All Stars Project INC.

Four Influential Women of the Contemporary Theatre Honored at the Castillo Theatre Gala

On November 7^th more than 150 theatre artists and patrons attended the 2011 Castillo Theatre Gala Benefit at the All Stars Project's performing arts and development center, 543 West 42^nd Street.  The gala, which raised a record $77,000 for Castillo and its youth theatre training program, Youth Onstage!, paid tribute to four influential women of the theatre: Carmen de Lavallade, Gabrielle L. Kurlander, Judith Malina and Daphne Rubin-Vega.

Presenting the women with the awards was a team of distinguished theatre colleagues. Emily Mann, artistic director of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, presented to Rubin-Vega, whom Mann is directing in A Street Car Named Desire, opening next season on Broadway. Obie Award winner George Bartenieff, co-founder of both Theatre for the New City and Theatre Three Collaborative, presented the award to Judith Malina, the co-founder and artistic director of the Living Theatre; Amadea Edwards, the executive director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, awarded Carmen de Lavallade, whose career in dance, theatre and film spans six decades.  Gabrielle L. Kurlander, the president and CEO of the All Stars Project, Inc. who has appeared frequently on Castillo's stage and who is a member of the theatre's directing team, was honored by the AUDELCO Award-winning cast of her most recent Castillo production, Playing with Heiner Müller.  Desmond Richardson, co-artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, who could not attend, sent a video message to Kurlander, with whom he has collaborated on a number of Castillo productions, congratulating her and the other awardees.

Also on hand for the festivities were Malcolm Purkey, artistic director of the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa; Peter Nsubuga, the founder of Hope for Youth Uganda; David Mandelbaum, artistic director of the New Yiddish Repertory Theatre; and Romanian/Israeli director Moshe Yassur.  Woodie King, Jr., the producing director of the New Federal Theatre, spoke in praise of Youth Onstage!

Castillo's artistic director Dan Friedman and managing director Diane Stiles began the evening by reading some notes of condolence received from the theatre community on the occasion of the passing of Fred Newman this past July.  Newman served as Castillo's artistic director and playwright-in-residence for 16 years, and was instrumental in preserving and developing political theatre over the last three decades.  Notes were read from Richard Schechner, Robert Wilson and Bill T. Jones. 

The Castillo Gala was hosted by Cathy Rose Salit, CEO of Performance of a Lifetime, a theatre-based executive training firm and long-time Castillo company member, and Alvaader Frazier, poet, attorney, activist and long-time Castillo supporter.

 

 

The Learning Play of Rabbi Levi-Yitzhok, Son of Sara, of Berditchev
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2 PM October 21-Novem
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When the great Hassidic Rabbi Levi-Yitzhok of Berditchev died in 1809, according to legend, he would not enter heaven unless God agreed first to end poverty and suffering on earth. Nearly a century later, in Dan Friedman's play, four Jewish men meet on a ship crossing the Atlantic, fleeing the poverty and pogroms of Europe, hoping for a better life in the unknown cities and towns of America. On the long and difficult crossing, the four recall the oft-told stories of Rabbi Levi-Yitzhok - by performing them for one another. In time-honored fashion, they debate the stories' meaning and dispute the question "What is the responsibility of the Jew in this world?" Conflict and humor follow as convention and ritual are challenged, part of the long tradition of humanism within Jewish culture.

The Proverbial Loons
Musical Comedy Improv at Castillo
Saturdays, October 22, November 19 and Decelmber 3, 2011 8:00 PM
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Meet the Proverbial Loons, Castillo's new comedy improv troupe. Veterans of New York's and Castillo's stages, come together with some new faces to create new material each night. Audience members can volunteer, and watch your life transformed into a zany musical! Or just watch and enjoy the show. It's gonna be ridiculous - and wonderfully entertaining.

 

Back to School at the All Stars Talent Show Network
November 12, 2011 at 2:30 PM
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Act 1: Get on the bus! Join fellow adventurers as we travel to the longest-running performance in New York City. Young people of the All Stars Talent Show Network are building positive Hip Hop theatre in their neighborhoods. Join them as they grow and develop themselves and their communities. Act 2: Come see the talent in all of us - and help give the All Stars Project Award for Community Service to our wonderful young performers! A unique NY experience.

Contact Brigid Mitchel for details of the next Back to School trip at 212-356-8424.

 

Puberty Rites
A co-production with Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 PM
October 27-November 20, 2011
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Two teenage girls, one Black and the other white, attempt to navigate the turbulent waters of growing up female in America.  The contrasting outcomes bear grim witness to the continuing legacy of racism in America.

 

Performing Fred Newman
A marathon play reading tribute
Friday, January 27 at 7:00 PM through 9:00 PM, Saturday, January 28, 2012
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Join a 26-hour performance celebration of the life and theatre work of Fred Newman. Newman, who passed away in July 2011, served as the Castillo Theatre's artistic director for 16 years and is one of America's most innovative and controversial playwrights. This celebration consists of continuous readings of most (if not all) of Newman's forty-four politically-engaged plays at the Castillo Theatre. Professional directors and actors will share the stage with community members, and pot luck snacks will keep the actors and audience well-fed. This community event is a creative tribute to Fred Newman and the leadership he provided in the building of the unique community-based theatre that is Castillo.

If you are interested in performing in or directing one of Newman's plays for the marathon, please contact Diane Stiles at 212-356-8412 to request proposal forms. Please feel free to make a contribution to the pot-luck dinner that weekend.

 

Sally & Tom (The American Way)
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2 PM,
February 17 - March 25, 2012
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This avant-garde musical takes a look at the relationship between Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, champion of the Bill of Rights, third president of the United States, and Sally Hemings, his slave and the mother of five of his children. Can love exist between a master and his slave? Can a nation launched with Jefferson's immortal words that "all men are created equal" but economically determined by slavery ever live up to it's democratic ideals? Sally & Tom performs the contradiction at the heart of American history and culture.

 

Youth Onstage graduates in: Julius Caesar

April 20-29, 2012

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Craig Pattison

 

Court Martial at Fort Devens
A co-production with Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 PM March 8 - April 1, 2012
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Based on a true story, this play documents the strike of black WACs (Women's Army Corp) during World War II. The women joined the Army to be trained as nurses only to be relegated to cleaning toilets, mopping floors and doing laundry. When they are brought up on court martial charges for refusing to follow orders during war time, they fight a pioneering battle for racial equality in the segregated U.S. military.

 

Children of Killers
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2 PM, September 21 - October 28, 2012
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Fifteen years after the genocide in Rwanda, many of the mass murderers are being released from prison and are returning to their villages. Their teenage children, who grew up without them, now must come to terms with the legacy that their fathers embody. Will they carry on the heritage of hate? Will they resist it, and if so, how can they stand up to the weight of history? Based on the playwright's research in Rwanda, Children of Killers was commissioned by the National Theatre in London and has been performed by youth theaters throughout the United Kingdom and Portugal. This is its first production in the United States. Katori Hall's play The Mountaintop won an Olivier Award for best new play in 2010 and is currently being produced on Broadway with Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett. This is Hall's first play at the Castillo Theatre.

 

Mario Frati Political Play Writing Contest