Electric Pear Productions presents the world premiere of Balaton by Ashlin Halfnight. The limited Off-Broadway engagement begins October 17th through November 7th at the Theatre at 30th Street, 259 West 30th Street (between Seventh & Eighth Ave.)
Electric Pear is kicking off its fourth season with Balaton, presented with the support of the Hungarian Cultural Center and the Extremely Hungary Festival. Set in a tenuous afterlife, Balaton is a multi-generational drama that charts a fractured Hungarian family's fight for unity and security in a world after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Kristjan Thor directs a company which includes Jessica Cummings (The Seagull, Broadway; Crimes of the Heart, Roundabout), Kathryn Kates (Sa Ka La, 45 Bleecker; 'The Babka Lady' on "Seinfeld"), Daniel O'Brien (The Chicago Seven by Aaron Sorkin, (reading) directed by Ben Stiller), Peter O'Connor (Jailbait, Cherry Lane), Sadie K. Scott and Charlotte Williams. Balaton will have scenic design by Jennifer de Fouchier, lighting design by Kathleen Dobbins, costume design by Stephanie Alexander, sound design by Mark Sanders, and video design by Alex Koch.
Electric Pear was named Best Off-Off Broadway Theatre of 2008 and People of the Year for contributions to New York theater in 2007. Artifacts of Consequence by Ashlin Halfnight, directed by Kristjan Thor was hailed as "deliriously imaginative and talent-rich" by The New York Times in April 2009. The Off-Broadway production Stitching, starring Meital Dohan of Showtime's Weeds and John Ventigmiglia of HBO's The Sopranos, was extended due to popular demand and then transferred to Los Angeles in March 2009. Electric Pear won a Theatre Communications Group/ITI Travel Grant to journey to Budapest to create an original, bi-lingual piece of theatre with artists from the National Theatre of Hungary in 2007. Diving Normal won "Best Ensemble" at FringeNYC, and was extended in FringeNYC Encore Series in 2006. Electric Pear Productions is the recipient of a Peter Jay Sharp Foundation Grant in 2009.
