It's that 'Love Letters' time of year again

On February 18, Eastcheap Rep will present A.R. Gurney's Pulitzer Prize-winning Love Letters, and we'd love for you to come join us. Featuring Sally Jackson and Luke Rosen (and directed by Chris Chaberski), this will be our seventh annual production of this classic love story. The show will be at The Players Club -- 16 Gramercy Park South (here's a map) -- and starts at 8 p.m. sharp.

Further details are here on Facebook. You can reserve tickets by emailing LoveLettersTickets@gmail.com ($10 each).

We look forward to seeing you there!

Just for fun...

Here's a nice pic of Pete, Chris and Luke taken a few weeks ago at Casa de Chenot in the Hamdens (photo effects by Hipstamatic).

LOVE LETTERS returns, February 19th, 8 pm

Hello everyone,

Just three short weeks from now, on Friday, February 19, we would like to invite you to Eastcheap Rep's fifth annual production of

Love Letters
by A.R. Gurney
Love Letters, a Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, covers the decades-long relationship between Andy and Melissa, from childhood through old age. Reading the letters they exchange, we follow them as they first meet, then become friends, then grow romantically involved. This touching piece will surely linger in your mind long after you leave the theater.

Love Letters features Luke Rosen & Sally Jackson and is directed by Chris Chaberski.

Some of you have come to our previous presentations of Love Letters, and we are continuing the tradition this year. If you liked it last time, please bring a friend or two (or eight!).

First off, thanks for stopping by and thanks especially to all who came out to see BASH in September. (You can check out some of our reviews a bit lower on the page.)

This year, the show will be at:

The Players Club
16 Gramercy Park South (b/w Park Ave. and Irving Pl.)
(Here's a map.)

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door upon arrival. You can make a reservation through us by sending an email including your name and the number of tickets desired. (Send emails to LoveLettersTickets@gmail.com)

Please remember: One show only, this February 19 at 8 p.m.

Following the show, join us downstairs at the pub for some post-show discussion and catching up. Also, Players Club rules require no jeans or sneakers, so look nice!

Thank you once again for your continuing support.

(And if you've got any questions, just give one of us a call or drop us an email.)

bash: "Brilliantly done."

bash just got its first review and, well, it's pretty sweet. Tickets on sale here. Facebook stuff here.

Sometimes when I hear the reason why someone committed a terrible crime I feel much less compelled by the story. It's the crimes that seemingly have no reason that really stir my sense of morality. It's a lot harder to judge someone when you don't know why they did something and you are forced to look at them as an average person...someone who could be your friend or someone just like you. And that is a truly disturbing thought when you know what they did. Neil LaBute is a master of stirring moral issues in a cauldron of everyday life and his comparatively raw 1999 play bash certainly stirs things up. I had never seen this play performed so I feel very fortunate to have my first performance of it be so brilliantly done.

bash is three short stories told in monologue. Each has at its center an immoral crime that the speaker is confessing for one reason or another. The kicker here is that the crimes are all based on actual crimes committed by real people. The first, Medea Redux, is about a young woman who seems to be confessing to the police. She tells her whole story from the very beginning all the way up to the spine-chilling moments just after her crime. The next story, Iphigenia in Orem, is about a family man who is talking to a stranger about his crime because he just has to get it off his chest. In this one he doesn't even admit to his crime at first but he eventually cops to it. The final story, A Gaggle of Saints, is told by an out-of-touch young couple from Massachusetts who come to New York for a party and leave with a story to tell—only they don't tell the same story.

LaBute's writing here is brilliant. His characters are rich and remorseless; deep and yet so single-minded. The monologues are textured with pain and love, innocence and hatred, humor and crisis. They are also very well-structured. The first one unfolds like a bizarre, if not forbidden, love story and climaxes with such naive self-righteousness. The second story twists and turns and folds in on itself until it finds a place where it can feel good about itself. The final one begins as two people telling the same story, but it soon diverges into the truth of what happened and layers upon layers of lies. What I really like about this play is that LaBute doesn't exploit these crimes—he doesn't sensationalize them—nor does he judge them, he simply tells these stories without forcing morality into them. He knows that his audience will bring their own morality and cast their judgments. Director Robert Knopf does a find job with his vision for this show. He sets a captivating pace and sets complementary emotions and thoughts next to one another to create an honest production of a challenging play.

The cast is fantastic. I was especially blown away by Chelsea Lagos in the first piece. She absolutely owns this monologue. Her performance is layered and nuanced. She finds moments for deep, deep reflection and bumps them into moments of utter indifference and even casual throwaway thoughts. Luke Rosen is just as impressive in the second and third pieces. As the family man he finds the everyman character that makes his crime so much more disturbing. I had trouble believing that he was really a parent but his honesty really got to me. In the final piece he transforms into a completely different person and really brings the intensity and the underlying confusion of the character to life.

David Mamet once said, and I paraphrase here, that "the audience is collectively a lot smarter than I am." It seems LaBute understands this. He doesn't judge his characters, he doesn't tell us why they do what they do, he knows that we'll impose all that ourselves. I would suggest that you check out this excellent production of bash and judge for yourself.

-by Richard Hinojosa

BASH opens September 4th

Hey you guys! Come check out BASH, starting a week from today, Sept. 4.

Join us for Preview Performances taking place September 4th, 5th & 8th, 2009 at 8:00PM at Tom Noonan’s Paradise Factory. The Grand Opening of bash will take place on 9 September 2009 at 7:00PM.

Shows will continue thereafter Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00PM. Special “Intimate bash” 24-Seat Performances will take place Fridays & Saturdays at 10:30PM with a ticket price of $25 per person, and will include a complimentary glass of Prosecco.

Directed by Robert Knopf featuring Luke Rosen and Chelsea Lagos and Produced by Chris Chaberski and Eastcheap Rep, the 2009 production of bash explores the stark reality underlying LaBute's aggressive language, evoking the most primitive emotions through simple, minimalist speech and movement.

To purchase tickets to bash please visit GoSeeBash.com

Check it out on Facebook here: tinyurl.com/lz9pyy

A little about bash:
On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith rolled her 1990 Mazda Protegé into a South Carolina lake in order to drown her two young sons.

On October 7, 1998, in Laramie, Wyoming, Matthew Shephard was beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die because he was gay.

On December 24, 2002, Scott Peterson suffocated or strangled his wife, 8 months pregnant, and dumped her body in the San Francisco Bay.

In 1999, Tony-Award nominated playwright Neil LaBute premiered his play bash, about incidents like these. Critics were intrigued yet disgusted: “self-flagellating,” “unapologetically cruel characters,” and “what demons lead him to tell such cruel [stories]?”

The Mormon Church, of which he was a member, disfellowshipped him.

Why do these things happen, and what is it about bash that makes so many people so uncomfortable? On September 9, 2009, Eastcheap Rep opens the New York revival of bash, with audiences asked to choose between two types of seating: tables within a few feet of the performers or seating above them. For special late night performances, only the 24 seats at tables will be sold, offering audience members an unprecedented “intimate bash” in the company of LaBute’s men and women.

Are you ready to get this close?

Love Letters, opening February 15

Hey everyone,

First off, thanks for stopping by and thanks especially to all who came out to Natalie this summer. (You can check out some of our reviews a bit lower on the page.)

On Sunday, February 15, we'd like to invite you to come out and see...

Love Letters

by A.R. Gurney

Love Letters, a Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, covers the decades-long relationship between Andy and Melissa, from childhood through old age. Reading the letters they exchange, we follow them as they first meet, then become friends, then grow romantically involved. This touching piece will surely linger in your mind long after you leave the theater.

Love Letters features Luke Rosen & Sally Jackson and is directed by Chris Chaberski.

Some of you have come to our previous presentations of Love Letters, and we are continuing the tradition this year. If you liked it last time, please bring a friend or two (or eight!).

This year, the show will be at:

The Players Club
16 Gramercy Park South (b/w Park Ave. and Irving Pl.)
(Here's a map.)

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door upon arrival. You can make a reservation through us by sending an email including your name and the number of tickets desired. (Send emails to LoveLettersTickets@gmail.com)

Please remember: One show only, this February 15 at 5 p.m.

Following the show, there will be a reception and an open bar at the Players Club. Also, Players Club rules require no jeans or sneakers, so look nice!

Thank you once again for your continuing support.

(And if you've got any questions, just give one of us a call or drop us an email.)

Natalie: Review by Off-Off Broadway Review (Redundant?)

I know it's a bit late, but a nice review still feels good. Here's what the Off-Off Broadway Review had to say. (Also, please check out the NYTheatre.com review.)

When do I grow up?

Review by Sarah Rulfs

The story of a young woman coming of age in an era marked by uncertainty and fluidity, Natalie is the arrestingly relevant, sharply written story of modern-day youth in America. Natalie (Sally Jackson) is a young woman whose story is told over nine years, from her graduation from college to her sister’s wedding and the subsequent moment of enlightenment which leaves her forgiving the past and imagining a brighter future. At its most basic, the play is about a little girl lost, who finds herself with the help of her best friend and a healthy dose of both humility and reality.

Natalie is a solid production, from the realistic script to the honest acting. Jackson gives a remarkably versatile performance which captures the subtle differences between a fresh college grad and a confused young adult. Her playful smile and airy persona teeter on the edge of annoying, but ultimately err on the side of loveable. Peter Chenot, who plays her best friend, does a superb job of keeping her in check without ever preaching; somehow his reprimands always come from a place of love. Special consideration should also be given to Luke Rosen, whose versatility in roles ranging from a “douchebag hipster” to a Craigslist house-hunter to Natalie’s brother is note-worthy. The three play incredibly well together, making the characters real and honest, and making the most of a fresh script.

It’s not a surprise that the show feels so real: the actors and the director cannot be a day over 30. Written by the company, it’s clear that their youth pervades the writing and makes it the chronicle of a true experience. Choppy at the beginning, the script morphs into a finely paced piece full of lush dialogue which gives sufficient back-story without becoming boring.

Given that the show is part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival, the set is simple but effective, with creative pieces like a couch/bed making the space alternately seem like a 20-something’s apartment and a hotel room. The intimacy of the small space mirrors the nakedness of the piece and makes the audience part of Natalie’s struggles. Costumes seem to come straight out of the cast’s closets, but are all the more effective because of it. Just over an hour, the show is equal parts tender and heartbreaking, but ultimately leaves the hope that this generation, like all those which preceded it, will find its way in an increasingly complicated world.