BEDLAM THEATRE COMPANY presents Man:Solo, a festival of one acts

THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED THEATRE COMPANY

BEDLAM

Presents

MAN: SOLO

FOUR MEN. A FESTIVAL OF ONE ACTS.

April 21 – May 17, 2015 at the Access Theater

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“Every so often, evidence arises that acting might just be the most satisfying profession on the planet. Take the company called Bedlam, which is putting on not one but two inspired productions of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in a small and airless room in the garment district that seats about 50, and making you feel like its members are the luckiest people alive. These five individuals allow you to experience vicariously the heady delight of becoming other people, and then other people who are pretending to be other people altogether. And, oh, the insights and uncommon pleasures to be gleaned from such acts of transmutation.” – New York Times, Ben Brantley

“Bedlam Theatre Company is a band of gifted unknowns who can make theatrical magic in an empty room. No theater troupe in America is doing more creative classical revivals. Bedlam Theatre Company has scored yet another success with its double-barreled Twelfth Night.” – Wall Street Journal, Terry Teachout

BEDLAM (Eric Tucker, Artistic Director; Andrus Nichols, Producing Director) follows up its critically-acclaimed, sold-out productions of Twelfth Night and What You Will in repertoire with Man: Solo, a festival of One Act Plays. Featuring pieces by Alan Altschuler, Terrence O'Brien, Jason O'Connell and Stephan Wolfert, the series will run from April 21 through May 17, 2015 at The Access Theater (380 Broadway, 4th Floor).

“BEDLAM has been working with these four great actors, each creating their own great show, and I was keen to share these pieces with a wider audience,” said BEDLAM Artistic Director Eric Tucker. “Now celebrating our fourth season, the company felt presenting a One Act Festival was a natural next step in expanding our artistic programming, especially with Cry Havoc dove-tailing with our ongoing programs with vets.”

The series includes the following One Act plays:

The Dork Knight

Written and Performed by Jason O'Connell - Directed by Eric Tucker

A look into one man's obsession with films about another man's obsession with dressing up like a rodent and punching people, The Dork Knight strolls down a cinematic memory lane that begins with Tim Burton's iconic 1989 blockbuster and ends - for the moment - with Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed trilogy. Featuring "cameos" from Nicholson, Keaton, Ledger, and Bale (among others), O'Connell's funny, intimate memoir demonstrates how one's "inner geek" can guide and inspire in good times and in bad.

Bigfoot Stole My Wife

Performed by Alan Altschuler, Jason O'connell and Stephan Wolfert - Adapted from short stories by Ron Carlson - Directed by Aubrey Snowden

Stories of love, loss and the bizarre - told through the many voices created by acclaimed writer, Ron Carlson. Three men wrestle with their pasts, their present, and how to confront their futures.

Popular Mechanics

Written and Performed by Terrence O'Brien - Directed by Terrence O'Brien

Mannequins, mushroom clouds, Hiroshima, the upper Midwest, probability, infinity, the Bikini, playing with nuclear fire, how an H-Bomb works, and what it's like to check in at the Hilbert Hotel. Take a surreal tour of the Cold War and beyond in this memoir/speculation.

Cry Havoc

Written and Performed by Stephan Wolfert - Directed by Eric Tucker

After six years in the army, Stephan Wolfert hopped off the Amtrak deep in the mountains of Montana and found himself at a performance of Richard III that would change his life forever. In a heartrending 75 minutes, Wolfert discovers his own experience pre- and post-service in the lines of some of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches, all the while exploring the possibility of a new experience. Is there room for improvement in the way in which we reintegrate our vets back into society? The military recruits citizens and trains them how to kill, but does not “un-train” them. What does the “de-cruit” process look like? How do we come together to re learn how to live? The performance is followed by an engaging talk back between actor, audience, and veterans that dares to answer these questions.

BEDLAM is a company committed to the immediacy of the relationship between the actor and the audience. With large ideas and modest budgets, Bedlam creates theatre in a flexible, raw space, presenting new writing, contemporary reappraisals of the classics and small-scale musical theatre. Their productions always include the audience. Storytelling is paramount. Bedlam believes that innovative use of space can collapse aesthetic distance and bring the audience into direct contact with the dangers and delicacies of life--inciting laughter and chaos, provoking thought and recreating the thrill of live experience.

Tickets for each production are $20. Tickets and performance schedule available at www.theatrebedlam.org.

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Contact:

Andrus Nichols

Andrus@TheatreBedlam.org

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