Something Special," about a very remarkable group of Senior citizens.

Victoria Malvagno is a director, actress and dancer featured in the internationally-acclaimed, award-winning documentary film "Mad Hot Ballroom." A founder and current Managing Director of Barefoot Theatre, she has appeared in the new musical "Liberty," and in plays such as "The Water Engine," "Dog Day Afternoon," "Women and Wallace" and plays by Israel Horovitz variously at Cherry Lane Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Theatre Row, 78th Street Theatre Lab and Barefoot. She is an educational liaison and teaching artist with American Ballroom Theatre.

Founded by a group of theatre artists interested in producing stimulating and thought-provoking theatre for the public, BAREFOOT THEATRE COMPANY has produced over 60 plays - both new and existing works - from BALM IN GILEAD and DOES A TIGER WEAR A NECKTIE? to the 35th anniversary production of Israel Horovitz's THE INDIAN WANTS THE BRONX and DOG DAY AFTERNOON, Francisco Solorzano's adaptation of the popular film. The production sold out its engagement at Theater Row. Last season, Barefoot presented the 70/70 HOROVITZ PROJECT, a yearlong, worldwide festival that featured 70 of Israel Horovitz's plays on the occasion of his 70th birthday, with productions of his works in presented in West Africa, Australia, Greece, France, Italy, Korea as well as nationwide as part of Barefoot's record breaking festival. Participating artists included Austin Pendleton, Annabella Sciorra, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bobby Cannavale, Lynn Cohen, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Sol Frieder, Jo Bonney, John Doman and company member Anna Chlumsky, just to name a few.

Francisco Solorzano is Producing Artistic Director of Barefoot Theatre Company, Victoria Malvagno is Managing Director; Christopher Whalen is Producing Director, and Palma Dellaporta is Associate Producing Director and Production Stage Manager. Nicole Haran is Dramaturg and graphic design is by equus/ink.

Scheduled through November 20, performances of EMERGENCY USED CANDLES are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7 pm, and Saturdays at 3 pm. Tickets are $35; $25 for students and seniors. For reservations call Tele-charge at 212 239 6200 or visit
www.barefoottheatrecompany.org.