Hate Mail
45th Street Theater
354 W. 45th St., Manhattan, btw 8th/9th Aves. (see map below)
March16-April 2
Tuesdays through Fridays
All performances, 8pm
Directed by Richard Pepenella
Starring:
Dana Brooke………………..Dahlia
D.H. Johnson……………….Preston
Tuesday March 16, 8pm
Wednesday March 17, 8pm
Thursday March 18, 8pm
Friday March 19, 8pm
Tuesday March 23, 8pm
Wednesday March 24, 8pm
Thursday March 25, 8pm
Friday March 26, 8pm
Tuesday March 30, 8pm
Wednesday March 31, 8pm
Thursday April 1, 8pm
Friday April 2, 8pm
Hate Mail is a satirical, epistolary comedy something like Love Letters, with two characters reading letters and other correspondence, but it's a little wilder and more hysterically funny. It tells the story of Preston, a spoiled rich tourist who meets his match in Dahlia, an angst-filled artist working in a New York City souvenir shop. Their worlds collide when Preston sends a complaint letter that gets Dahlia fired, and then there's no turning back. The play stays with their increasingly crazed correspondence as they move from hate to love, and then right back again.
"Extremely humorous and literate script...I laughed so much it hurt."
--Ventura County Reporter (California)
"Playwrights Bill Corbett and Kira Obolensky may have written the snappy, savagely satirical epistolary Hate Mail by snail mail and fax, but the anti-love story delivers laughs with the speed of a flaming e-mail... Corbett and Obolensky drip sardonic, hilarious acid from their pens, picking apart their characters with enviously articulate and explosively funny letter-grenades."
--Twin Cities Reader
"The real danger in making a comedy with a format like Hate Mail is that if the script isn't written well enough, it could easily turn into some cheesy spoof of Love Letters, or 84 Charing Cross Road or any of a few other epistolary plays. Corbett and Obolensky have gracefully avoided this fate in a script that makes numerous clever brushes with social satire that provide a profoundly interesting look into the heart of the human communication."
--Russ Bickerstaff, onmilwaukee.com
"Corbett and Obolensky drip sardonic, hilarious acid from their pens, picking apart their characters with enviously articulate and explosively funny letter-grenades."
--Twin Cities Reader
Kira Obolensky.
Kira Obolensky's plays include Hate Mail, written with Bill Corbett; Lobster Alice (Jungle Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Stages Theater); and The Adventures of Herculina (Next Theater, Frank Theater). She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the Kesselring Prize (for Lobster Alice). New work in progress includes Quicksilver (produced in 2003) and A Modern Home. A graduate of Williams College, Ms. Obolensky also attended Juilliard's Playwriting Program.
Bill Corbett.
For four years Mr. Corbett was a writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and previously on Comedy Central. He was nominated for a Cable Ace Award in 1997 for Best Comedy Writing. He was also an actor on the show, providing the voice of the robot "Crow" and performing various other characters.
Mr. Corbett has been a contributing writer to National Public Radio's Prairie Home Companion and All Things Considered, and was co-creator of the animated web series Poker Night on Icebox.com. He has also been a member of the acting companies at the Guthrie Theater and the Berkshire Theater Festival, and has taught playwriting at Kenyon College in Ohio, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and numerous other universities and schools.
Bill Corbett's play The Stuff of Dreams recently toured the country, produced by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. His play The Big Slam has been produced at numerous theaters across the U.S., including Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C.; ACT in Seattle; and actor Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, Michigan.
His other plays include Heckler; Ridiculous Dreaming (an adaptation of Heinrich Boll's The Clown, commissioned and produced by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis); Down the Pike, winner of the Actors Theater of Louisville National One-Act Contest; short plays Manifesto and Hunters, produced by the HBO Writers Project in Los Angeles; Cash Karma, first produced by the Organic Theater in Chicago; and Motorcade, produced at theaters in the U.S., Canada, and Japan.
He is a Core Member of The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, where he earned an MFA in playwriting and screenwriting.
Avow by Bill C. Davis
"Brian and Tom ask their liberal and forward-thinking parish priest, Father Raymond, to witness and bless their vows to each other. Although Father Raymond understands their affection for each other, he holds that they must live a celibate life if they wish to be part of the Church. Brian is outraged. Tom becomes reflective, as Father Raymond's words strike a chord in him. Brian's sister, Irene, a concert pianist, is single and pregnant from an affair. Brian has convinced her to have the baby, which he and Tom will adopt. Irene, desiring nothing more than her brother's happiness and security, tries to mediate between Brian and Tom and Father Raymond. Much to her surprise she discovers a deep attraction to Father Raymond. The attraction turns out to be mutual, forcing Father Raymond to reexamine his life of commitment and loneliness. In the meantime, Brian's and Irene's mother, Rose, works very hard through her confessor, Father Nash (who is also Father Raymond's confessor), to come to terms with her son's and daughter's "exotic" lifestyles. As Tom begins to pull away from Brian, Father Raymond moves closer to Irene. Tom's and Brian's catalytic request creates five separate and linked spiritual journeys, each seeking to balance passion and faith."
Directed by Jerry Less
Starring:
Elizabeth Bove*...................................Julie
Jaron Farnham.....................................Tom
Christopher Graham*...............Father Nash
Kate Middleton*..................................Irene
Jeremiah Wiggins*..............Father Raymond
Timothy Sekk*....................................Brian
and
Joy Franz*............................................Rose
Set and Prop Design: Stephanie Tucci
Lighting Design: Christopher Weston
Stage Manager: Kayla Shriner-Cahn
Assistant Director: Raquel Tresvant
General Press Representative
Kevin McAnarney/KPM Associates
Produced by The Cardinal Group
(DH Johnson and Richard Pepenella)
* These Actors appeared courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. This is an Equity approved showcase.
This production is made possible by The Field.
Info & Dates
through SmartTix:
or call (212) 868-4444
Friday Feb 20 8pm preview
Saturday Feb 21 2pm preview*
Saturday Feb 21 8pm preview*
Monday Feb 23 8pm preview
Wednesday Feb 25 7pm OPENING
Thursday Feb 26 8pm
Friday Feb 27 8pm
Saturday Feb 28 8pm
Sunday Mar 1 2pm
Wednesday Mar 4 8pm
Thursday Mar 5 8pm
Friday Mar 6 8pm
Saturday Mar 7 2pm*
Saturday Mar 7 8pm*
Sunday Mar 8 2pm
*NOTE There are 2 performances on the first and last Saturdays
Jersey Shore House
In November 2008 The Cardinal Group presented an invitational reading of Michael Ferrell's Play Jersey Shore House at The Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Playwrights Horizons on 42nd St.
Our exceptional cast included Tony winner Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, 42nd Street), Peggy Scott (Rescue Me), Josh Tyson (An Octopus Love Story, Three Sisters), Adam Heller (Les Miserables, Caroline or Change, A Class Act), Rodney To (The American Mall), Andrew Stuart-Jones (Sex and the City), Sara Chase (The Toxic Avenger Musical), and Patrick Goodwin.
Stephanie Yankwitt (This is a Cowboy Poem My Daddy Taught Me, November, Brutality of Fact, The Receptionist) directed, Kayla Shriner-Cahn stage managed, and Brad Ellis was house manager.
-“Soon after the death of his fiancée, Nick Monaco and his family reunite at their Jersey Shore House for a weekend of comfort and healing. While his exasperating but well meaning family’s personal perplexities provide him with little comfort, their reunion does provide him with a house for healing. As Nick and the irascible Monacos stumble into the 21st century, can they emerge in solidarity from their Jersey Shore House?”-
The Cardinal Group and Rockstead Productions
Present:
This is a Cowboy Poem my Daddy Taught me
Written by Katie Bender
- Directed by Stephanie Yankwitt
Previews: May 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 28th at 8pm
Performances: May 29th-June 15th
Thurs., Fri., and Sat. at 8pm and Sun. at 2pm
The Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
312 West 36th Street
www.cowboyplay.com
Katie Bender
Love of a Pig
groups.myspace/thecardinalgroup
Love of a Pig Cast
Jenny..............................Dana Brooke*Director - DH Johnson
Joe and the others.............Steven Strobel*
Eddie and the others...........Michael Ferrell
Crystal and the others.........Marie Anderson
Amy and the others.............Ginny Lee*
Polly and the others............Sara Thigpen*
Mailman and the others .......Aaron Davis*
Mr. Michaels and the others ..David Nelson
(*) appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association
Stage Manager - Brianne Mueller
Costumes by Melanie Swersey
Set Design by Andrew Layton
Love of a Pig Synopsis
Leslie Caveny's biting and absurd comedy about the hilarious and terrifying effects of the one-sided love affair.
Jenny, a New York City musician has examined her assets and faults, breaking her life down into a serious of graphs and charts, in order to explain why she has unwantingly spent 3,356 nights of her life alone. When THE Mr. Right comes along, everything seems to go wrong, and a new self examination begins.
"Caustic and irreverent....An hilarious send up of dating, courting, and kvetching." -Variety
Mrs. Barry's Marriage
groups.myspace/thecardinalgroup
The Cardinal Group's third production was the one person play Mrs. Barry's Marriage, written by and starring Bronwen Coleman.
In Mrs. Barry's Marriage, Audiences are invited into the kitchen of Mrs. Vera Barry, 17 Kookaburra Court, Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia where Mrs. Barry is at the end of her rope. Her husband of 32 years has run off with Tiffany the nail technician, her eyebrows have mysteriously vanished, and now Charlotte, her long lost 2nd cousin once removed has arrived on her door step from New York, needing a place to stay. Mrs. Barry feels she's had to learn about life and marriage the hard way, and sees in Charlotte an ally who can learn from her mistakes.
An often hilarious tale of love gone wrong, Mrs. Barry's Marriage spans cultures and generations, asking the question: is it possible to shape our futures when armed with enough information about the past?
Directed by Anna Jones Rodriguez
You are invited into the kitchen of Mrs. Vera Barry, 17 Kookaburra Court, Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia.
Mrs. Barry is at the end of her rope. Her husband of 32 years has run off with Tiffany the nail technician, her eyebrows have mysteriously vanished, and now Charlotte, her long lost 2nd cousin once removed has arrived on her door step from New York, needing a place to stay. Mrs. Barry feels she's had to learn about life and marriage the hard way, and sees in Charlotte an ally who can learn from her mistakes.
An often hilarious tale of love gone wrong, Mrs. Barry's Marriage spans cultures and generations, asking the question: is it possible to shape our futures when armed with enough information about the past?
ONLY 6 PERFORMANCES
Directed by Anna Jones Rodriguez
and starring
Bronwen Coleman*.............................as Mrs. Barry
(*) appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association
OPENING, Sunday October 14, 2007 at 2pm reception afterwards
October 14, 2007 - October 23, 2007
Sundays at 2pm, Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm
Mrs. Barry's Marriage Fringe Letter from The Author
Hello dears,
Vera Barry, of my play Mrs. Barry’s Marriage, comes from a place very dear to my heart: Australia.
I know that the world is getting smaller, and politically and culturally our countries seem to be becoming more similar with each passing year, but if my time away from my country has shown me anything, it’s that there is definitely such a thing as the Australian character, and as an artist, I’ve become very interested in hunting it out, and celebrating it.
I had the opportunity to do some research first hand last winter, when I was in Australia for nearly two months acting in a play in Sydney. Being from Melbourne, and being subject to a typically paltry theatrical wage (some things really are the same the world over), I was forced to rely on the generosity of various distant relatives for a couch to crash on. In doing so I was brought to the doorstep of my long lost first cousin once removed, an extraordinary woman who became the inspiration for Vera Barry.
At first glance a conventional Aussie housewife, my father’s cousin was in fact a woman of great complexity. Despite recent heartbreaks, she was keen to present a kind of “She’ll be right” attitude. A vivaciousness in the face of hardship. Over a cup of tea one morning, she told me her story, which became the basis of my play. A story of love, loss and betrayal, laced with a very Australian kind of determined brightness: even as she choked on her words, she’d get this wild gleam in her eye and say, “Well, what can you do? You must keep on, mustn’t you?”
It was this determined vivaciousness that caught my imagination. After so long abroad, her character seemed so Australian to me, and I wanted to capture it. Of course, I took great liberties with the story itself, but I worked to preserve the sense of determined good cheer masking real heartbreak. She’ll be right, and let’s put the kettle on.
Thank you for your consideration,
"Evocative and funny, a really exceptional performance."
-Vallejo
Gantner, Artistic Director Performance Space 122
“Coleman gives us a pitch perfect portrait of this bitterly funny
woman… what theatre is all about.”
-Maggie Cino, reviewer Nytheatre.com
“Mrs. Barry resonates with the wonderful world that Barry Humphries
has created with Dame Edna, and with Kath and Kim's suburban mayhem.”
-Robyn Kershaw, Australian Producer of the comedy series
“Kath and Kim”
Read Review from NYTheatre.com >
Our
First Production -
Brutality of Fact
groups.myspace/thecardinalgroup
Artwork by James Carter
The Cardinal Group, D.H. Johnson, Jeffrey Schulman, Robin Mishik-Jett and Stephanie Yankwitt were proud to announce the New York revival of the comedy/drama .... Brutality of Fact by Keith Reddin, starring Joy Franz.
This was the first New York revival of Reddin's biting family comedy about terminal dysfunction, since it was first produced in New York in 1997. We were happy to have had Mr. Reddin's support throughout our production period and were thrilled to have him actually add a brand new ending which made it's New York debut with us.
Directed by Stephanie Yankwitt
The Cast:
Amy Da Luz........................................as Jackie
Donna Robinson....................................as Maggie
D.H. Johnson.......................................as Harold
Bronwen Coleman (Capote)....................as Corinne/Kate
Paris Yates..........................................as Marlene
Marshall Correro...................................as Chris
Melissa Ross (Our Lady of 121st St.)..as Janet/Amy/Judy
and
Joy Franz (Multiple Broadway Show veteran)...........as Val
Joy Franz's vast credits include the original, revival, and film of Into the Woods, Pippin, Assassins, Company, Merrily We Roll Along, and the national tour of Damn Yankees with Jerry Lewis.
Set Design by Joe Powell
Costumes by Melanie Swersey
Lighting design by Lily Fossner
Stage Manager - Hannah Woodward
ASM/HM - Richard Pepenella
Production Photos by Jennifer Ievolo