The Riverside Stage Company (RSC), a new nonprofit theatre company in NYC, gets its first season underway Oct. 15 with the official opening of Ampersand at the Chelsea Playhouse. David Williams' play employs "offstage characters from existing, well-known plays," and runs Oct. 13 - Nov. 7.
The cast includes Stacey Leigh Ivey, seen in the Adobe Theatre Company¹s Notions & Motions, Dawn Evans, Jefferson Arca, Danyel Roberts and Suzanne Levinson.
Rehearsals for Ampersand began on Sept. 21.
As reported earlier, the second show of the RSC season will be the New York Premiere of Watching My Hair Grow, which is written and performed by Broadway dancer Jeff Shade of Sweet Charity and Chicago fame. Watching My Hair Grow is described as a one man show about dancing, depression, baseball, baton-twirling, suicide and the shuffle ball-change, and runs Nov. 14-28.
The third presentation of the RSC premiere season will be the world premiere of Carrin Beginning by W. August Schulenberg. The show runs Dec. 1-19. Set in an rural Irish bar in 1927, a group of misfit patrons meet "the last great bard of Ireland" and lives are changed forever. Principals at RSC include producer David Young and artistic director Brian Feehan. The company is described as a professional, nonprofit company dedicated to presenting new American plays.
The RSC was conceived in 1996. The group has produced and administered an annual award program, the Founders Award for Excellence in Playwriting. From its former base at the renovated Palace Theatre in Norwalk, CT, RSC also conducted a dozen readings. The Chelsea Playhouse is located at 125 West 22 Street in NYC. All seats are $32.50 For reservations call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200. A production spokesperson said that a special promotion is being held Oct. 13 and 14, whereby a pair of free tickets will be given to anyone who can present ID at the theatre proving that the word "and" (as in "ampersand," or "Andy") appears as part of their name.
-- By Murdoch McBride
