Tony Taccone (Continental Divide), who staged the work Off-Broadway and at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (where he is artistic director), continues as director of the solo show. Performances began Jan. 12 for a run currently slated through March 12. Eric Falkenstein, Michael Alden and Boyett/Ostar Productions produce.
Set at a local community poetry slam, Bridge & Tunnel follows Jones as she transforms into more than a dozen characters of various ethnicities through slight changes in voice and costume. The actress weaves together a community, each dealing with the assimilation in modern urban America, by delving into portraits of a certain few. Among her onstage melting pot of personae include a Pakistani accountant, an Eastern European Jewish woman, a young Vietnamese male slam poet, a wheelchair-bound Mexican labor organizer, an Australian artist, a Haitian social worker, a Chinese mother and a young Latina.
Actress Meryl Streep previously produced Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel with The Culture Project, Allan Buchman, Robert Dragotta, Jayson Jackson, Michael Alden, Eric Falkenstein, Marcia Roberts and Tom Wirt Shafter.
The work originally played Off-Broadway from Feb. 6, 2004 at the 45 Bleecker Street Theatre and opened Feb. 19 to positive critical and audience response. The solo show recouped its entire investment of $200,000 within seven weeks of the first preview performance.
Jones has penned and performed works including Waking the American Dream, Women Can't Wait and Surface Transit. The actress also appeared in the Spike Lee film "Bamboozled," Off-Broadway in Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues and in her own Bravo television special "The Sarah Jones Show." As a poet, Jones has performed on HBO's "Def Poetry Jam." Director Taccone most recently directed the New York-bound staging of Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak's Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge. and will next stage the world premiere of Culture Clash's Zorro in Hell. Other credits include Continental Divide, Cloud Nine, Homebody/ Kabul, Skylight, Pentecost, Slavs!, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Serious Money.
Tickets to Bridge & Tunnel at the Helen Hayes, 240 West 44 Street, are available by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information on Sarah Jones, visit www.sarahjonesonline.com.
