SPRING THEATREWORKS, INC.

25 JAY STREET, STUDIO 203   BROOKLYN, NY 11201         917.213.1242         www.springtheatreworks.com

For immediate release, please.

SPRING THEATREWORKS, INC.

presents

“BRETTFEST 2004: 2 BY NEVEU”

Two new plays by hot Chicago playwright BRETT NEVEU:

EAGLE HILLS, EAGLE RIDGE, EAGLE LANDING: A dark comedy of suburban malaise

TWENTYONE: An existential “Girls Gone Wild”

 

Directed by IAN MORGAN at Altered Stages – Performances begin JULY 7

Spring Theatreworks (Jeffrey Horne, Artistic Director – currently represented off-off Broadway with the U.S. debut of Night Sings Its Songs) will present “BRETTFEST 2004: 2 BY NEVEU” featuring the world premiere of Brett Neveu’s (pronounced NEV-yoo) TWENTYONE and a remount of EAGLE HILLS, EAGLE RIDGE, EAGLE LANDING.  Both productions will be directed by Ian Morgan and will begin performing in repertory at Altered Stages, 212 West 29th Street (between 7th and 8th Aves) on Wednesday, July 7 with the official opening night for both shows on Friday, July 9 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.  Call 212-502-8560 for reservations.

            Spring’s 4th Annual “SPRINGFEST” has been hijacked by playwright Brett Neveu, a rising star on the Chicago theatre scene! “BRETTFEST 2004: 2 BY NEVEU” brings two of Brett’s haunting and hilarious works to NYC:

·         The world premiere of TWENTYONE takes us to a Mexican resort with five twenty-one year old college students for Spring Break.  This familiar but endlessly bizarre setting and its mindless “Girls Gone Wild” atmosphere of alcohol, tanning and casual-sex serves as an unlikely backdrop for self-reflection as the five characters challenge their own boundaries, as well as each others’.

·         EAGLE HILLS, EAGLE RIDGE, EAGLE LANDING is a comical and unnerving look at the absurdity of suburban life.  This “remarkably fresh and witty piece of writing,” (Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune) presents a hilarious take on suburban malaise.  One man begins to dismantle the expectations which have molded him and his friends into suburban office workers while these friends, their world view threatened to the core, try to persuade him back into the fold. This is a remount of a popular Spring Theatreworks world premiere from their 2001-2002 Season, which was quickly followed by a successful production at the Factory Theater in Chicago.

Brett Neveu has become a favored son of Chicago theatre. Labeled “the bard of midwestern angst” by Lucia Mauro of Chicago Magazine and “one of the most prolific, intelligent and innovative playwrights to write in Chicago in years – maybe decades,” by Jack Helbig of PerformInk, Neveu’s work has clearly drawn immense critical praise. In 2003 Newcity Chicago named him one of the fifty top players on and behind Chicago stages, citing his “way with dialogue--oh that fabulous dialogue--exquisitely capturing the inanity of everyday speech.” Last year Neveu had new works commissioned by both The Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf and he was recently profiled in American Theatre Magazine (March 2004). He is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and his other works include American Dead, the go, The Last Barbecue, Eric Larue and Empty. As Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune aptly put it, “Make no mistake. This is an author worth watching, and listening to.”

            Director Ian Morgan is Associate Artistic Director of The New Group and runs their play development programs. He has worked with Brett Neveu for many years, having directed the first production of his Eric Larue in 2001 and the original production of EAGLE HILLS, EAGLE RIDGE, EAGLE LANDING with Spring Theatreworks. He previously worked as a literary manager at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, overseeing the McKnight Fellowship and Midwest Playlabs programs.  He has worked as a director in NYC with The New Group, at HERE, New Dramatists, New York Theater Workshop, Rattlestick, EST, The Red Room and Center Stage, and has assisted at Manhattan Theatre Club and The New Group.  He will be workshopping a new play by Lucy Thurber with Women’s Expressive Theatre at the O’Neill Theatre Center later this summer.  He also founded and directs at the Cherry Orchard Theatre, an outdoor summer theater in southwestern Virginia.  He has a Masters in Theater from Wesleyan University, and was a member of the 2000 and 2001 Lincoln Center Directors Labs.

            Spring Theatreworks was founded in 2000 by Artistic Director Jeffrey Horne.  Spring is a DUMBO, Brooklyn-based non-profit theatre company dedicated to fostering new and diverse voices in the American Theatre and nurturing innovative approaches to storytelling.  To date, they have produced 15 productions in NYC, 9 of which were world premieres.  They support emerging artists through productions of new plays as well as revivals of works by contemporary masters, thereby putting the new works into a specific context.  Their most recent production was the June 2004 U.S. debut of preeminent Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse’s Night Sings Its Songs at The Culture Project.  Their November 2003 revival of Janusz Glowacki’s Cinders was described by Martin Denton of NYTheatre.com as “thoughtful, provocative, and arresting…boldly acted and brilliantly designed, this is theatre at its very best…surely one of the finest productions of 2003.”  Plus, the text of their June 2003 world premiere production of Steven Gridley’s Sun, Stand Thou Still was recently published in the annual collection Plays and Playwrights 2004. The artists currently represented by Spring Theatreworks are Karen Allen, Matthew Drennan, Steven Gridley, Jeffrey Horne, Doug Simpson, Sarah Cameron Sunde and Erin Treadway.  Spring Theatreworks is a proud member of the Off-Off Broadway Community Dish.

The cast of “BRETTFEST 2004: 2 BY NEVEU” will feature Michael Brandt, David Sajadi and Doug Simpson in EAGLE HILLS, EAGLE RIDGE, EAGLE LANDING and Daniel Loeser, Hettienne Park, Sam Rosen, Frank Sallo and Melanie Wehrmacher in TWENTYONE.  The set will be designed by Josh Zangan, with lighting designed by Jason Lyons and costumes designed by Celeste Reingans.  This is an approved Equity Showcase production.

            The complete performance schedule will be: For EAGLE: Preview July 7 at 7 p.m., opening July 9 at 7 p.m., and then July 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23 and 24 at 7 p.m. For TWENTYONE: Preview July 8 at 7 p.m., opening July 9 at 9 p.m., and then July 13, 15, 20 and 22 at 7 p.m. and July 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 9 p.m.  This schedule allows audiences to watch the shows back to back (at 7 & 9 p.m.) on July 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24.  Seats will be $15 each for one show or $25 each for both shows. Call 212-502-8560 for reservations.  Please visit Spring Theatreworks’ website at www.springtheatreworks.com.

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For further information and to make press reservations please call Jeffrey Horne at 917-213-1242.