Casting has been set for playwright/performer Richard Sheinmel's World Premiere of POST MODERN LIVING at La MaMa. The production marks the latest installment in Sheinmel's Modern Living play cycle, which began in 2006 at La MaMa. Much like Armistead Maupin's Tales of The City novels follows the exploits of Michael Tolliver, this series of related plays center on Mitch, a gay "downtown" New York performance artist, as he writes plays about his life. Directed by Jason Jacobs, the production features original songs by Clay Zambo. Previews begin April 16 with opening set for April 18.
POST MODERN LIVING presents two inter-related tales. The first half follows a day in the life of Mitch and Chester, a committed couple in a long time relationship. It is a boy-meets-boy story of promiscuity, first dates, self-imposed celibacy, and true love. The second half takes place on Mother's Day, as Mitch help his mom with her garden. She recounts the story of how she discovered her breast cancer, the doctor who saved her life, and how her illness has re-affirmed her faith.
The production co-stars Chris Orbach (Law & Order: SVU, acclaimed jazz musician and son of Jerry Orbach), Drama Desk Award nominee Frank Blocker (Southern Gothic Novel, Fearless Moral Inventory, Eula Mae's Beauty, Bait & Tackle), Catherine Porter (Mac Wellman's Crowbar),
Wendy Merritt, Mick Hilgers and Briana Davis, with a production team that includes John McDermott (sets), Jennifer Caprio (costumes), Tim Schellenbaum (sound), New York Innovative Theater Award nominee Timothy M. Walsh (lighting), and Monica Minoui (hair), Scott Ethier (musical director), Gabriel Luce (bass) Daniel Acquisto (drums), and Heather Olmstead (stage manager).
Richard Sheinmel is a native New Yorker born in Brooklyn, raised in Staten Island. He attended the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, where he wrote his first play at the age of 14. His plays include Modern Living (La Mama), Jitter (Arclight Theater), and the musical Downtown Dysfunctionals (The Zipper Theater). As an actor, he is best known for appearing for over ten years in the Jeff Weiss / Carlos Riccardo Martinez cult hit serial Hot Keys. He has also appeared with The Ridiculous Theatrical Company in Call Me Sarah Bernhardt, and The Tale of Two Cities; with Ridge Theater in Mathew in the School of Life and Everyday Newt Burman; Mac Wellman's The Sandalwood Box; with Penny Arcade in La Miseria, and Invitation...; with drag star Linda Simpson in The Final Episode, and The Tranny Chase at PS 122; in Reza Abdoh's Father Was a Peculiar Man produced by EnGarde Arts; at Soho Rep in Naomi Izuka's Skin; and the title role in
Peculiar Works Project's Freiheit Makes a Stand at the Vineyard Theater. Film appearances include the award-winning The Headhunter's Sister, My Sassy Girl, and Pollock directed by Ed Harris. Richard is a member of The Dramatist's Guild. For more info visit www.sheinmel.com.
Clay Zambo has been named by the York Theatre Company one of the musical theatre's "New, Emerging, Outstanding" composers and featured in their NEO5 concert. His Greenbrier Ghost (book by Susan Murray), the winner of Academy for New Musical Theatre's Search for New Musicals, received a concert performance at Burbank's Colony Theatre. Selected by Stephen Schwartz for the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop, Greenbrier is scheduled for a full production later this
year. A Mother's Carol (music by Scott Ethier) won American Composer's Forum's Welcome Christmas choral-writing competition, was premiered by the Minneapolis-based choral ensemble VocalEssence on NPR. His musicals have also been performed in London and the Edinburgh Fringe;
on national tours; and are frequently premiered at NYC's Merkin Hall, including They Fly; Yo, Jonah!; and The Ballad of Thomas the Shammus. He is a member of BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and The Dramatists Guild. For more info visit www.clayzambo.com.
Jason Jacobs was selected as a "2007 Person of the Year" by nytheatre.com for his work as co-artistic director of Theatre Askew. He directed two GLAAD Media Award-nominated productions for Askew: Bald Diva! and i google myself, as well as The Tempest, The Tale of the Good Whistleblower..., and I Claudius Live! Other New York productions include: Lavender Songs for TOSOS II (Back Stage Bistro Award), The Boycott, Mario and the Magician for Center for Contemporary Opera. Regionally, he directed Opus and Vanya/Vermont for Vermont Stage Company and directed The Accidental Activist for the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca. He has a BA from Yale and an MFA Columbia.
