THEATRE OF THE EXPENDABLE ANNOUNCES THEIR 2010 SEASON

Theatre of the Expendable (Mare Cognitum, Cherry Docs) announces their fifth season, which will include Alan M. Berks’ Almost Exactly Like Us and Conor McPherson’s St. Nicholas. Both productions will be directed by TotE’s Artistic Director, Jesse Edward Rosbrow, and will play at The WorkShop Theater.

ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE US
Written by Alan M. Berks
Directed by Jesse Edward Rosbrow
April 22-May 1
If your world were different, would you be different, too? ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE US shows us four people in different realities, from a totalitarian regime to an evangelical college and a post-apocalyptic war zone, and examines how the world around us shapes who we are and who we will become.

ST. NICHOLAS
Written by Conor McPherson
Directed by Jesse Edward Rosbrow
June 17-July 3
An aging jaded theatre critic recounts his obsession with a young actress, and how that obsession leads to a journey into a macabre world of vampires from which he almost can’t escape.

Both productions will be presented at the WorkShop Theater (312 West 36th Street, between 8th & 9th Avenue, 4th Floor). Tickets ($12) are available online at www.theatermania.com or by calling 212-352-3101.

ALAN M. BERKS (Playwright) is the author of nine full-length plays, six one-acts, and numerous short plays and monologues that have been seen in Minneapolis, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Indianapolis, and New York. The solo show Goats, about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, was produced by The Production Company in New York City and nominated for a 2006 New York Innovative Theater Award. The plays 3 Parts Dead, written in collaboration with Burning House Group, and Everywhere Signs Fall, at Gremlin Theatre, were both named in the Minneapolis Star Tribune “Year in Review” as some of the best theater of the year. Other awards include: Minnesota State Arts Board Grant (Ringtone), MacDowell Colony Fellow (They Want), and Jerome Fellow (Mourning Rituals). His one-act play for high school students, Home of the Brave, was commissioned by the Guthrie Theatre, published by Playscripts, Inc., and produced by schools from Minnesota and Iowa to Texas and California. Other work includes: How to Cheat, Fugue, Almost Exactly Like Us, and They Want (based on The Oresteia by Aeschylus). He co-created Thirst Theater, which produced more than 60 new short plays over three years, and is currently the Editor of MinnesotaPlaylist.com.

CONNER MCPHERSON (Playwright) plays include The Seafarer (premiered on Broadway in 2007), Poor Beast in the Rain, Port Authority, Dublin Carol (premiered on Broadway in 2002), The Weir (premiered on Broadway in 1999), St Nicholas and This Lime Tree Bower. His plays have been performed at Atlantic Theater Company, Primary Stages, National Theatre, The Royal Court Theatre, Gate Theatre, New Ambassadors Theatre, Duke of York’s Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival and Bush Theatre. His plays have been performed across the United States, as well as in Ireland, England, Germany, France, Australia, Poland, Italy, Japan, Argentina and Uruguay. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 2006 for Shining City, which premiered on Broadway in 2006; nominated for the 2002 South Bank Show Award for Best Play for Port Authority; received the 1999 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play, the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright, the Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright and was a finalist for the Lloyds Bank Playwright of the Year Award for The Weir; and was the joint winner of 1997 George Devine Award and the winner of the Meyer Whitworth Award for Saint Nicholas. Mr. McPherson’s screenplays include Our Lady of the Forest for Channel 4, Brothers for Film Four, The Actors for Film Four/Miramax, Saltwater for Treasure Films/BBC (premiered at the Berlin Festival in 2000 and received The International Confederation of Art Cinemas Prize), I Went Down for BBC/Treasure Films (Best Screenplay, San Sebastian 1997, selected at Cannes Festival, Edinburgh Festival and Sundance Festival) and MacIntyre (commission for Treasure Films).

JESSE EDWARD ROSBROW (Director) Directing credits include: the New York premiere of Vaçlav Havel’s Audience, Unveiling, Protest (John Housman Studio Theater); What Where by Samuel Beckett (The Ensemble Studio Theatre); Mare Cognitum (FringeNYC 2008/Theatre of the Expendable); Mare Cognitum (2009), Three Sisters, Dick 2 (a.k.a. Richard II), and 6:1 (Theatre of the Expendable). Producing credits include: the New York premiere of Cherry Docs (nominated for three New York Innovative Theatre Awards including “Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role”, “Outstanding Director”, and “Outstanding Production of a Play”), TotE’s First Annual New Works Festival, Dick 2 (a.k.a. Richard II), The Tragedy of John, and The Ocean Is Big And The Sky Is Blue (Theatre of the Expendable); Hello, My Name Is… (Living Image Arts, Theatre Row’s Lion Theatre). Acting credits include: Four If By Space (www.fourifbyspace.net). Education credits include: BA from Vassar College, where he studied Drama (mostly directing) and Classics (mostly dead guys). Jesse is TotE’s Artistic Director.

THEATRE OF THE EXPENDABLE develops and produces plays that ask our audience members how people become expendable. Also, since we view no audience member as expendable, we keep our ticket prices low – often lower than, and never higher than, the price of an average movie theatre ticket. Theatre of the Expendable has previously produced Dick 2 (a.k.a. Richard ll), The Tragedy of John, The Ocean is Big and the Sky is Blue, Cherry Docs (nominated for three New York Innovative Theatre Awards including “Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role”, “Outstanding Director”, and “Outstanding Production of a Play”), Three Sisters, and Mare Cognitum (FringeNYC 2008, Get S.O.M. 2009).