Month: October 2012

Caridad Svich’s new play SPARK will honor US war veterans this November with multiple readings

An initial line-up of organizations that will present 2012 OBIE Award-winning playwright Caridad Svich’s new play Spark has been announced. This work, which is about a family of sisters who live in North Carolina, one of whom is a returning veteran from a recent war, is being made available for local presentations during the month of November (and selected venues in October) to honor US war veterans, shed light on the plight of female veterans in particular, and to raise increased awareness for their stories, by NoPassport theatre alliance & press, an unincorporated collective dedicated to the advocacy, production and publication of works expressive of cross-cultural and aesthetic diversity in the arts.

A special reading of the play will be held at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City on November 11, 2012 produced by T.e.l. and Mannatee Films, in collaboration with NoPassport, under Scott Schwartz’ direction (casting TBA soon). Among the other theaters and venues that will be presenting the play are Atomic Age Theater Company in collaboration with Emerson College in Boston, MA; Bristol Riverside Theater in Bristol, PA; Cummins Theatre in Western Australia; Ex-Pats Theatre in Chicago, IL; Off-the-Hyphen Productions in Baton Rouge, LA; Moxie Productions in Vermont; New Dramatists in NYC; Profile Theatre in Portland, OR; Pygmalion Theatre in Salt Lake City, UT; Trap Door Theatre in Chicago, IL; Vortex Theatre in Albuquerque, NM;  Working Title Playwrights in Atlanta, GA; and over fifteen US universities including Penn State University, Reed College and the University of Washington-Seattle in collaboration with The Hansberry Project. Additional presenting venues will be announced in the near future.

The play was commissioned by, among others, JT Rogers, Peter Lichtenfels, and Tamilla Woodard, and was developed, in part, at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City. Spark is a two-act play with five characters that focuses on poverty in America, what happens when soldiers come home, and the strength, ultimately, of family. Caridad Svich’s other plays include 12 Ophelias, The Way of Water, and The House of the Spirits, based on the novel by Isabel Allende. The line producer for the NoPassport reading scheme for Spark is Lanie Zipoy, and the dramaturgy team is led by Zac Kline with Heather Helinsky (as consulting dramaturg). The play’s premiere has not yet been announced.

For more information about Caridad Svich’s Spark, visit http://www.nopassport.org/spark

NoPassport theatre alliance and press, Email: NoPassportPress@aol.com,Website: http://www.nopassport.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Lanie Zipoy | 646.399.8650 | lanie.zipoy@gmail.com

KATHLEEN CHALFANT TO HOST VETERANS DAY READING OF
CARIDAD SVICH’S SPARK AT THE CHERRY LANE THEATRE NOVEMBER 11TH

Cast Includes Louis Cancelmi, Marin Ireland, Peter Jay Fernandez, Gloria Mann & Jocelyn Kuritsky

New York, NY — A special Veterans Day reading of the new play Spark by OBIE-award winning playwright Caridad Svich will be held at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) in New York City on Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 8:00 pm, followed by an expert panel discussion on the experience of women veterans facing trauma and assault while serving.

Produced by Gloria Mann, TECL / Mannatee Films, in collaboration with NoPassport, the cast includes Louis Cancelmi (Blasted, Soho Rep), Marin Ireland (Tony Award nominee, reasons to be pretty), Peter Jay Fernandez (The Lady from Dubuque, Signature Theatre) Jocelyn Kuritsky (Woodshed Collective, 13P), and Gloria Mann (Ashes to Ashes, Walkerspace). Scott Schwartz (Golda’s Balcony) will direct the reading.

Spark centers on a family of sisters in North Carolina, one of whom is a returning veteran from a recent war. Along with hosting the event, after the reading, Tony Award-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant will participate in a distinguished panel on the role of women in the US military, psychological and physical health for veterans, and the role of art in the healing process.

Moderated by Omega Institute program strategist Michael Craft, the panel will also feature one of America’s leading physicians working with military trauma, former Air Force Major Nisha Money MD; acclaimed documentary filmmaker, JulieHera DeStefano, whose new film, Journey to Normal: Women of War Come Home, recounts the unprecedented story of women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan; Gulf War veteran Susan Lynch, Executive Director of There and Back-Again (www.thereandback-again.org), a nonprofit supporting active service-members and providing reintegration support services to combat veterans of all conflicts, Helen Benedict, author of The Lonely Soldier, and Kayla Williams, linguist and former intelligence specialist for US Army and the author of Love My Rifle. The Cherry Lane evening for Spark is sponsored, in part, by Oliver Kita Chocolates and Michael Boris Clothing.

Spark is the third play in Caridad Svich’s American quartet of plays addressing national issues/global concerns that include 2012 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award-winning Guapa and The Way of Water. Spark will receive dozens of readings, including the Cherry Lane Theatre event, across the United States and internationally throughout November 2012. Among the additional national venues that are participating in the national reading scheme are Bristol Riverside Theatre in Pennsylvania, Profile Theatre in Portland, Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, The Playwrights Center of Minneapolis, Theatre Project and Bump in the Road in Baltimore, DNAWorks with Teatro Paraguas in Santa Fe, and Tricklock Theatre in Albuquerque.

The line producer for the NoPassport international reading scheme for Spark is Lanie Zipoy, and the dramaturgy team is led by Zac Kline with Heather Helinsky (as consulting dramaturg) and Erin Kaplan. The play’s premiere has not yet been announced. Tickets to the Spark reading at The Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street, Subway: 1 to Christopher Street), which are free and open to the public, will be available starting November 4^th at http://www.nopassport.org/spark. For more information about Caridad Svich’s Spark, visit http://www.nopassport.org/spark

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