Flying Fig co-artistic director Heather Ondersma directs a cast that comprises Andrea Caban, Arlene Chico-Lugo, Ian Christiansen, Nathaniel P. Claridad, Jeannie Dalton, Lucille Duncan, Lori Gardner, Michaela Goldhaber, Tina Lee and Abigail Ramsay.
New Amsterdames, according to press notes, "reveals the diversity of the women and industries that made up the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, taking a satirical look at early ventures in New York Commerce, including the beaver trade. Circa 1659, the land deed to Manhattan (legend says Peter Minuit bought it from the Lenape for $24 and some beads) is nowhere to be found.
"Enter a diverse cast of historically based figures from the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, including doughnut inventor Anna Joralemon, first generation African-American farmer Dorothy Angola, entrepreneur/shipping magnate Margriet Hardenbroeck and an army of beavers. A frantic search for the deed ensues, with ever-changing alliances and motives, culminating magically in an astonishing natural phenomena arising some 350 years later in the Hudson River, covered by fictitious NY TV reporter, Sweetie Chin."
The New Amsterdames creative team includes Scott Boyd (scenic and lighting design), Alisha Engle and Mark Spain (costume and mask design) and Michaela Goldhaber (dramaturg). New Amsterdames is presented in association with Middle Tennessee State University.
New Amsterdames plays a limited engagement at HERE Arts Center (145 6th Ave in Manhattan) through Dec. 16, with two additional performances on Dec. 18-19 at Queens Theatre in the Park, located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Tickets are available by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting www.here.org. Tickets for the Queens Theatre in the Park performances are available by calling (718) 760-0064 or by visiting www.QueensTheatre.org.
*
Flying Fig Theater, founded by Michaela Goldhaber and Heather Ondersma in 2002, is a non-profit theatre company dedicated to producing compelling theatrical stories about women's lives, through commissioning new plays by contemporary playwrights and rediscovering plays from the past.
