Spin will feature a series of commissioned plays penned by Adam Rapp, Gina Gionfriddo, Judith Thompson, Elizabeth Meriwether and Mark Schultz. Each work revolves around the specific theme of "spin."
"As with last year's 'Vengeance,' we're interested in using five great playwrights as a barometer for what's happening now. 'Spin' is this year's zeitgeist, it's the victory of style over substance. Presentation increasingly obscures content in American discourse and decision-making. The media, industry, politics, the establishment and the arts have conspired to bring us not their constituent parts, but a presentation of what they would like us to think they are. 'Spin' is the icing under which the cake of our country now lumbers. Everyone's running around spun out, high on icing," stageFARM artistic director Alex Kilgore said in a statement.
The announced plays for Spin follow:
"On a reality show called 'America's Got Tragedy,' a dead soldier competes with the pop starlet whose train wreck life upstaged his war."
"After 90 days in rehab a fledgling groom learns that sobriety and dishonesty aren't mutually exclusive."
"A Canadian CSIS agent learns that torturing a Gitmo detainee may cost him the love of his life."
"On the set of a film that turns news headlines into fetish fantasies, a veteran porn actor coaches his scene-mate into making the ultimate sacrifice for art."
"In an undisclosed cabin somewhere in the mountains of America, a TV stunt journalist and her trusted cameraman attempt to scoop the sound of The Rapture from a legendary experimental rock musician." Kilgore and Evan Cabnet will stage the series that runs Oct. 3-Nov. 8 at the Cherry Lane Theatre. An opening night has been set for Oct. 11.
Casting for Spin has not been announced.
Show times are Tuesday-Saturday evenings at 8 PM. Tickets, priced $37.50, are available by calling (212) 868-4444 or by visiting www.smarttix.com.
The Cherry Lane Theatre is located in Manhattan at 38 Commerce Street, between Barrow and Bedford Streets.