EFFABLE ARTS (Artistic Directors Brad Landers, Kimberly Kaye, Meredith Ryan Packer) has announced its premiere production, Stop, Collaborate & Listen: 20Nothings . Stop, Collaborate & Listen: 20Nothings is a collection of original one-acts, monologues, dance, music and art depicting the hilarity and horrors of twentysomething-ness in 2009. Presented in two parts by artists age 23-27, this collaborative production throws a spotlight on mid-twenties purgatory with riotous, touching and insightful results.
The show also features an exclusive exhibition of advice for twentysomethings from "Survivors" of their own transitional twenties, including Tony Award winners Rondi Reed (August: Osage County, Wicked), Laura Benanti (Gypsy, Broadway's upcoming The Vibrator Play) and Gregory Jbara (Billy Elliot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels); Tony Award nominee Will Swenson (Hair, off-Broadway's Rock of Ages); Broadway veteran Will Chase (Billy Elliot, Rent); Emmy Award nominee Seth Rudetsky (The Rosie O'Donnell Show); acclaimed fashion photographer Arthur Elgort (Vogue magazine); award-winning artist Carolyn "Sophi" Weltman (Art for Engineers; The Kinsey Institute); media guru Jay Rosen (PressThink blog, NYU), music producer James Paul Wisener (Dashboard Confessional, Paramore), Academy Award nominee William H.Macy (Fargo; Broadway's Speed-the-Plow) and many, many more.
Stop, Collaborate & Listen: 20Nothings will play The Producer's Club Grand Theater at 358 West 44 th Street, New York, NY, 10036, in two parts:
Part One, featuring one-acts and art: September 5 at 8pm.
Part Two, featuring dance, music and art: September 6 at 7pm
Tickets are $15 each, $25 for a two-night pass. Call the Effable Arts Box Office at 917-576-4149 to reserve seats. Tickets are cash at the door only. * A premiere party in honor of Effable Arts will take place immediately following Part Two of Stop, Collaborate & Listen: 20Nothings at Vlada Lounge, 331 West 51 st Street, on September 6 at 9pm. *
Stop, Collaborate & Listen: 20Nothings is dedicated to William H. Macy, who accidentally inspired the creation of Effable Arts and its debut production with a single piece of advice. ABOUT "STOP, COLLABORATE & LISTEN: 20Nothings:" Stop, Collaborate & Listen: 20Nothings showcases the best and worst of life in that most transitional of age brackets: the mid-twenties.
In Part One, audiences discover the true meaning of the term "20Nothings" through a vibrant cast of characters, including a writer who must choose between his art or Snakes on a Plane: The Musical!, an urban warrior trapped on the losing end of a battle with vermin, a young woman racing the hourglass of chronic illness, a pair of foul-mouthed sisters smacked in the face by formal "adulthood," two singles attempting to mate in the Facebook era and a set of friends who may have accidentally crossed from twentysomething purgatory right into Hell.
Part Two explores the deeper side of Generation Y, showcasing the hope, fear, hurt and pride of an age-group just beginning to recognize its power. Through dance and song, artists remember the historic Stonewall Riots while emphasizing the fight is not yet over, examine the unstable nature of young relationships, use Dante's famed Inferno as a metaphor for life's daily struggles and remind everyone that even the bleakest of days can be cured with peanut butter and a little hope. Both shows feature letters and advice from successful artists of all mediums offering insight while reflecting on their own youthful missteps.
Stop, Collaborate & Listen: 20Nothings will also show the works of photographer Jenny Anderson and graphic designer Ramon Lopez through an exhibition inspired by the production itself.
Founded by choreographer Brad Landers, writer Kimberly Kaye and director Meredith Ryan Packer, the not-for-profit Effable Arts was initially formed as a collaborative, multi-media escape from reality television, jukebox musicals and dusty play revivals. A theatrical arts collective, Effable Arts is made up of traditional theater artists-including actors, dancers, directors and choreographers-as well as writers, musician, visual artists and renegade creative talents all working in tandem to create while entertaining and provoking audiences. Effable Arts provides a performance forum for the next generation of creative talents, as well as a safe place for artists to hone their craft.
