"Village, My Home"

from Jonathan Slaff

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY'S DREAM UP FESTIVAL PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF "VILLAGE, MY HOME" BY MARCINA ZACCARIA
An exploration of the Village's many colorful characters.
WHERE AND WHEN:
August 27 to September 3, 2017.
Theater for the New City (Community Space Theater), 155 First Avenue.
Presented by Theater for the New City (Crystal Field, Artistic Director) as part of the Dream Up Festival 2017.
August 27 at 5:00 PM, August 29 at 9:00 PM, August 31 at 9:00 PM, September 1 at 9:00 PM, September 2 at 2:00 PM, September 3 at 8:00 PM.
Tickets $15. Box Office: (212) 254-1109, www.dreamupfestival.org
Running Time: 45 minutes. Critics are invited to all performances.
NEW YORK -- In preparation for the New Year, a Village housewife joins businesspeople, locals and tourists as they question what matters to them. As technology continues to fascinate, isolate and shape our lives, how do we encounter our New York City? "Village, My Home," written by Marcina Zaccaria, embraces the very human experience of what it means to live and survive in the 21st century against the backdrop of cultural and political uncertainties. The play, written in a sequence of interlocking testimonials with movement interludes, captures the dreams and hopes of men and women who wish to explain their wisdom, even in the most troubling moments. In a chaotic business world, do we know the difference between astrophysics and Buddha? Can it all be solved with yoga? Featuring eight characters at various points of their lives, "Village, My Home" questions how we choose New York City and what keeps us there.
The play revolves around several unusual New York characters, beginning with a Middle Aged Woman who is a stressed-out housewife despite her yoga obsession. We also meet an Old Woman, a matriarch who is haunted by memories of terrible storms, but takes solace in painting as a hobby. Younger men and women take the stage to complain about their employees and coworkers, foreshadowing some strife to come. We get a glimpse of out-of-towners and travelers from other boroughs, willing to take on New York City and its inhabitants. The odd man out among these city-dwellers and visitors is the Computer Geek, out to disrupt their quest for calm.
The main point of conflict is between the Older Woman and the Computer Geek, raising questions of what it means to be an artist in a modern city where failures to launch are the norm. How can artists support their work and family? As technology continues to fascinate, isolate, and shape our lives, does the artist still have a purpose and place within this brave new world?
The piece contains two movement interludes in the styles of Suzuki, Laban and Meyerhold's Biomechanics. They are set to an original composition capturing the bustling and frenetic nature of New York City and matching the rhythm of playwright Marcina Zaccaria's poetic script.
Marcina Zaccaria writes that "with theatrical movement and state-of-the-art sound design, "Village, My Home" promises to warm the heart and calm the most unsettling times." More information can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/VillageMyHome/
Playwright and Director Marcina Zaccaria has directed readings and performances in venues that include New Dramatists, TheaterLab, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, Soho Rep, Dance Theater Workshop, The Brick Theater and the Ohio Theater. She curated a Salon at Dixon Place, a one day event featured visual artists, spoken word artists, dancers, filmmakers and theater artists. She has written monologues published in "InterJACtions: Monologues at the Heart of Human Nature (Vol. II)," available on Amazon. She is published in the New Crit section of HowlRound and her clips can be found on Twitter. She is a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women and is a reader for the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Her arts administration experience includes providing support for the Executive Director/Contemporary Programming at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. (http://marcinazac.weebly.com/)
The cast includes Marjorie Conn, Madalyn McKay, Maile Souza, Frances McGarry, Kelsey Shapira, Michael O'Day, Jeff Burchfield, Sean Evans, Maria Severny, Stephanie Roseman, Meaghan Adawe McLeod, Rebecca Genéve, Christina Ashby and Catherine Luciani.
The eighth annual Dream Up Festival (www.dreamupfestival.org) is being presented by Theater for the New City from August 27 to September 17. An ultimate new work festival, it is dedicated to the joy of discovering new authors and edgy, innovative performances. Audiences savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country and around the world.
The festival does not seek out traditional scripts that are presented in a traditional way. It selects works that push new ideas to the forefront, challenge audience expectations and make us question our understanding of how art illuminates the world around us.
A unique and varied selection of productions will again be offered that draw upon a variety of performance specialties including singing, clowning, poetry, street music, magic and movement. The Festival's founders, Crystal Field and Michael Scott-Price, feel this is especially needed in our present time of declining donations to the arts, grants not being awarded due to market conditions, and arts funding cuts on almost every level across the country and abroad.
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Press Representative: Gary Morgenstein, 917-376-4278, [email protected]

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