PHYLLIS NAGY IN CONVERSATION

Jacqueline Lawton recently interviewed DISAPPEARED playwright Phyllis Nagy on her career and motivations:

I want to provoke a single thought that perhaps did not previously occur to someone sitting in the audience. And I truly believe that a few laughs along the way never hurt the journey. I don’t have an agenda to push in any of the plays. What they mean to me is never what they will mean to any other individual. I can see, though, from looking at the body of my work that my obsessions and fascinations have to do with things like duality, identity, loss of identity, synchronicity, the intersection of fate and will. 

Read the full thing over at Bosco Fullerton, and then head over to Brown Paper Tickets to buy your seat for this weekend's performance of DISAPPEARED.  

Post-performance discussions with Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

THE ROAD OF THE HUMAN SOUL, ANONYMOUS AND UNMAPPED

Joel Beers, the much-loved/feared critic for the O.C. Weekly, has seen Monkey Wrench's production of DISAPPEARED, and finds within it much worth considering:

Much like The Wire, the best TV show ever, the dominant character in Disappeared is a city: New York. Nagy, who worked and lived there for years before moving to Los Angeles, obviously knows it well and realizes the crushing anonymity that life in a megalopolis can foster.
...
The real territory that Nagy is interested in exploring is the vast expanse between the human ears. And there is no road map for the human soul. The characters in Disappeared may long for one, something that might give them direction, but, when all is said and done, they're all traveling blind like the rest of us.

Let it be said: we at the Wrench will always welcome a comparison to The Wire (which really is the best TV show, like, ever) with open arms, flushed cheeks, and just the tiniest little heart-swells of unmitigated joy.

PLEASE NOTE: post-performance discussions with playwright Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

--O.C. Weekly,
Joel Beers

EXCEEDING THE EXPECTED

The good people at the Bosco Fullerton blog have weighed in on Monkey Wrench's production of DISAPPEARED, and we're delighted to hear they found it satisfying:

There is a running theme in many of Los Angeles-based playwright Phyllis Nagy's plays of people losing their identities, feeling unfulfilled and wanting to just vanish. Her characters are frequently complicated souls. But mostly highly identifiable. We know these people. We may even be one of these people. The challenge when a company performs her work is bringing these complexities and nuances of the characters to light in a palatable way. 

The Monkey Wrench Collective's latest, Nagy's 1995 play Disappeared, meets and exceeds all expectations.

As always, duty and Objectivist-style rational self-interest requires us to note that tickets for the production are on sale now. $21 General Admission / $11 Students. Through May 22.


PLEASE NOTE: post-performance discussions with playwright Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

--Bosco Fullerton,
Allen Bacon

And Backstage.com has its own words to speak about our production of DISAPPEARED:

With its story of a young woman who goes missing and the inability of the police to determine whether she left of her own volition or met with foul play, Phyllis Nagy's 1995 drama "Disappeared" joins the ranks of contemporary dramas such as Bryony Lavery's "Frozen," yet it's sui generis, meshing existential drama with black comedy. Director Dave Barton's staging is long on atmosphere yet sticks to the nitty-gritty of Nagy's text. The play's various New York City locales are boosted by Christopher Basile and Alexander Price's well-detailed scenic design. The real litmus test, though, lies with Barton's octet of actors and how well their work realizes a script in which characterization is everything.

PLEASE NOTE: post-performance discussions with playwright Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

--Backstage.com

Eric Marchese

A RARE BIRD IN THE WORLD OF THEATER

Phyllis Nagy's Disappeared saw a sold-out opening weekend and gifted us with a review from the O.C. Register's resident theater critic Eric Marchese:

Not many plays can be said to function simultaneously as drama, character study and mystery, and that makes "Disappeared" a rare bird in the world of theater... Monkey Wrench Collective theater company's staging not only points up the strengths of Nagy's writing; her existentialist story, scenes, characters and dialogue put the talents of director Dave Barton and his cast of eight on display.

Tickets are, as always currently on sale, for the low price of $21/general, $10/students. Post-performance discussions with the playwright follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm.

--Eric Marchese

  O.C. Register

NO JOKE

postcard image by "Greg Adkins"

Monkey Wrench Collective is pleased to announce the official start of our 2011 season beginning April 15, with DISAPPEARED by Phyllis Nagy. 

Sarah Casey is a 25-year old travel agent who's never been outside of New York. When she goes missing after leaving a seedy bar in Hell's Kitchen, the last person to see her was a man who works in a thrift store and dresses in his client's clothes, assuming different identities. Was Sarah killed or did she merely 'disappear' to escape her anonymous existence? 

Directed by Dave Barton

Starring Christopher Basile, Karen Kahler, Jeffrey Kieviet, Rick Kopps, Stan Morrow, Robert Dean Nunez, Jennifer Pierce and Susan E. Taylor
 

Tickets are available by calling at Brown Paper Tickets 1-800-838-3006 or online at MonkeyWrenchCollective.org

The show opens Friday, April 15 and runs thru Sunday, May 22.

Showtimes are Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 7:00 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm, (beginning May 1).

 
Prices are $21 general admission and $11 for students. 

MWC'S 2011 SEASON

The official start of our season begins in April 15: DISAPPEARED by Phyllis Nagy. Sarah Casey is a 25-year old travel agent who's never been outside of New York. When she goes missing after leaving a seedy bar in Hell's Kitchen, the last person to see her was a man who works in a thrift store and dresses in his client's clothes, assuming different identities. Was Sarah killed or did she merely 'disappear' to escape her anonymous existence? Directed by Dave Barton. 
 
Jun/July: DAMNEE MANON, SACREE SANDRA by Michael Tremblay. Two interweaving monologues on religion and sex, delivered by a drag queen and a religious zealot, that examines the sacred and the profane--their similarities and their differences--and how they merge and become one another. Directed by Rick Stein. 
 
Aug/Sept: BLANK SLATE by CTAG. This new work starts at the opposite end of the spectrum from most productions--just a production team and actors. Using an assortment of techniques and exercises developed by CTAG's creative team, the ensemble will discover character, conflicts and catharsis, creating and delivering ana original story and production over 12 weeks of rehearsal. Doorected by R. J. Romero. 
 
Oct/Nov.: TBA. Directed by Christopher Basile. 
 
Nov/Dec.: LEARN TO BE LATINA by Enrique Urueta. SO CAL PREMIERE. Hanan is a promising young pop singer, and she has a record label dying to record her...until they find out she's Lebanese. Not to worry, they say: Hanan can still be a star—as long as she learns to be Latina! In this fiercely funny production from San Francisco badass playwright Urueta, cultural identities and the music business are poked with some very, very sharp sticks.