Dead of Winter 2016 Schedule Annouced

January 10, 17, 24, 31
5:00 pm

The Tabernacle Theater
551 Fort Washington Ave. (at 185)
NY, NY 10033
**FREE ADMISSION**

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This Sunday, January 10

A Cheating Nirvana

by Anthony Garcia-Copian
directed by David Hilder

When Clem brings home his new girlfriend all hell breaks lose between him, his mother and his gay best friend.

Featuring:
Edwin Matos Jr., Elizabeth Bell, Alvin Keith, Laura Fois, Nikaury Rodriguez

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Sunday, January 17

Hutto

by Rose-Mary Harrington
directed by Mino Lora

The trials and troubles faced by two families held in a notorious detention center for undocumented immigrants.

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Sunday, January 24

“Us/Them: Part I”

The best submissions from UP’s call for plays dealing with issues of race, police abuse, and violence in America.

Rights of Passage

by Michelle T. Johnson

A White cop involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black kid is raked over the coals by the law firm that he hopes will defend him.

Existential Magic Eight Ball

by Jeremy Kehoe

An eloquent hit man gives a no-holds-barred account of his life of violent crime and his last shot at redemption, which may have come too late.

Directed by Jacki Goldhammer

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Sunday, January 31

“Us/Them: Part II”

This is How it Happened

by Anthony D’Juan

After shooting a young unarmed Black man, a White cop takes refuge in the cabin of his best friend, a Black man who has serious doubts about his friend’s real motive.

Mississippi Goddamn

by Aurin Squire

A middle-aged Black couple recall their past civil rights struggles as they now seethe and morn present day police shootings.

Stop/Frisk

by Rich Rubin

A White cop stops a hoody-wearing Black man walking through a white neighborhood. As things escalate the cop realizes that he knew and admired his adversary from high-school. Will duty and prejudice trump respect?

Directed by James Bosley

UP Announces its 2015-2016 Season!

In its 5th season, UP Theater Company continues to explore The American Dream. In all its colors.

THE DRAMA SHOP

November 21, 2015
LOST / NOT FOUND

Playwright Kirby Fields and director Josh Liveright (the team behind UP’s acclaimed, K COMMA JOSEPH) reunite to give this new play the UP treatment through a 29-hour rehearsal process, performance and audience talk-back.

Things do not go as planned when a trio from Washington Heights detains a missing girl with the hopes of driving up the reward money for her safe return.

SPRING PRODUCTION

May 4 – 22, 2016
AMERICAN DRUM CIRCLE
by Vanessa Shealy

Mandy hopes to escape the failures of her father by taking refuge in an intense relationship with Olujimi, a young Nigerian emigré, with family skeletons of his own. Together, their family roots entangle them in a web of falsehood.

DEAD OF WINTER

All new play readings, Sundays in January.

ShowingUP

Our curated evenings of Half-baked & Bran’-spankin’ works by uptown artists, Sundays in March.

EPIC POETRY: An Epic Conversation

Director Gregory Wolfe posed a few questions to James Bosley, playwright of Epic Poetry, which opens this Wednesday, April 29.
(The words ‘muse’ or ‘archetype’ never came up. Not once.)

GW: Some people, literally, “Brush up their Shakespeare” before seeing one of his plays. Should I dig out my crib-notes on Greek Mythology to ready myself for a play called Epic Poetry?

JB: Hell No! In fact I worry that some mythologist in the house will bust me for having my own way with the original. I wanted to hearken back to those ancient days of yore to give the story a timelessness. My tale, like Grandma in the play, laments the fading of the epic form while encouraging its evolution. So I took the characters, the tropes, some story lines and twisted them to tell something new, while at the same time illuminating the timeless truths that is their coin.

GW: Where did you get the idea to bring ancient Greece and modern New York together? (Maybe the answer might have an alternative name for the play like “Gangs and Gods” – ha ha).

JB: Greg you ignorant slut. Ithaca and Troy are both ancient Greek cities that are prominent in The Odyssey. Ithaca and Troy are also cities in upstate New York. So like Homer, I began my story in Ithaca (NY) and from there it is a bus ride to NYC, my home town. It’s also cool that Astoria in Queens, where the play climaxes, has a huge Greek population, of which I gladly took advantage.

GW: It’s been said that a good writer writes about “what he knows”. How much of the epic journey in Epic Poetry mirrors your real life journey?

JB: More than I care to say. I will say that his mother’s funereal that Otis describes was from my life. I do have a tattoo that says ‘Mom’, as does Otis, which I got not long after that funereal. I also spent time as a pig.

GW: I know UP Theater Company has a mission that is tied to Inwood and the community of people who live up here. How does Epic Poetry tie into that?

JB: The play is about going out to save the world, but remembering to come home afterward. Northern Manhattan is home for me and my family. And the George Washington Bridge is the gateway.

"The Drama Shop" - Next Installment

Two new plays get the  UP Treatment through a weeklong workshop process and presentations, followed by talkbacks with the audience.

SEPTEMBER TWELFTH

by Rich Rubin
directed by Dennis Fox

NOVEMBER 7th & 8th

After 9/11, a fireman’s widow is challenged when she attempts to move on from the shadow of her martyred husband.

with:

Mary Fuller
Matt Higgins
Lori McNally*
Brian Quijada*
Gabe Templin
Nikole Williams

Dramaturg – James Bosley

Stage Manager – Sarah Krasnow

*appear courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

WE HAVE BROUGHT NIGHTMARE

by John Christian Plummer
directed by Jade King Carroll

NOVEMBER 21st & 22nd

A wry new perspective on the filthy lives of our early Dutch settlers.

with:
John Albert
Jacki Goldhammer*
Richard Grunn*
Warren Kelley*
Kelsey Landon*
Edwin Matos Jr.
Michael Sean McGuinness*
Nicole Rodenburg*
Rik Walter*
Noah Witke*

Dramaturg – Sarah Krasnow

Stage Manager – Paul Alexander Hughes

This reading contains strong language and adult situations and may not be suitable for children under 17

ALL PERFORMANCES AT:

“The Penthouse” at The Hebrew Tabernacle
551 Ft. Washington Ave. @ 185th Street

Take the  A train uptown to 181st St. – Exit at the front of the train – Take the elevator up to Ft. Washington Ave. 

Performances begin at 7:45 SHARP

Tickets are free, but reservations are encouraged and can be made HERE

UP Announces its 2014-2015 Season

UP Theater Company announces details of their 2014-15 season,
culminating in a Spring production of Epic Poetry by Artistic Director James Bosley.
The company, now in its 5th year of presenting New York premieres of bold new work,
adds a new component this year, aimed at developing two plays in a workshop format.

Development Workshops/Staged Readings (November 2nd – November 23rd, 2014)
These new plays will receive an intense 25-30 hour rehearsal/re-write period to ready them for staged performances:

     September Twelfth by Rich Rubin
A taut story about a fireman’s widow whose every step and misstep is judged from the shadow  cast by her martyred husband.
     We Have Brought Nightmare by John Plummer
A wry new perspective on the filthy lives and of our early Dutch settlers.

“Dead Of Winter” Reading Series (February 2015)
Four new plays will receive exploratory first readings throughout February:
American Drum Circle by Vanessa Shealy
Blue Mystery by Gilbert Girion
Lost/Not Found by Kirby Fields
Tamarack House by Michael Dowling

Spring MainStage Production (May 2015) – Epic Poetry by James Bosley
The odyssey of a teenage girl who journeys through a befouled and dangerous landscape in search of her father, a lost hero of a legendary gang war.     Employing the tropes of classic myth in the landscape of a dystopian New York Metropolitan area, the tale redefines the hero’s journey and recognizes that, gender-wise, we may have gotten it wrong from the start.

And of course no UP season would be complete without our off-beat variety shows, “Showing UP” (January 2015), the summer classic reading in Bruce’s Garden/Isham Park (August 2015) and the best party in town – Onward & UPward,  our annual benefit gala in April.

Dead of Winter 2014

Join us as we read and explore 4 new plays over 4 wintry Sundays :

JANUARY 26th @ 7pm
WHAT’S LOST by Paula B Stanic, directed by James Bosley
A London family tears apart and comes together after the death of a child.

FEBRUARY 9th @ 7pm
POST by Brian David Walker, directed by Laura Fois
A husband becomes dangerously obsessed with his dead wife’s Facebook page.

FEBRUARY 23rd @ 7pm
VISITOR’S DAY by Linda Kampley, directed by Dennis Fox
Unemployed circus performers can’t make their slumlord’s body disappear.

MARCH 2nd @ 3:30pm
THE PASSION OF CLAIRE by Cheryl Royce, directed by David Elliott
The story of a nun who is brutally raped in a church and the whiskey priest who saves them both.

All readings at Inwood UpstART – 93 Cooper Street
Seating is very limited so save your seat at Reservations@UpTheater.org
Suggested Donation at door – $10 per person

ASHÉ - A Great Success!

ASHÉ  was a resounding success!  The play, by Ricardo Pérez González, had audiences on their feet in appreciation for the work of the remarkable cast and crew.
Glenn Quentin of Stagebuddy.com called the production, “hands down one of the best plays this season” and “a must see, a theater-goers paradise!”  You can read his full review here.

We have big things planned for this winter and spring:

• First up, it’s the return of our “Dead of Winter” Reading Series, in which we will present readings of four new plays.  Details on dates and venue to be announced soon!

• Coming this Spring is BROAD CHANNEL by Artistic Director, James Bosley.   A struggling Queens family comes to blows when they discover a cherished painting brought home by Grandpa George, a hero of WWII, is a valuable work of art…and was stolen from a victim of the Holocaust.

• Also in the works – more magic with Matt Higgins.  A little Improv, and a smidge or two of “Showing UP”  – coming your way this winter.

As details firm UP, we will post them here.  So check back often.

UP Announces our 2013-2014 Season!

THICKER THAN WATER by Ricardo Pérez González
Santeria.
Visions of a life yet unknown.
Dreams that can’t be true, but are.
Playwright Ricardo Pérez González weaves a dark and magical love story between two men connected in ways mystical yet oddly familiar.
Fall 2013

BROAD CHANNEL by James Bosley
A struggling Queens family comes to blows when they discover a cherished painting brought home by Grandpa George, a hero of WWII, is a valuable work of art…and was stolen from a victim of the Holocaust.
Spring 2014

Fake Wedding Held at Uptown Subway Stations to Protest Loss of Token Booths

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A bride and groom exchanged vows this week amid gawking straphangers at the 168th Street subway station — but true love wasn’t the reason for the subterranean nuptials.

Despite the presence of a priest and flower girls, the marriage was actually a piece of performance-protest aimed at drawing attention to the lack of manned token booths at subway stations.

The faux ceremony — also held at 181st Street station — were staged by the UP Theater Company at the Washington Heights stations as a demonstration against the removal of the staffed token booths by the MTA late last year.