Olivia Honegger directs "the magical screwball drama" in which "Rita Faye Pruitte, the former star of the Tampa Mermaid Museum, finds herself confronted by both the sweetest and most painful parts of her past while preparing for a very unusual birthday party in her New York City apartment. Now, with the people from the life she left behind crashing her party, will Rita Faye — a fierce believer in miracles — still be able to make her most fervent dream come true?"
The cast of The Sleeping Girl features Liz Bangs, Tom Brangle, Cecilia deWolf, Calvin Gladen, Michele Harris and Joanna Rhinehart.
Designers are Jo Winiarski (set), Naomi Wolff (costume), Dana Sterling (lighting) and Aram Arslanian (sound).
The Relentless Theatre Company (RTC) was founded in Los Angeles in 1994 by Olivia Honegger and Rachel Malkenhorst "and has remained a theatre committed to exploring various characteristics of the American experience." After several seasons of critically acclaimed West Coast productions, RTC relocated to New York City in 2003.
Olivia Honegger is executive director/founding artistic director, and Robert Kaplowitz is producing artistic director. The Sleeping Girl is RTC's third production in New York, following Shelia Callaghan's The Hunger Waltz at the Manhattan Ensemble Theatre and Malachy Walsh's The Chair, which was presented as part of the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival.
Playwright Bradbeer received playwriting grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Berrilla Kerr Foundation, First Place from the Dayton Playhouse FutureFest, and an Honorable Mention from the Jane Chambers Award. Her play Full Bloom was named Best New Play of the Season by the Berkshire Eagle, and was short-listed for both the Humana Festival and the American Critics Association's Osborn Award. Full Bloom was workshopped at the New Harmony Project under the leadership of Jim Houghton, has since had multiple productions around the country and was published in "Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2000." Other plays include the full-length Lone Star Grace and the one-acts Bethlehem, PA; McIntyre’s; Fear and Loathing on the Nile and A Gift for Lucy.
In New York, Bradbeer's plays have had productions and/or development at Six Figures Theatre Company, Naked Angels, The Women's Project, Vital Theatre Company, the Drilling Company, New Georges, Blue Collar Theatre Company, the Makor, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, and for Raw Impressions Music Theatre at La MaMa.
The Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (416 West 42nd Street). Opening night is April 8. Tickets are $15 and are available by calling (212) 340-1916.
For more information on The Relentless Theatre Company, please visit www.relentlesstheatre.com.
