Past Retro Productions:
Accolades:
|
|
Retro Productions nominated for 18 New York Innovative Theater Awards since 2008! |
Kristen Vaughan WINNER Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role, 2011 for Retro Productions' BENEFACTORS at the New York Innovative Theater Awards!
Heather E.
Cunningham's
performance in Retro Productions
Still Life by Emily
Mann was chosen as Marc Miller's
"Performances to Remember, 2007" for Back Stage
East!
"I’m off to one of my favorite theater companies: Retro Productions, which unearths plays from the distant past and mounts them in the cozy confines of the Spoon Theatre." - Peter Filichia, theatremania.com
"Retro Productions is a force of nature, with such strength it blew me away... Truth, honesty, and great chops, it's everything that is great about American theatre." - Heather McAllister, nytheatre.com
"Retro Productions, one of
the Off-Off Broadway’s best kept secrets, has been wowing
those
in the know with one stellar production after another. And [they] just keeps getting better and better." - Edward Rubin, nytheatre-wire.com
Just Closed:
Retro Productions is pleased to present
Directed by Peter Zinn
May 11-25, 2013
at the Workshop Theater Company's Mainstage Theater
312 W. 36th Street, 4th Floor, New York City
Starring:
Greg Oliver Bodine*, Becky Byers*, Heather Cunningham*, Emily Jon Mitchell*,
Matthew Trumbull* and Kristen Vaughan.
Set Designers...Jack and Rebecca Cunningham
Costume Designer... Ben Philipp
Lighting Designer... Jacqueline Reid
Sound Designer... Jeanne Travis
Properties Designer... Sara Slagle
Dialect Coach... Charley Layton
Stage Manager... Ricardo Rust*
Assistant Stage Manager... Veronica Gheller
Press Representative... Lanie Zipoy
Marketing Photographer...Kristen Vaughan
Title Artist.. Matilda Szydagis
*Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.
"Retro Productions presents a heart-wrenching interpretation of Peter Nichols’ A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. If you haven’t had the chance to see this play and have always wanted to, this would be the production to see... The design of the show is delightful... The set design by Jack and Rebecca Cunningham
is simple and ingenious... They effectively transformed a stage
into a living room and a living room back into a stage. Ben Phillip’s costume design fit not only into the era but worked with the set itself... Sound design by Jeanne Travis
was subtle but effective in evoking the era and juxtaposing moments of
great tension with innocent songs, underlining the perversity of this
play.
The acting was out of this world. Matthew Trumbull
as Bri was a leader for the show. He delivered his monologues
unrelentingly but there was still a vulnerability to his performance,
one that didn’t excuse his selfishness but did explain it. Heather Cunningham
as Sheila gave a powerhouse of a performance, heart-wrenching as the
mother and wife struggling to keep her family together. Greg Oliver Bodine and Kristen Vaughan
as married amateur actor couple Freddie and Pam played off one another
well and Ms. Vaughan especially brought a comedic touch to the
heaviness of the play. Emily Jon Mitchell gives a charming performance as the neglected grandmother; the whole stage lit up when she entered. Becky Byers
gives a knockout of a performance as Joe. Her interpretation of a
girl living with Cerebral Palsy is nothing short of brilliant;
breathtaking, tragic, she evokes the innocence and helplessness of a
child living with a disease she cannot control. Difficult to
watch her body struggle, even more difficult to watch her be ignored,
her subtle performance showed the humanity in Joe." - Gina Femia, New York Theatre Review
"Wow. This production takes place on a groovy-colored set (designed by Jack and Rebecca Cunningham) that is aware of its own flatness... The amazing actors move as though aware they're putting on a show. Innocent songs like "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" recall an era (is it really over?) of classism and discrimination.
I saw this play on Broadway
several years ago, but it is very different to be sitting in an
intimate theater with the monologues directed unrelentingly at
you. It is a good thing, the opposite of obscuring the
issue. As a parent, it puts me up against my worst
nightmare. As a citizen, it asks me if I think life is worth
living.
Director Peter Zinn
has done a remarkable job of making each character sympathetic at some
point, while keeping the non-stop civilized banter going...
Clearly, Matthew Trumbull and Heather Cunningham have much in the way of acting chops. Becky Byers makes a huge statement for humanity without speaking. Greg Bodine charmingly shows how one can be polished and right at the expense of others. Kristen Vaughan has the most emotional portrayal, with her undisguised horror of the imperfect child. Emily Jon Mitchell balances everyone out with her cool, needy mothering." - Ed Mailn, NYTheatre.com (Warning - this review contains spoilers!)
A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG is a dark comedy about a couple trying to deal with the hardest kind of parenthood; their only daughter Josephine has cerebral palsy, is wheelchair bound and can not communicate. Bri and Sheila's marriage is on the brink from the stress of Joe's afflictions, her grandmother Grace opines how "lovely if she was running about," and their friends Pam and Freddy drop by hoping to encourage them to be a little selfish and put Joe in a proper facility. But by the end of the night Bri is having morbid fantasies and no one is left "sitting about like Joe Egg."
JOE EGG is a dark comedy, and while there are no sexually explicit or violent scenes, parents may want to consider if their children's sense of humor is mature enough to understand the dark nature of the comedy.
Click here to read more about the cast and staff of JOE EGG.
This production will particpate in
so please vote after you see the performance!
Special Thanks to our concessions sponsor: Grown Up Soda!
 |
We participate in the TDF Voucher program and off-off@9. |
This program has been made possible in part through the sponsorship of The Field.
