From left: Garrett Lee Hendricks (as Jackie Robinson) and Andy Parker (Pee Wee) in the original play Stealin' Home (A Baseball Fantasy).

The season opened at the All Stars’ 42^nd Street performing arts and education center with the Castillo Theatre production of Stealin’ Home (A Baseball Fantasy), written and co-directed by artistic director, Fred Newman. The production, about the life and times of Jackie Robinson, played to packed houses from its October 8 opening through its December 12 finale. Stealin’ Home received continuous coverage in the press including positive reviews in the New York Times and the New York Amsterdam News as well as feature stories in Gannett’s The Journal News and the Brooklyn Eagle. Additionally, Fred Newman was interviewed about the play on Bloomberg Radio, WFAN sports radio and appeared live, with Garrett Lee Hendricks (the actor portraying Jackie Robinson) on ESPN2’s national TV sports program Cold Pizza.

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(From left): Nelly Fishenzon (ensemble), Christie Pasqualicchio (ensemble) and Peter Graham (Casper) in the Youth Onstage! workshop production of Casper Hauser (A Language Game).

The experimental theatre workshop production of Casper Hauser (A Language Game), a production of Youth Onstage!, the All Stars Project’s youth theatre, ran nine performances and was the subject of a feature in the Brooklyn Eagle and a glowing review in the New York Times. Casper Hauser (A Language Game) was based on the true story of Kaspar Hauser, a young man found wandering the streets of Nürnberg, Germany in 1828. He had been raised in a shed without human contact and without language. “Youth Onstage! transformed the German Kaspar into Casper who lives in contemporary America,” says Youth Onstage! director, Dan Friedman, “where his experiences — learning to speak and interacting with other people — became a springboard for a theatrical exploration of the philosophical and political implications of language and meaning making.”

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The independent feature film, Nothing Really Happens (Memories of Aging Strippers), has had a two-month run at the 42^nd Street arts center. The film, written and directed by Fred Newman, is based on two of his plays (both premiered at Castillo) — the critically praised The Store: One Block East of Jerome, and Mr. Hirsch Died Yesterday. The film examines the worlds of three very different women: a working class stripper from the Bronx, an Auschwitz survivor and a social studies professor. It stars Judith Malina, who was recently inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and is a co-founder of the legendary experimental theatre troupe, the Living Theatre. Ms. Malina has starred and been featured in countless feature films including Household Saints (1993) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Most of the film’s cast are members of the Castillo Theatre’s resident acting ensemble.

Nothing Really Happens (Memories of Aging Strippers) has received several recent honors including: the Grand Festival Special Recognition Award (Feature Category) at the 2004 Berkeley Video and Film Festival; Best Drama at the 2004 Atlanta Underground Film Festival and First Prize (Feature) at the Director’s View Film Festival in Connecticut.

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Kicking off the winter season is a completely new mix of events.  These are: Have You Ever Seen a Dream Rapping?, conceived by Fred Newman as a series of performatory letters to Dr. Martin Luther King; Five Points Presents’ Day of Reckoning by Melody Cooper; and the Youth Onstage! production of Robin Hood: A Political Romance.

Have You Ever Seen a Dream Rapping? is a montage of performance elements that take a look at where the Civil Rights movement has come to today. Lenora Fulani will deliver a performed address, Pam Lewis will sing a new song (written by Newman especially for her) and the young performers from the All Stars Talent Show Network will be rapping, reading poems and dancing. There are eight performances (over three weekends only) beginning January 28. 

Long-time Castillo Theatre performer and director, Madelyn Chapman, will bring her considerable talents to the Five Points Presents... production of Day of Reckoning, penned by the talented, up-and-coming young African-American playwright, Melody Cooper. Day of Reckoning deals with a broad range of issues including workers, women’s and voter’s rights in America the late 1800s.  The historical drama is based on the real-life interracial couple Lucy and Albert Parsons and explores how their political stances impacted on their lives and family.  The play takes place during Reconstruction, a period Madelyn focused on as a history major, so she is thrilled to bring her expertise to this new project.  Day of Reckoning opens February 4.

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German playwright and political theatre innovator, Bertolt Brecht, will be the subject of Revising Germany, an original play by Castillo’s artistic director Fred Newman. The play, to be directed by Gabrielle L. Kurlander is slated to open March 11, 2005 at the All Stars’ 42nd Street performing arts and education center.
 
Bertolt Brecht was a great playwright, but the play asks, “was he a great man?”

Revising Germany is a montage of performed conversations between Bertolt Brecht, Helene Weigel, Elisabeth Hauptmann, Ruth Berlau and Margarete Steffin, four women who collaborated with Brecht on some of his — and the century’s — most enduring and influential stage works, such as: The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Life of Galileo, Threepenny Opera and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. It also features the characters of playwright Heiner Müller, Brecht’s most significant artistic heir and, perhaps the greatest European playwright in the latter half of the 20th century, and Lotte Lenya, the renowned actress/singer who performs German cabaret songs from the period.

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Castillo Dramaturg and Youth Onstage! artistic director, Dan Friedman, is the author of Robin Hood, A Political Romance, a play with music, puppets, sword fights...and more! The play, which takes a fresh look at the Robin Hood legend, was first produced at the Riverside Church over twenty-five years ago.   In this Youth Onstage! production the cast of  young performers ranges in age from 14 to 25 years old. (It’s such a BIG show, even the puppets will have costume changes!)  The play opens February 25 and runs through March.

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Another experimental project scheduled for the summer of 2005 has a working title of Broadway and Off-Broadway by Off-Off Broadway.  This new production will feature members of Castillo’s resident acting ensemble and will take an improvisational/satirical look at the plays and musicals currently running on and Off Broadway.