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August, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Adrian Bryan-Brown/Juliana Hannett/Matt Ross
FOR
A SMALL, MELODRAMATIC
STORY
BY STEPHEN BELBER
DIRECTED BY LUCIE TIBERGHIEN
FEATURING
CARLO ALBAN, QUINCY TYLER BERNSTINE,
LEE SELLARS, ISIAH WHITLOCK JR.
OCTOBER 10 - NOVEMBER 5, 2006
TICKETS ON SALE SEPTEMBER 15
LABPASS® AVAILABLE NOW
LAByrinth
Theater Company (Co-Artistic
Directors Philip Seymour Hoffman and
John Ortiz and Executive Director Steve Asher) is proud to announce
that
casting is complete for Stephen Belber’s A SMALL,
MELODRAMATIC
STORY, the first play of LAByrinth’s 15th
Anniversary
Season. The cast includes Carlo Alban,
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Lee Sellars, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. They will be directed by the
previously
announced Lucie Tiberghien. The limited-run production will
begin
performances October 10, 2006 with an official opening of October 22.
The final
performance is November 5
A
SMALL, MELODRAMATIC STORY
takes place in Washington D.C., where a widow
named O is trying to figure out whether life is worth re-engaging
with.
In her path are the 1968 riots, the first Gulf War, the Freedom of
Information
Act and herself. There's also an archivist named Keith, a cop
named Perry
and a kid named Cleo. And finally there's the question of just
how much
about anything do we really need to know.
A SMALL,
MELODRAMATIC STORY will play
Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday – Friday
at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm and 8pm; and Sunday at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets
go on sale September 15. For premium seats and advance ordering
privileges to
four of LAByrinth’s 15th Season productions including A SMALL, MELODRAMATIC STORY, get
a LABPASS® for only $136 (plus a $5 processing fee)—the equivalent
of only $34
per show. Order online at secure.labtheater.org
or call (212) 260-2400. Without a LABPASS®, tickets for A
SMALL, MELODRAMATIC STORY will be $45.
Stephen
Belber’s
plays include Match (Broadway) with Frank Langella (Tony
nomination for Best Actor) and Ray Liotta; McReele
(Roundabout), Tape
(Naked Angels – NYC/LA/London), Carol
Mulroney (Huntington Theater),
One Million Butterflies (Primary
Stages), Drifting Elegant (Magic
Theater), The Transparency of Val (Theater Outrageous, NYC),
The Wake
(Via Theater, NYC), Through Fred (Soho Rep) and The Death
of Frank (Araca
Group, NYC). Stephen wrote the screenplay for Tape,
starring Ethan
Hawke and Uma Thurman and directed by Richard Linklater (Sundance;
Berlin). He is a member of Tectonic Theater Project and was an
Associate
Writer (and actor) for The Laramie Project, later made into an
HBO movie
(Emmy nomination for screenwriting). Tape and Match have
received professional productions around the world, including South
Africa,
Israel, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Greece and
Spain. Stephen is a
graduate of Juilliard’s Playwrights Program and has received
commissions from
Manhattan Theater Company, Playwrights Horizons, The Huntington
Theater, Arena
Stage and Philadelphia Theater Company. TV credits include Rescue
Me and
Law & Order, SVU (staff
writer). His play Drifting Elegant
was shot as a movie this past summer, and he is currently working on
several
studio film projects.
Lucie
Tiberghien
was born in Lugano, grew up in Geneva and danced professionally in Paris until 1995.
Recent directing credits
include the world premiere of Richard Dresser’s Augusta, (Contemporary American
Theater
Festival, WV) Air Conditioning
(Tommy Smith, Juilliard), Hoodoo
Love,
(Katori Hall, Cherry Lane), The
Pavilion,
(Craig Wright, Rattlestick and CATF), The
Winning Streak (Lee Blessing, The George Street Playhouse), Quand j’avais cinq ans je m’ai tué
(Howard Buten, Théâtre Jean Vilar, Paris), Flag
Day (Lee Blessing , CATF), Only
the end of the world, (Jean Luc Lagarce, Directors Company),
The
Last Schwartz (Deborah Laufer, CATF), The Death of Frank, Through Fred and Finally (Stephen Belber).
During the
summer of 05, Tiberghien participated in the development of three new
plays: Great Falls
by Lee Blessing (O’Neill), A
Small
Melodramatic Story,
by
Stephen Belber (LAByrinth Intensive) and The
Overwhelming, by JT Rogers (Playpenn, Philadeplphia). Last
summer
she went to the Sundance Theater Lab to work on Geometry of Fire, also by
Belber.
Carlo Alban has been
acting for over fifteen years. Starting
out in various theater productions in and around New York City, he soon
achieved recognition as a regular cast member on Sesame Street. After a five-year stint there he moved on to
co-star in several films including: Sundance Award winner Hurricane
Streets,
Hi-Life, and the TNT Original
Picture Thicker Than Blood, for
which he received an ALMA Award nomination for Best Actor.
Other TV credits include: Law
& Order,
Law & Order: Criminal Intent,
OZ, Touched by an Angel,
The Jury, in addition to the
critically acclaimed film 21 Grams. Carlo’s
stage work includes: Jose Rivera's References
to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (NYSF), Dreamlandia (Dallas
Theater
Center), A Winter's Party (LAByrinth Theater Company), The
Night of
the Iguana (Guthrie) and Ice Glen (Florida Stage). Carlo is a member of LAByrinth Theater
Company since 2002. Later this season, he will be starring in
LAByrinth’s
developmental production of his self-written solo show, Intríngulis.
Quincy Tyler
Bernstine’s New York
theater credits include Passing Strange
(The Public Theater/Berkeley Rep, workshop); (I am) Nobody’s Lunch (The
Civilians at 59 E.59th Street Theater); Matt & Ben (P.S.
122 and National Tour); The Ladies (Cherry Lane/Dixon Place); Paris
Commune (Mazer and New Works Now! at The Public); The Rats are
Getting
Bigger (New Work Now! at The Public and 2003 NY Fringe Festival); The
Trail of Her Inner Thigh (LAByrinth Theater Company); among others. Regional theater credits include
Williamstown Theatre Festival (Tough Titty), Sundance Theatre
Institute,
Chautauqua Theater Company (Aux Cops), The Alliance (Intimate
Apparel, King Hedley II), Long Wharf (Much Ado About Nothing),
La
Jolla Playhouse (Light Up the Sky), Alabama Shakespeare Festival
(A
Night in Tunisia, The Venus DeMilo is Armed, Twelfth Night, A Comedy of
Errors),
Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Baltimore Center Stage (Permanent
Collection, Piano Lesson), Mark Taper Forum, Virginia Stage
Company, and
others. Quincy has appeared on TV in Chappelle’s Show, Law
&
Order: Criminal Intent and All My Children. Her training
includes
Brown University (BA), UC San Diego (MFA). She is a member of The
Civilians
(OBIE Award-winning) and LAByrinth Theater Company since 2002.
Lee
Sellars is
an actor and musician. His New York
theater credits include The Alchemist (Classic Stage), Buying
Time
and Ghost on Fire (The Hypothetical Theatre Company).
Regionally, he has
performed at George Street Playhouse (The Pillowman), the
Contemporary
American Theatre Festival (The God of Hell, Rounding Third,
Flag
Day and The Pavilion), Pittsburgh City Theatre (Inventing
Van
Gogh), Actors Theatre of Louisville (The Pavilion, Private
Eyes
and Gunshy), and at Long Wharf Theatre (The Grey Zone). On television, Lee has appeared in Chappelle’s
Show, The Sopranos, The Black Donnellys, Law
&Order,
Law & Order: Criminal Intent,
Third Watch, Chicago Hope,
Early Edition, The
Untouchables and ER. His film
credits include Groundhog Day,
Mo Money, Love the Hard Way,
The Boardroom, The
Childhood Friend, Elizabeth Street, Ben Day and the
soon to
be released films The Savages and Tenderness. Lee also
writes
music, sings and performs with the New York band eelwax jesus (under
the name
Ignatz Mcgillicuddy). Their latest CD Naptime for the Guru was
released
in February 2006.
Isiah
Whitlock, Jr., a veteran
theater, film and television actor, appears
in the upcoming films 1408, Enchanted and
Kettle of Fish. He can also be seen in
Spike Lee’s The 25th Hour and
She Hate Me. His other film credits
include Pieces of April, Duane
Hopwood, Jump Tomorrow, Harlem Aria,
The Fish in the Bathtub,
Everyone
Says I Love You, The Spanish Prisoner,
Eddie and Goodfellas.
Mr. Whitlock was nominated in 2002 for a Lucille Lortel
award as Best Featured Actor for his work in Four (Manhattan
Theatre
Club). The Iceman Cometh, Merchant
of Venice, and Mastergate are among his Broadway credits,
while The
Cherry Orchard, Everything That Rises Must Converge, Up
Against the
Wind, A Lesson Before Dying, High Life, Edmond,
The
American Clock, White Panther, and The Illusion
comprise his
off-Broadway credits. He was also part
of the national tour of the play The Piano Lesson, in the lead
role of
Boy Willie. Mr. Whitlock currently
stars as Senator Clay Davis on HBO’s The
Wire. He has been featured numerous times in Law
& Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU;
and
has garnered guest leads on Chappelle’s Show, and been seen in Madigan
Men, Wonderland, New York Undercover, Third
Watch, Ed and the
PBS documentary Liberty.
LAByrinth Theater
Company celebrates its 15th Anniversary during this
2006-2007
season, proudly continuing its residency at The Public Theater. Founded
in 1992
by a group of actors who wanted to push their artistic limits, hone
their
craft, and create new plays that truly reflected their heritage and
experience,
LAByrinth today is comprised of more than ninety established and
emerging theater
artists from a
wide array of cultural perspectives.
An inclusive, multicultural ensemble that encourages all members to write, act,
direct, and design, LAByrinth
supports multidisciplinary growth and exploration in the creation of
daring new
work that celebrates the diversity
of its New York City home. Under
the leadership of Artistic Directors Philip Seymour Hoffman and John
Ortiz,
LAByrinth Theater Company has won multiple honors, awards and
international
acclaim and its plays have been published, translated and produced
across the
U.S. and abroad. Over the last fifteen years, LAByrinth has
developed
hundreds of plays and staged 43 world premieres in New York City. Learn
more
about LAByrinth at labtheater.org.
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