I GOT SICK, THEN I GOT BETTER
Written & Performed by Jenny Allen (Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, Jules' Blues)
Directed by Tony Award winner James Lapine (Passion, Into The Woods, Falsettos, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee)
I Got Sick, Then I Got Better is about the harrowing tailspin of being diagnosed and treated for ovarian cancer. Combining enormous humor with wrenching emotion, this witty, bittersweet monologue tells a tale of personal and family collateral damage from the illness.
This sneak preview will take place on Saturday, November 15th at 8:00 p.m. at The Rosenthal JCC Theatre in Pleasantville.
A discussion and reception with the artists follows the performance.
For Tickets, call Smarttix at (212) 868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com
ABOUT JENNY ALLEN (WRITER/PERFORMER)
Jenny Allen is a writer/performer/comedian whose pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Esquire, and Life. She is the author of a collection of fables for grown-ups called The Long Chalkboard, illustrated by her cartoonist husband, Jules Feiffer. She helped originate the ‘90s comedy group Serious Bizness and has performed in productions of Jules’ Blues and Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell. She produces and performs stand-up comedy evenings in Manhattan. Her monologue, "The Big Boot," was first performed on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 2007; since then James Lapine has been collaborating with Allen on shaping and expanding the material. They showed their work-in-progress at White Oak in March of this year. She and her husband have two children, Halley, 23, an actress, and Julie, 13, a ninth grader. They live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
ABOUT JAMES LAPINE (DIRECTOR)
James Lapine is regarded as one of the preeminent artists working in the contemporary theater today. Distinguished as both a writer and a director, he has been nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning on three occasions. His work has also been recognized with six Drama Desk Awards, an OBIE Award, the British Evening Standard Award, an Oliver Award, and the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Broadway (as book writer and director): Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Passion, Falsettos (with William Finn), Dirty Blonde (by Claudia Shear and conceived with her); as director: Golden Child, The Diary of Anne Frank, Amour, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway: wrote the plays Table Settings; Twelve Dreams; Luck, Pluck and Virtue; The Moment When; and Fran's Bed.
ABOUT NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP
New York Theatre Workshop is just that... a remarkable off-Broadway theatre noted for its acclaimed and innovative productions... a workshop where artists create new work, hone their craft and collaboratively explore theatre... all rooted in our cozy East Village digs located in the heart of New York's downtown arts scene. NYTW is committed to the development of innovative theatre by supporting theatre artists at all stages of their careers, providing an environment where work can be created free from the artistic compromise and forbidding financial demands often associated with commercial ventures. Over the past two decades, NYTW has evolved to become a significant force in New York City's vibrant cultural landscape and is now recognized as one of the leading producing theatres of original work in the United States.
The Workshop places the artist at the center of its mission, and, as a result, the work developed and produced here is aesthetically, thematically, and methodologically diverse. During the course of a season, audiences can engage with an eclectic mix of theatre, including full-scale musicals, bare-bones readings, and multimedia productions. NYTW is renowned for producing intelligent and complex plays that expand the boundaries of theatrical form and in some new and compelling way address issues that are critical to our times. The Workshop boasts a long list of acclaimed work that includes Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul, Martha Clarke's KAOS and Vienna: Lusthaus (revisited), Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away and A Number, Jonathan Larson's Rent, Athol Fugard's My Children! My Africa!, John Guare's Lydie Breeze, Doug Wright's Quills, Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde, and Ivo van Hove's productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Hedda Gabler. Will Power’s hip-hop Greek tragedy The Seven will be seen around the country in upcoming years.
oh i personally love NYTW! their productions are awesome! the performances never fail to amaze me every time i get the chance to watch them. RENT is certainly a fave :)
by: matthew
Posted by: Acting coach Hollywood | May 28, 2009 at 07:13 PM