The Immigrant Theatre Project will present their fifth annual, ten day festival of new plays about the challenges and rewards of life in the "new world," Dec. 10-20 at NY's Lower East Side Tenement Museum.
The five one-act plays premiering in the festival will be presented in a rotating repertory of two different programs.
Program A (Dec. 10, 12, 13, 17, 19 and 20) includes Mr. America & His Russian Courage by Dan Dzindzihashvili and The Amateur Virgin by Rane Arroyo.
In Mr. America, a comedy about Russians who have moved to Brooklyn, Ivan and his father get sucked into the surreal happenings of American life -- hot dog carts, gangsters, a 300 pound monster and Stalin included.
In the magical-realism world of Virgin , A young boy struggles to understand his Grandfather, while his Grandmother spins folk tales of legendary animals and woe. The three plays that comprise Program B (Dec. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20) include: Leo by Michele Broder & Max Kenol, Change by Sung Rno, and alieNation by Tessa Martin.
Leo is the farce about the title character, an elderly Polish/Jewish man who's confronted with complications at every turn: his daughter is dating a non Jew, The Met wants to sell him tickets to Wagner operas, and an African-American evangelist just won't leave him alone.
The solo performance, Change, features two generations of Korean men -- one gives up his grocery business after a racial incident, while the son tries to justify his pursuit of the American Dream.
In alieNation, Martin plays 15 different characters telling her story of being born in Trinidad, moving to Queens and attending Hunter College.
The 5th New Immigrants Theatre Festival runs Dec. 10 - 20, at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum (97 Orchard Street). For tickets ($12) or more information, call (212) 431-0233 ext. 440.
-- By Sean McGrath
