Avenue Q, a musical, Generation X take on children's television utilizing puppets and live actors, headlines the 2002-03 season at the Vineyard Theatre. Two other world premieres are also planned — Janusz Glowacki's The Fourth Sister, starring Jessica Hecht, and Jeremy Dobrish's Eight Days (Backwards).
Back in mid-2000, Avenue Q did a few industry readings at the York Theatre. At the time, the revue structured show included a title number, "If You Were Gay," "Tear It Up and Throw It Away" (about being called to jury duty, and other civic responsibilities) and "There Is Life Outside Your Apartment." The creators, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, won the 1999-2000 Kleban Award for their theatre lyrics for a spec movie musical script, "Kermit, Prince of Denmark," loosely based on Hamlet, starring Kermit the Frog. Jeff Whitty co-wrote Avenue Q's new book with Lopez and Marx.
Jason Moore will direct Avenue Q, scheduled to begin performances at the Vineyard in early February, 2003. Avenue Q is a co-production with the New Group.
The Fourth Sister kicks off the season in late October, 2002. Like Three Sisters, Fourth Sister finds three Russian women wishing for something more than they have. But these girls are products of post-Communist Russia and their dreams are of freedom - Hollywood style. Glowacki is the author of Antigone in New York and Hunting Cockroaches.
Mark Brokaw (How I Learned to Drive, The Dying Gaul) directs Jeremy Dobrish's Eight Days (Backwards), which is structured exactly as the title suggests. The play travels through the relationships of thirteen city dwellers, regressing from day eight to day one, while revealing the missed opportunities for love and revelation. Dobrish is the artistic director of the adobe theatre company, where several of his plays have premiered. For subscription information, call (212) 353-0303. The Vineyard is located at 108 E. 15th Street. The Vineyard Theatre is on-line at http://www.vineyardtheatre.org.
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The Vineyard Theatre is also developing a new work by Kirsten Childs (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chamleon Skin) entitled The Miracle Brothers, which has been commissioned by the theatre.
