Subversive announces its new season! Check us out in 2009-2010!

Buffalo’s only people’s theatre is excited to announce a working list of our 2009-2010 season. Featuring an extraordinary list of plays by such radical greats as Bertolt Brecht, Langston Hughes, Ariel Dorfman, Dario Fo, and Eve Ensler, our 2009-2010 Season is quickly sizing up to our best yet. Below please find a brief explanation of each show, with detailed releases to follow as they approach.

o October 15th - November 7th, 2009 WIDOWS by Ariel Dorfman Directed by Kurt Schneiderman, Starring Arlene Clement & Victor Morales. An inspiring tale of speaking truth to power as widows defy and unnamed Latin American military junta by Chile's Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright/novelist.

o November 20th - December 12th, 2009 WE WON'T PAY! WE WON'TPAY! by Dario Fo Directed by Donn Youngstrom. An off-the-wall comedy about strikes, food riots, and peoples' power by Italy's incomparable Nobel Prize-winning socialist playwright!

o January 8th - 31st, 2010 EIGHTY-FOUR Conceived of and Directed by Brian Zybala. * This multi-media physical theatre experience offers a powerful re-interpretation of George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece"1984," unfortunately more relevant to today's world than ever.

o February 18th – March 14th, 2010 HARVEST by Langston Hughes Directed by Kurt Schneiderman.* For our fourth annual "Workers' Power Play Series," union history comes bursting to life as Black, white, and Latino migrant farm workers unite and strike in 1930s southern California.

o April 1st - 25th, 2010 NECESSARY TARGETS by Eve Ensler Directed by Susan Forbes*, Starring Lara Haberberger* & Kelly M. Beuth.* Presented in association with Buffalo's feminist troupe "The Brazen Faced Varlets," a moving account of women refugees of the Yugoslav Civil War by America's leading feminist playwright.

o Saturday, May 1st, 2010 THE FURIES OF MOTHER JONES by Maxine Klein Directed by Susan Forbes.* For the ninth annual installment of our "May Day Staged Reading Series" comes this unique working class musical about the Turn-of-the-Century agitator known as "Mother Jones."

o May 13th - June 6th, 2010 A MAN'S A MAN by Bertolt Brecht. Directed by Mark Tattenbaum* & Drew McCabe,* Brecht's farcical story of dehumanization and murder by western soldiers in the Middle East -- all TOO relevant to today's issues!

o June 17th - July 11th, 2010 sUBVERsIVE sHORTs 2010! By multiple playwrights with multiple directors, our original new political play showcase is now an annual event with a huge arsenal of radical works from all across America taking on just about every issue you can imagine!

In addition to the events listed here, The Subversive Theatre Collective also offers staged readings, lectures, film screenings, improvisation showcases and more throughout the year, often themed in conjunction with our shows. Please visit www.subversivetheatre.org to view a complete calendar of events, or visit us on facebook for more current listings!

As always, all Subversive Theatre performances are presented on a pay-what-you-can basis at The Manny Fried Playhouse at 255 Great Arrow Avenue on the third floor of North Buffalo's historic Great Arrow Building. Come check us out for thought provoking, controversial, socially relevant theatre for people who don’t belong to country clubs.

• = indicates members of the Subversive Theatre Collective.

Waterboarding Blues: a personal invitation!

A note from out director:

If you haven't gotten the word already, I wanted to let you know that my newest creation -- one that I've both written and directed -- WATERBOARDING BLUES opens tonight (Fri, April 3rd, 8pm, at the Manny Fried Playhouse).
It has been a herculean task for me to get this one off the ground and I'm very proud of product that cast & crew & I have been able to come up with.
Now that I've survived the gauntlet and we're ready to get this show underway, I'm really hoping you'll be able to come out and see it. Please join us tonight for opening night if you can. There'll be a humble opening night party immediately after the show to which you are hereby invited.
If you can't join us for opening, then I hope we'll see you at one of the other performances. Sadly, this one only runs for three weekends, so you better come soon before it's all over.

Kurt

And PS, if you have seen the show already, please tell us what you think! We would love to hear your comments, complaints, rave reviews, rants, and other various and sundry noises. Please comment below or send us an email at press@subversivetheatre.org!

Waterboarding Blues announced!

*The Subversive Theatre Collective Presents “WATERBOARDING BLUES” April 2nd through April 19th*

The Subversive Theatre Collective is proud to present the world-debut of “WATERBOARDING BLUES,” the newest play written and directed by Subversive Theatre's Founder and Artistic Director Kurt Schneiderman* (biography included below). Performances run from April 2nd through April 19th, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 6pm. Please note: no performance Easter Sunday (April 12th).

“WATERBOARDING BLUES” is a daring new work of protest theatre that plunges unflinchingly into one of the most painful subjects facing Americans today -- the unofficially official use of torture by our own government. This Twilight-Zone-esque drama leads audiences on a dizzyingly intense journey as a military intelligence officer in modern day Baghdad is pushed by supernatural forces into stunning revelations about the harsh realities of America's past, present, and future.

Sobering, spellbinding, and unapologetically agitational, "WATERBOARDING BLUES" is a powerful and urgently necessary statement on our Twenty-First Century World.

Gordon Tashjian heads up this play's ensemble which also features Dennis Keefe*, James Wild, Robert "Hodie" Hodas*, Jessica Stuber*, John Vines, and Travis Hedland with Costume Design by Paul Stephenson*, Sound Design by John Shotwell*, and Set Design by Dyan O’Connell*.

All shows at Subversive Theatre's recently established performance space, The Manny Fried Playhouse on the third floor of North Buffalo’s Great Arrow Building, located at 255 Great Arrow Avenue. Admission is free with donations gratefully accepted before and after all shows. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis with doors opening half an hour before each performance.

For more information or to request publicity photos or supporting materials, please call Subversive Theatre at 716-408-0499 or email us at info@subversivetheatre.org

* = indicates members of the Subversive Theatre Collective


KURT SCHNEIDERMAN'S BIOGRAPHY
Kurt Schneiderman is a local playwright whose works have been performed in New York City, Toronto, Montreal, and Chicago in addition to multiple productions here in Buffalo. He is the winner of the 2003 Helen Mintz Award for Playwrighting Excellence and was nominated for "Best Playwright of Buffalo" at the 2007 Best of Buffalo Awards. A professor at various local institutions, he has taught the craft of playwrighting at Canisius College, Empire State College, and the Just Buffalo Literary Center.

The Founder and Artistic Director of the Subversive Theatre Collective, Kurt Schneiderman is also the Founder of the Buffalo "infringement" Festival, and formerly the Dramaturg of the Buffalo Ensemble Theatre.

The upcoming production of WATERBOARDING BLUES marks the fifth time Subversive Theatre has presented the world-debut of Kurt Schneiderman's works. Previous productions include FOUNDATIONS (2007), MOTHER DIS-COURAGE (2005), A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON MY WAY TO SHOOT THE CZAR (2004), and MANIFEST DESTINY BLUES (2003).

Auditions for sUBVERsIVE sHORTs

ON SATURDAY, MARCH 21ST FROM 3PM-6PM, SUBVERSIVE THEATRE WILL BE HOLDING OPEN AUDITIONS FOR OUR FORTH-COMING PRODUCTION OF "sUBVERsIVE sHORTs 2009" AT THE MANNY FRIED PLAYHOUSE, THIRD FLOOR OF THE GREAT ARROW BUILDING AT 255 GREAT ARROW AVENUE IN NORTH BUFFALO.

No appointment necessary, actors will be auditioned in the order of arrival. Actors will be asked to present one to two monologues no more than three minutes in length. Resumes and headshots welcome.

Our production of "sUBVERsIVE sHORTs 2009" will run April 30th through May 17th with performances running Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 6pm.

For more information, visit Subversive Theatre's website at www.subversivetheatre.org or give us a call at 716-408-0499.

Welcome to the Subversive Blog!

We at the Subversive Theatre Collective of Buffalo, NY welcome you to our new home in cyberspace. In addition to our regular web site, this blog allows us to open a dialogue with the people: here we can share our news and hear yours, leave our comments on performances, news, and events, and get your feedback on the same.

Here is a space where you can speak up, act out, and talk back to us about our performances, events, mission, manifesto, or anything that generally gets your blood boiling and your back prickling. Have an idea for us? Let us know! Seen a performance recently? Let us know what you think! Loved it? Hated it? Lay it on us, we're ready.

As the voice of the people's theatre, we exist to give you a say in the state of things. So let us hear you! We want to know what you want, and this is the place to do it.

So take off your shoes, hang up your hat, and stay awhile. Browse our links, wander around our pages, and get a taste of what the Collective is all about. Most of all, check back often! We will be updating regularly with performance information, news and events, announcements and general observations on the world we occupy.