Three one-acts will be staged by three rising directors and feature Equity talent. Industry people pay close attention to this showcase, the alumni of which includes John Rando (The Wedding Singer), Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), Hal Brooks (No Child), Mark Brokaw (Suddenly Last Summer), Matt August (How the Grinch Stole Christmas!), Carolyn Cantor (artistic director, Edge Theatre), R.J. Cutler (Emmy-Award winning director of the PBS documentary series "American High") and James Bundy (Dean, Yale School of Drama).
DirectorFest 2006 is the culmination of the Fall Production Program of The Directors Project, the only career-development program for directors in the nation that guarantees an opportunity to direct a professional production.
DirectorFest 2006 plays the intimate June Havoc Theatre at Abingdon Theatre Center, 312 W. 36th Street. Performances will be at 8 PM Thursday, 8 PM Friday, 2 & 8 PM Saturday and 3 PM Sunday.
This year's bill consists of two new plays — Itamar Moses' Authorial Intent, directed by Meredith McDonough; Jonathan Ceniceroz's The Blessing of the Animals, directed by Alex Torra; and Harold Pinter's One for the Road, directed by Jaime Castañeda.
Here's a breakdown of the three 2006 projects:
Jonathan Ceniceroz's The Blessing of the Animals is a brand new piece that tells the story of a young man whose gifts draw startling parallels to those of St. Francis of Assisi — specifically his gifts in relating to animals. This presents a profound challenge for his traditionalist parents, who have great difficulty grappling with their son's eccentricities. The work is a special commission, crafted by Ceniceroz specifically for Alex Torra's direction. Torra is a recent MFA graduate of the Brown University/Trinity Rep consortium. This fall, Torra assisted writer-director Neil Labute on Wrecks at The Public Theater, and will next assist director Eric Schaeffer on the new musical Saving Aimee at Signature Theatre in Virginia.Itamar Moses' Authorial Intent offers a glimpse of the fallacies and realities of actors' lives in the theatre, both inside and outside the work they are performing together. When the authorial intent of an actor's lines are introduced in place of the lines themselves, the surprising result allows an audience to see the hidden truths of those bringing it to life. For her Drama League fellowship, director Meredith McDonough assisted on the Public Theater's launch of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Plays Project, and is currently assisting director Kyle Donnelly on the musical She Loves Me at Arena Stage. McDonough received her MFA in Directing from University of California, San Diego.Harold Pinter's One for the Road continues director Jaime Castañeda's dedication to giving British works new life across the pond. Pinter's play is set in an unknown totalitarian state, where a mysterious figure maintains his authority by interrogating a husband, wife and their small child. Political and religious questions surface about a government's ability to abuse power and the repercussions that are sure to follow. Castañeda assisted director Matt August on Pig Farm at The Old Globe, and will assist Neil Pepe on Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song at Atlantic Theatre Company. Castañeda has an MFA in Directing from the University of Texas. The Directors Project artistic director is Roger T. Danforth.
