We also are on
Facebook (click here)!
Writing by Johnny
Culver (Click here)
About Johnny Culver (click here)
Equity Library Theater
of New
York
(and
the Woodside Players of Queens)
Links to other well respected theater groups:
Congratulations to Equity Library Theater!
The 2018 Josie Performance Awards Nominees for Best Performances
Of 2017
Best Performance Of 2017 By An Adult Female
Kinga
Nowak, The Lady of The Hall*, Gingerbread Players of Queens 2017
Katherine
Orozco-Verderber, Unending Repetition, Zero Untitled – NYC 2017 (Equity
Library Theater)
Production Of The Year 2017 Top Ten Finalists
The Lady of The
Hall*, The Gingerbread Players 2017
Unending Repetition, Zero
Untitled – NYC 2017 (Equity Library Theater)
Director Of The Year 2017
Johnny Culver, The
Lady of the Hall*, The Gingerbread Players 2017
*based on the BBC TV comedy Keeping Up Appearances, by Roy Clarke
Past Best Plays
from the Equity Library Theater Summer Play Festival
2018 - Paige Esterly - Eve and Adam
2017 - Michael Verderber -
Unending Repetition/Treason
2016 - Michael Maiello – Looking
Through the Glass
2015 - Hello Mom –
Lauren Snyder
2014 - John Ladd –
Ashes to Ashes (Drama)/ Scott Haskell – Womanhood (Comedy)
2013 - Liza Bulos - Attention Shoppers
_________________________________________________________________________
Submissions are now being accepted for the Equity Library Theater
Summer Play Festival, now in its fifth year, to take place over three weekends
in August 2019. 30 plays over three weekends!
Seeking short plays (no more than 10 pp), from playwrights from
around the world!
Also seeking monologues (no more than 4pp). Musicals welcome! Basic
set requirements.
One submission per playwright. No very unpleasant profanity, as
this is a family friendly festival! No submission fee. Please include name,
address, telephone number and email address on your submission.
We do not produce your work, we provide a venue for you to present
actors performing your play. There are no costs involved for anyone. Seeking
actors and directors, too!
Deadline: April 15. 2019.
Email: equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com
__________________________________________________________________________
Submissions are now
being accepted for the Woodside Players of Queens Spring 2019 Play Festival, to
take place in June 2019. Seeking short plays (no more than 10 pp), from playwrights
from the five boroughs of New York City and Long Island only. Also seeking
monologues (no more than 4pp). Musicals welcome! Basic set requirements.
One submission per
playwright. No unpleasant profanity, as this is a family friendly festival! No
submission fee. Please include name, address, telephone number and email
address on your submission. We do not produce your work, we provide a venue for
you to present actors performing your play. There are no costs involved for
anyone. Seeking actors and directors, too! Deadline: March 15. 2019. .Email: woodsideplayersofqueens@gmail.com.
________________________________________________________________________
Equity Library Theater presents an afternoon of short plays by
Kyle A. Smith.
Saturday, February 23, 2019 at 12 PM – 2 PM
Ailey Auditorium Harry Belafonte-115th Street Library 203 West
115th Street, New York.
"Missed Connections"
The plays are:
Frisky
Miss Direction
Intrusive Thoughts
Miss Conduct
Don
Miss Education
Free admission. More info 631 898 4205.
Kyle Smith’s plays have been produced and workshopped at The Goldberg
Theater, The Tarragon Theatre, The Secret Theater, The Emerging Artists
Theatre, The Treehouse Theater, The Robert Moss Theater, and Shetler Studios.
His plays include Unstuck in Time, Princess Jazzberry’s
Wild Ride, Whiteout, The Part of Me (Princess Grace Finalist), Blinded
(Goldberg Play Prize Finalist), The Correctable, Inherit the Earth, Revolution,
Don, Frisky, Squashy (selected for Best of Night, Bad Theatre Fest). He was
recently a finalist for the Princess Grace Award, a finalist for the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild Residency, a semifinalist for
Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries, and a semifinalist for the Baltic Writer’s
Residency.
His screenplays include Higher Education (1st place festival-wide Chicago Genre
Screenplay Competition, 1st place for comedy at Chicago Genre Screenplay
Competition, 1st place for comedy Las Vegas Screenplay Contest, Runner-up best
screenplay Portland Comedy Film Festival, Silver Award Winner at North American
Film Festival, Finalist Hollywood Hills Screenplay Competition, Semifinalist LA
Cinefest, official selection Focus International Film
Festival, Houston Comedy Film Festival, LA Live Film Festival), A More Perfect
Union (Winner, Best Historical Screenplay, iHolly
Film Festival, 2nd place for historical screenplay at Las Vegas Screenplay
Contest, Finalist Beverly Hills Screenplay Contest, Finalist Twin Falls
Sandwiches Film Festival, semi-finalist LA Cinefest),
Hair of the Dog (Winner of Dark Comedy Award Avalonia Film Festival, official
selection Bad Film Fest, official selection Portland Comedy Film Festival,
Frostbite International Film Festival, Hellfire Short Film Festival), and
Probert Bound (Winner Best Short Screenplay Laugh or Die Comedy Festival,
official selection Austin Comedy Short Film Festival).
His pilot, The Blackout Menace, won the award for Best Half Hour Comedy
Original Pilot at The Hollywood Hills Screenplay Competition, is a finalist at
the Austin Revolution Film Festival, and an official selection of the Finish
Line Script Competition.
His short play, Don, has an expected publication in 2018 as part of the Act
One: One Act Anthology from Top Secret Books.
He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU where he was a recipient of the
TSOA fellowship.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Woodside Players of Queens presents their spring 2019
production of five rare one act Broadway comedies from 1910 by Clare Beecher
Kummer and Irving Dale.
Saturday March 9th at 2:30pm
Queens-Forest Hills Library (108-19 71 Avenue, Forest Hills, NY
11375
E F R to 71st Avenue)
Clare Beecher Kummer - The Robbery
Clare Beecher Kummer - The Choir Rehearsal
Irving Dale - Too Much Salt
Irving Dale – Tickets Please
Irving Dale - The Way of a Woman
Local actors perform these short plays. Suitable for the entire family
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, March 16, 2019
at 2 PM – 3 PM
14-01 Astoria Blvd,
Astoria, NY 11102, United States
The Woodside Players of
Queens present local performing artists!
The Woodside Players of
Queens present local artists in a coffeehouse setting for a casual afternoon of
theater, poetry, music, comedy and more! Free admission. More info 631 898
4205. Great for groups
____________________________________________________________________
At the Queens Library
Astoria (14-01 Astoria Blvd), take part in a creative writing and performance
workshop that will run every two weeks on Saturdays at noon beginning September
15th.
Participants will have the
opportunity to offer and receive constructive feedback on work presented with
emphasis on how effectively a piece might engage with an audience.
Anyone with a story to
offer, an interesting/dramatic character to present, or an interest in
connecting their creative work with an audience may find this process helpful.
Interaction and mutual
support are important! Bring your short written or performance pieces (less
than 5 minutes) to share! All genres welcome. Free for all! More info, call 718
721 0915.
Astoria Sat, Jan 19, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Feb 2, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Feb 16, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Mar 2, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Mar 16, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Mar 30, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Apr 13, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Apr 27, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, May 11, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, May 25, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Jun 8, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Astoria Sat, Jun 22, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm.
Next
summer! Equity Library Theater of New York
Presents
an afternoon of classic short plays by Johnny Culver.
July 13th, 2019 @1pm
NYPL 53rd Street
Auditorium
18 West 53rd Street, New York
The
plays include:
Potpie Lake
Love of Life
Fred and Shirley
Across The Lake
Lunchtime
A Bite to Eat with Edwina Huffington
The Bionic Woman Scrapbook
Dear Stella
Free admission, seating is limited,
suitable for the entire family.
More
info 631 898 4205. Also looking for directors!
Past
Event!
The
Woodside Players of Queens Fall Play Festival!
Saturday
November 10th@2pm
Queens
Library - Astoria
14-01
Astoria Blvd.
M60, Q100, Q69, Q19 or N train to Astoria Blvd.
Presenting short plays by these writers:
The Border - Tony Manzo
With Isaac Conner, Jane Park
Ventroquilist - Marjie Conn
With Ms. Crow
Willie - Donald Loftus
With Rosina Fernhoff, Joanne Halev, Jeff
Knapp
Drama Should Stay on the Stage - Lavinia Roberts
Directed by Karen Crighton, with Kaitlyn Farley, Sonseray
Reed
Sailboat 12 - Greg Driscoll
Don - Kyle Smith (Best Play)
With Michael Bradley, Chris Trindale
The Will - Glenda Frank
Directed by Susanna Miller,
with Rhonda Addams, Daniel Blankenship, Esq.
Chew on This - Ellen O’Neill
Epitaph by Moonlight - Michael Verderber
Reina – Joseph Bulvid
With Aram Hovsepian, Alissa Simmons, Antonio
Silva
*****************************************************************************************
December 1st @12pm
NYPL 53rd Street Branch 18 West 53rd
Street
Equity Library Theater presents: The Lost Virginity Tour, a
reading of a play by Cricket Daniel
“Cricket Daniel’s ‘Lost
Virginity Tour’ is one of those finely-written evenings of theater that both
moves you to tears and has you laughing until your face hurts!
Funny-as-all-heck dialogue, great female characters that any theatre performer
would chomp at the bit to play, all wrapped up in a wonderful atmosphere of
melancholy - Daniel’s ‘Lost Virginity Tour’ is a theatrical treat that should
be performed in theatre’s everywhere!” - Dennis T. Giacino.
With: Terri Bonica-Matassov, Penny Gaston,
Debbie Smith, and Linda Vega. Daniyel Hunt narrates,
Johnny Culver directs.
Runs 90 minutes. More info 631 898 4205. Seating
is limited. Free Admission.
Past event!
The Woodside Players presents:
Rare Short Plays from Early 20th Century Broadway
November 3 @ 12pm, NYPL Alvin Ailey Auditorium @1pm
203 West 115th Street (B C 2 3 to 116th Street)
(212) 666-9393
Private Boarding –
1878 – William Courtwright
Director. Andy Scott
Jason Ballew, Kevin Buiocchi, Johanna Lee, Caitlin McQuade,
Emma Miller.
The Motor Bellows –
1877 – William Courtwright
Director. Graydon
Gund
With: William Burns, Nathaniel Edward, Luda Millias, Greg Prosser.
The Great Look –
1912- William Faydon
Director. Jacob
Dunham
With: Charles Baran, Nathaniel Dolquest,
Melanie Gettler, Elizabeth McBryde.
The Second Hand Man - 1903 - Harry Lee Newton
With: Ron Crawford, Kevin David Thomas.
Is It Raining? - 1903 - Harry Lee Newton
With: Ron Crawford, Sutton Thomas.
When Johnny Comes Marching Home 1903 - Harry Lee Newton Director. Johnny Culver
With: Daniyel Hunt, Laurie Sammeth.
More info: 631 898 4205.
*******************************************************
Past event!
“Lincoln’s Birthday”
With: Andrew Dinan, Penny Gaston, Mike Miller, Tom Morwick, Alissa Simmons
Goofy inmates, Larry and Carl, scheme to get their favorite
show tunes record into their hands, with no help from a Hollywood legend!
July 26, @ 6:15pm, July 27, @ 6:15pm, July 29, @6:15pm
Hudson Guild Theater 441 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001.
Tickets here:
http://newyorktheaterfestival.com/lincolns-birthday/
___________________________
Past event!
The Equity Library Theater
Playwriting Summer Festival 2018
Part
One August 4th @12pm
New
York Public Library – George Bruce Branch Auditorium
518 West 125th Street (at Amsterdam Ave.)
New York, NY 10027-3407
Presenting:
John Cannatalla – Restless in Limbo
Marlin Thomas – Speak Gods English
Samantha Fox – Cardiomyapathy
Vivian Lermond – Call It Karma
Joshua Charmatz –
Cactus
Maia Henken – Beheld
Paul K. Smith – A
Day of Promise
Arthur Lundquist – Explorers of the Sky
Glenda Frank – Head of House
Matt Haldeman - Sir Edmund Walter…
Spangler's Spring - Jason Boies
Part Two August 11th @12pm
NYPL Harry Belafonte Auditorium
115th Street Branch
203 W 115th St, New York, New York 10026
Presenting:
Lizzie Guest – My Berenstein Life
Josiah Mullins – My Mother Is What?
Wayne Paul Mattingly - Worlds Apart
Kyle Smith – Don
Ian Cohen - Old Wounds
Nathan Smith – Monologue
Gary Beck - Clown Show
Paige Esterly - Eve and Adam (winner best play!)
Gordon Rizzo – How to Get Ahead in Business
Margo Krasne – Monologue from “Til Death…”
Past Event!
Space
Race presents for the first time to American audiences the spine-tingling truth
behind mankind's greatest adventure. Experience daring thrills as you hurtle
through the terrifying void of endless space. Enjoy lavish accommodations on
the ONLY exospheric vessel with five-star concierge service! Discover strange
new romance on the lunar countryside. Space Race is science-fiction and comedy
in one easy-to-swallow tablet. Space Race reveals how man actually got to the
Moon. Space Race is available only in limited qualities at select locations.
NYPL Harry Belafonte Library Alvin Ailey Auditorium
Free Admission.
Runs about an hour. More info 631 898 4205.
Past
Event!
Woodside
Players of Queens
Summer
Play Festival 2018
Voted best plays!
Brysen Boyd - Elephant
Nancy Kelton - Finding Mr. Rightstein
June 2nd, 2018 2pm
Queens Library Astoria Branch Auditorium
14-01 Astoria Blvd.
Astoria NY 11105
Free admission
This performance repeats June 16th at
the Steinway Reformed Church
41st and Ditmars, Astoria, at noon.
Bring lunch!
Nelson Diaz-Marcano - El Yunque In English
Lane Northcutt - Secretary
Ludovic Coutaud - Look At
Me
Just like the Movies – Peter Scarpinato
Brysen Boyd - Elephant
Nancy Kelton - Finding Mr. Rightstein
Gordon Rizza – How to get ahead in
Business
_____________________________________________
Past Event!
The Woodside Players
of queens presents:
“Aunt Maggie’s Will”
A 1910 comedy by Elizabeth Gale
The Woodside Players of Queens and Equity
Library Theater of New York present a staged reading of: Aunt Maggies Will, a comedy by Elizabeth Gale.
"Madeline is getting married, and is due to inherit a
large sum of money, only if she can prove herself an excellent housewife!"
The cast of ten recreates this comedy from 1910, fully staged
and costumed.
May 12, 2018@12pm
NYPL Harry Belafonte Library
Alvin Ailey Auditorium
203 West 115th Street
Between Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and Frederick Douglas
Blvd
With: Tiffany Darden, Hailey DePoto,
Kate Hoffman, Saturday Lawson,
Malinda Logan, Kinga Nowak, Lil Rhee, Phylis Rossi, Dakota Wollmer
Johnny Culver directs
Free Admission
More info: woodsideplayersofqueens@gmail.com
Past Events!
The Retreat: A Comedy by Enzo Gattuccio.
March 3rd @2pm
NYU Playwright Enzo Gattuccio's The
Retreat tells the scary story of a girl who has been ill for sixteen days.
The play features stress, insanity, Swedish literature, Swedish
meatballs, disgust, social media influencers, and a small, totally
non-threatening corporate retreat center tucked in the woods of the Bay Area.
Starring Kelsey Ann Wacker.
This event takes place at:
NYPL George Bruce Theater
_________________________________________________________________________
Past Event!
January 20th @ 12pm
NYPL Alvin Ailey Auditorium
Harry Belafonte-115th
Street Library
203 W 115th St, New York, New York 10026
A staged reading of “Hyacinth Goes Camping” based upon
“Keeping up Appearances” by Roy Clarke.
In this re-imagined version (by Carole Jackson) of the BBC
comedy, “Keeping up Appearances”, Hyacinth is as conniving as ever, as one can
be at 30 plus years old. The gang is back, Richard, Emmett, Liz, Rose, Daisy
and Onslow as they suffer through another one of Hyacinths attempts to shove
herself into society.
"The telephone rings at the Bucket Residence. Rose's
latest gentleman friend, the Earl of Crawford (!) has invited the whole family
to go camping on his estate. Glowing with the possibilities for social
advancement this brings, Hyacinth commandeers Richard to buy the necessary
camping accoutrements and off they go, dressed for the occasion. Now, if only everything
goes according to plan..."
With Kinga Nowak, Scott Haskell, Sonya Rice, Mike
Miller, Debbie Smith, Andrew Dinan, Terri Matassov, Bart DeFinna.
Directed by Johnny Culver.
Also being presented, three new short comedies: "Oh
Mother!" by Sarah Galvin, "Goodnight Irene" by Jean Tessier and
"Love of Life" by Johnny Culver.
Free admission. For the entire family!
Past event!
Equity Library Theater of
New York presents a reading of:
“The Night
before the Night before Christmas”,
A comedy play by Cricket
Daniel.
December
2nd at NYPL George Bruce Branch
518 West
125th Street (at Amsterdam Ave.)
New York,
NY 10027-3407
@2pm
&
December
9th at NYPL West 53rd Street Branch
18
W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019
@12pm.
Lou has wrestled with a big ball of tangled Christmas lights for the
last time! He is grabbing the sunblock, his Elvis in Paradise album and his
wife Carol, and hopping on the Pineapple Express to Hawaii! However, a freak
snowstorm leaves the couple stranded in the airport and their dream of sipping
Pina Coladas on the beach is in peril!
With:
Johnny Culver
Deborah Smith
Kinga Nowak
Alexa Doggett
Chris Robertson
Directed by Jean Tessier
Free admission, runs about 90 minutes. For the entire family!
_____________________________________________
EQUITY LIBRARY
THEATER
OF NEW YORK
PRESENTS:
A reading of
“Be
Calm, Camilla”
a 1918 Broadway comedy by Claire Kummer.
November
18th @12pm
NYPL
Harry Belafonte Library
Alvin
Ailey Auditorium
203
West 115th Street
Between
Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and Frederick Douglas Blvd.
With:
Camilla Hathaway - Alone in the City - Lydia Kalmen
Bill Slattery - A piano mover – Clinton Schreck
Alma Robbins - Haley Klausmeyer
Baxter Pell - Of Fifth Avenue - Tom Meade
Celia Brooke - A Lady of Leisure - Rachel Deutsch
Jo Gibbons - Another mover – Julian Cano
McNeil Brownlow, "Mac" - A Waiter - Tim Mills
Gus Beals - of Broadway - Mark Brystowski
Junius Patterson - Owner of the car - Rasik Ohal
Directed by
Johnny Culver
A
review from 1918...
“BE CALM, CAMILLA” AT THE ALCAZAR THEATRE
“Be Calm
Camilla," airy, witty, romantic fairy tale of Broadway, at the Booth Theatre this witty,
whimsical comedy, by Claire Kummer,
ran for months. It is smart, snappy, up-to-date, This adroit, epigrammatic
writer knows Broadway life to its core. Her humorous fancy finds wide
swing in the droll story of the artless Wisconsin girl who went to the big
cynical city to challenge fame and fortune as a pianist. "Be
Calm” is Camilla's motto, whether in a dismal little side street hotel, or
in a lovely white hospital room after the automobile has bowled her over, or at
the bungalow in the woods where she convalesces. Everybody is good
to Camilla, because she is artless and unsophisticated, from the burly
piano movers, who come to seize her old rattle trap instrument, and the
bibulous old waiter who smuggles food to her, up to the repentant, but
careless, millionaire motorist.
A gay and carefree
play this, with blend of crackling humor and tender pathos. It has delightful
character types, including Belle Bennett, as the heroine; Walter P. Richardson,
as the Tin pan alley song writer; Thomas Chatterton, as “the sixth richest man
in New York"; Clifford Alexander, as a Fifth avenue lizard;
Henry Shumer and
Rafael Brunetto,
as the piano movers; Al Cunningham, as the philanthropic waiter; Emily Pinter,
as a “lady of leisure," and the first appearance of Jean Oliver, as the
sophisticated, amusing little hospital nurse. The scenic environment is most
picturesque!
Free
Admission. Runs about 90 minutes
Who We Are…
Mark Brystowski - Off-Broadway: Every 28 Hours
Plays (LAByrinth Theater Co.), God
of Vengeance (Theater at St. Clements). Other NY credits: Private
Disclosures (Shetler Bridge), Le Cygne(Manhattan Repertory
Theater), Fear Festival (AlphaNYC/Roebuck Theater).
Film/TV: Rotten! (Netflix), Zenith (dir. Ellie Foumbi), Lulu Loves Brooklyn (dir. Gretchen Zufall). Mark recently line-produced the off-Broadway
and touring premiere of Bamboo in Bushwick and The
Nose. Thank you Jackie and Roman for your love and support.
Rachel Deutsch - a recent graduate of NYU (2016) earning a
BFA in Drama. Rachel’s previous acting credits include Tulon
in ‘Red Noses’ and ‘Titania’ in ‘A Midsummer Night’s
Dream’ at The New Studio on Broadway. Her directing credits include, ‘Science
Fair’ at Theater Row and ‘Aliens Coming’ at The Pit. She is also a film actor
and a yoga teacher.
Tom Meade - born and bred and still resides in NYC.
Produced and hosted Rant n Rave TV on MNN for over 10 years. Tom appeared the
role of The Bartender in Jack Condon’s “Orphans of the Digital Era”, and in
George Morgan’s “The Wiggle Room”. As well as a number of short films and
plays. Recently Tom played the role of Sam in the feature “Thru” which opened
The NYC Independent Film Festival. He is currently working on getting his
original screenplay "The Slip" made.
Timothy Mills – after graduating from George Westinghouse
High School, Tim took a Business of Acting class with Mark Stolzenberg
in 2015. He worked on a project called The Hard Candy Kid, where Mills was
featured as a Berlin Wall crusader, which solidified his passion for the craft.
Since then he’s been working on his craft through various films & theatre,
Mills is actively working on new projects!
Rasik Ohal - For the
last few years, Rasik has been working mainly in film
and television. Highlights include, The Comedian, Mr. Robot, and Master of
None. He is making an effort to get back into theatre. Highlights include,
Comedy of Errors, Drunkle Vanya, and The Springfield
Boys.
Lydia Kalmen - an actor, dancer, model, and member of
SAG-AFTRA. Recent credits include Lady Caroline in Enchanted April, Juror 10
(the bigot) in 12 Angry Women, The Diary of Anne Frank and I Remember Mama.
Claire Kummer – (1873 – 1958) Composer, songwriter
("Dearie"), playwright and author, educated at the Packer Institute
and in private music study. She wrote the Broadway stage scores for "90 in
the Shade", "One Kiss", "Annie
Dear", "Madame Pompadour", and "The Three Waltzes".
Joining ASCAP in 1934, her chief musical collaborators included Sigmund Romberg and Jerome Kern, and her other popular-song compositions
include "Egypt", "Other Eyes", "Blushing June
Roses", "Somebody's Eyes” and "Lover of Mine". Today is for you, Claire!
Coming Up!
December
2nd at NYPL George Bruce Branch (West 125 Street) @2pm &
December
9th at NYPL West 53rd Street branch@12pm.
“The Night
before the Night before Christmas”, a comedy by Cricket Daniel.
With: Johnny Culver, Deborah Smith, Kinga Nowak,
Alexa Doggett, Chris Robertson, Directed by Jean
Tessier
______
January 20,
2018, at NYPL Alvin Ailey Auditorium@12pm
A reading of
“Hyacinth Goes Camping!”, by Carole Jackson
based upon the BBC series “Keeping up Appearances”
by Roy Clarke. (“Oh Mother!” and “Love of Life” will
also be presented)
“The telephone rings at the Bucket Residence.
Rose's latest gentleman friend, the Earl of Crawford (!) has invited the whole
family to go camping on his estate. Glowing with the possibilities for social
advancement this brings, Hyacinth commandeers Richard to buy the necessary
camping accoutrements and off they go, dressed for the occasion. Now, if only
everything goes according to plan...”
______
March 3rd,
2018, at NYPL George Bruce Branch (West 125 Street) @2pm
“The
Retreat”, a comedy by NYU playwright Enzo Gattuccio.
June 9th,
2018, at NYPL Alvin Ailey Auditorium@12pm
A reading of
the 1918 Broadway Comedy, “The Wrong Mr. Wright” by George Bradford.
(Read it on Google Books, if interested in
performing with us)
______
Equity Library Theater and The Woodside Players
of Queens are seeking actors for their spring production of “Aunt Maggie’s
Will”, a 1910 play by Mary Elizabeth Gale, to take place in May, 2018. The
script calls for 10 females, but we are open to gender blind casting in this
comedy. Please send resumes and headshots to woodsideplayersofqueens@gmail.com. You can read the play on Google Books.
______
To learn more about Equity Library Theater,
please visit: www.equitylibrarytheater.info. Leave us a message at 631 898
4205, or email: equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com. We’re also on Facebook!
______
Use of library space by Equity Library Theater for
this program does not indicate endorsement by the NYPL. *Some actors appear
courtesy of Equity/AEA. The recording/photographing of any of the performance
is permitted, only with prior approval.
Thanks Ms., Davis!
Past event!
The
Woodside Players of Queens Fall Play Festival.
Short
plays by local writers.
November
4th at Queens Library Astoria@1pm
14-01
Astoria Blvd.
N/W Q19/Q69 to Astoria Blvd
Amy Oestreicher
– I’m A Woman…
Allan Yashin – The Name Game
William Coyle - Living Room
Clinton Shreck – It Had To Be You
Alan Stolzer - Mrs. Killebrew Confesses
Kevin Chu – Avengers
Sarah Galvin - Oh Mother! (selected
best play)
Ellen O'Neill - Chew On This
Sinead
Ward – Rub Some Dirt in It
Camille Schmoeker - Don’t Go under the Apple Tree
Bring a bag lunch!
Past Event!
Equity Library
Theater of New York presents
a reading of
“Miss Belle”
A Southern
comedy by Texas playwright
Bill Logan.
Saturday, October 28th 12:00 p.m.
NYPL Harry Belafonte/115th Street Library
Alvin Ailey Auditorium
203 West 115th Street
Between Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and Frederick Douglas Blvd.
In the vein of novelist Fannie Flagg (Fried
Green Tomatoes), Bill Logan takes us to a small Texas town in the 1950’s, where
secrets wait to be uncovered!
Free
admission, runs about 90 minutes. More info, call 631 898 4205.
The Equity Library Theater Playwriting
Summer Festival 2017
====
August 5th – 12pm
New York Public Library – George Bruce Branch Auditorium
518 West 125th Street (at Amsterdam Ave.)
New York, NY 10027-3407
George Morgan – The Wiggle Room
Directed
by Johnny Culver, with Tom Meade, Mike Miller, Tom Morwick, Max Wingert, John Zion
Lora Danley – A
Midnight Rose
Directed
by Lora Danley, with Wendy Lazarus, Devon Marra, Frances Vignali
Linda Kampley –
The Lamp
With
Carla Brandberg, Richard Craven
Susan Masters – Going Home
With
Nikole Rizzo
Rosemary Frisino
Toohey – Grace Goes To Sea
With
Steve Lichtenstein
Steve Fogelman – The Glove
Directed
by Steve Fogelman, with Joseph Rose, Vicki Winters
====
August 12th – 12pm
NYPL Harry Belafonte Branch
203 W 115th St, New York, New York 10026
Pamela Robbins – Great Strides
Directed
by Pamela Robbins, with Jennifer James Davies, Pia Finnigan, Johnny Culver,
Heather Jeanne Violanti
Amy Oestreicher
– I’m A Woman…
Serena Cates – Five Silver Five Gold
Lynn Marie Macy – Sister Resisters
Matt Sanders – Happy Halloween, Harry
Houdini
Emilio Iasiello
– Under The Big Top
Seth McNeill – That Bee Gees Song
Vivian Lermond - Beach Wedding
With
Craig Myers, Kelly Taylor
Jack Gilhooey –
Kennedy’s Acolytes
Peter Linari –
Guys
Directed
by Peter Linari, with Jon Scott Freda, Lou Martini,
Jr.
====
August 19th – 12pm
NYPL Harry Belafonte Branch
203 W 115th St, New York, New York 10026
Erin Moughon-Smith
– For Mr. Cuddles
Directed
by Erin Moughon, with Kendra Auguatin,
Emily Long, Sarah Teed
Dana Jaffe – No Good Deed
Directed
by Dana Jaffe, with Andrew Benjamin, Dawn Bianco, Dan Bubbeo,
Eric Leeb Michele Rattray
Katherine Orozco – Treason
Directed
by Ashley Vega, with Rose Gutierrez
Amy Bernstein – The Sacrifice
With
Amy Bernstein
Matthew Ballistreri
– Baby Book
Steve Burton – Close Enough
Directed
by Ruth Alesovsky, John Patrick Hart, with Gerry
Kelly, Debra McNulty, Daniel P. Stravino
Shirley King – Authenticity
With
Christy Donahue
Sam Plotkin –
Microcosm
Jack Rushton – Theater People
Michael Verderber - Unending Repetition
Directed
by Michael Verderber, with Katherine Orozco-Verderber
Jim Gordon – A Stranger Calls
With
Sonya Rice
Anghus Houvouras –
Penmanship
Directed
by Rachel Deutsch, with Will Carry, Ram Kanneganti
Free
admission to all.
The final
votes, via text responses, over three weeks, are in, for the ELT 2017 summer
festival!
Best comedy. Anghus Houvouras - Penmanship.
Best Drama. Katherine Orozco – Treason/Michael
Verderber - Unending Repetition (We considered both short pieces as one unit).
Past “Best
plays”
2016 - Michael Maiello –
Looking Through the Glass
2015 - Hello Mom – Lauren
Snyder
2014 - John Ladd – Ashes to
Ashes (Drama)/ Scott Haskell – Womanhood (Comedy)
2013 - Liza Bulos - Attention
Shoppers
The Woodside Players and
Equity Library Theater of New York is seeking actors for their fall production,
a staged reading of Be Calm, Camilla, by Claire Kummer.
This comedy opened at the Booth Theater (New York) Oct 31,
1918 and ran until January 1919.
The Woodside Players and Equity Library Theater will present
the reading in November at the NYPL Alvin Ailey Theater on West 115th Street
and the George Bruce Theater on West 125th Street. You can read the script here:
https://archive.org/details/becalmcamillacom00kummrich
Characters are:
Camilla Hathaway
Bill Slattery
Alma Robbins
Baxter Pell
Celia Brooke
Jo Gibbons
McNeil Brownlow, "Mac"
Gus Beals
Send resumes and headshots
to submission@pineyforkpress.com
Thus fall, we are presenting a free Actor/Writer
workshop at the Queens Library Astoria branch (14-01 Astoria Blvd).
Biweekly
at noon – September, 2017 thru May, 2018. All genres welcome. Call 718 278 2220 for more info.
December
2nd at 2pm, at the NYPL George Bruce Theater, we present a reading of a
terrific holiday comedy, “The Night before the Night before Christmas”, by Oregon
playwright, Cricket Daniel. The performance will be repeated December 9th
at the NYPL 53rd Street
branch at noon. Free admission.
The Woodside Players of Queens
Present a selection of rare short plays from 19th
century New York and beyond.
These staged readings, directed by Johnny Culver
and Pamela Robbins, include vaudeville, comedy and farce. Suitable for the
entire family!
Saturday June 10th 12pm
Queens Library - Langston
100-01 Northern Blvd.
Saturday June 17th 12pm
Queens Library - Astoria
14-01 Astoria Blvd.
Presenting short plays by these (seldom
heard) writers:
Human Nature – Floyd Dell, 1913, New York
I’m Going – Tristan Bernard, 1915, Paris
Private Boarding – William Courtright, 1874, New
York
A Lady to Call – Carl Webster Pierce, 1918, New
York
The Motor Bellows – William Courtright, 1873,
Indianapolis
With:
Mark Brystowski, Lauren
Butler, Johnny Culver, Scott Haskell, Lydia Komen, Gary Krigsman, Kinga Novak,
Pamela Robbins, Sonya Rice, Laurie Sammeth, Pamela Tabb
Thanks to Doris Jones!
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
William Courtright was an
vaudeville writer and American film actor. He worked with D. W. Griffith and in his later career at
the Hal Roach Studios, where he appeared in several early Laurel and Hardy comedies. His best-known role
was Oliver Hardy's wealthy Uncle Bernal in That's My Wife (1929). His last film, the Our Gang comedy Teacher's Pet, was also his first sound film. He was born in New Milford, Illinois. His wife was actress Jennie Lee, with whom he appeared in Intolerance.
Floyd James Dell was an American newspaper and
magazine editor, literary critic, novelist, playwright, and poet. Dell has been called "one of the most
flamboyant, versatile and influential American Men of Letters of the first
third of the 20th Century." As editor and critic, Dell's influence is
alive in the work of many major American writers from the first half of the
20th century. A lifelong poet, he was also a best-selling author, as well as a
playwright whose hit Broadway comedy, Little Accident (1928), was made into a Hollywood movie.
Tristan Bernard was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer. After his first publication
in La Revue Blanche in 1891, he became increasingly a writer and adopted the
pseudonym Tristan. His first play, Les Pieds Nickelés (Nickel-plated Feet), was
a great success and was representative of the style of his later work
(generally humorous). He became known especially for his writing for vaudeville-type performances, which were
very popular in France during that time.
Carl Webster Pierce was an American playwright.
Many of his comedies appeared on Broadway in the early 20th century, including
the original version of “Oh, Kay!” In 1927.
ABOUT US
Scott Haskell has appeared in film,
television and theatre, and has studied acting at NYU. He has appeared as Andrey in The Gingerbread
Players production of Three Sisters, and in Pamela Robbins original production
of Deep in the Woods of Old with the St. Jean’s Players.
Gary Krigsman is honored to have this
unique opportunity to perform with The Woodside Players. Thank you Johnny! Gary
has appeared in several community theater productions over the past 17 years in
Queens, Nassau and the Bronx. Favorite roles include Frank (Over the River
and Through the Woods), Sam Nash (Plaza Suite) X3, Mr. Dussel (The
Diary of Anne Frank) and most recently The Old Man (Prelude to a Kiss).
Laurie Sammeth (Cook/Steakpounder,
Lady) is delighted to be making her Woodside Players’ debut. Recent NYC
productions: Is That All They Wrote (St. Jean’s Players), When Rodney Met the
Vikings and Halls of Importance (Thespis Festival), 28 Marchant Avenue, Shades
of Blue,Lilliom (Beautiful
Soup Theater).
Lydia Kalmen is an actor, dancer and
model. A proud member of SAG-AFTRA, recent credits include the complicated Lady
Caroline Bramble in "Enchanted April" and a restless ghost in "A
Haunting".
Sonya Rice is delighted to join Woodside
Players after recently working with Johnny Culver and Pamela L. Robbins at St.
Jean's Players' Winter One Acts Festival. Opera credits include La Boheme, Don Giovanni, Hansel and Gretel, Aida, and The
Barber of Seville.
Mark Brystowski is delighted to be playing
with such a lovely ensemble. Off-Broadway: God
of Vengeance (Theater at St. Clements), Every 28 Hours
Plays (LAByrinth Theater Co.). Other NY
credits: Private Disclosures (Shetler Bridge), Le Cygne (Manhattan Repertory Theater), Fear Festival
(AlphaNYC/Roebuck Theater). Mark recently line-produced the off-Broadway and
touring premiere of Bamboo in Bushwick for
Working Theater and a short film, Zenith. Thank you Jackie and Roman
for your love and support.
Coming in July…
July 22 @12pm
NYPL 115th Street Branch
203 W 115th St, New
York, New York 10026
(212) 666-9393
Equity Library Theater presents a staged reading
of:
“Lil’ Miss Spitfire-the Musical”
Book by Samantha Talmage,
DGA
Music and Lyrics by Robert Winthrop Talmage ASCAP
This is the inspiring untold story of Annie
Sullivan, the Irish-American immigrant and eventual teacher of blind-deaf Helen
Keller.
A cast of 18 brings to life young Annie’s journey
of courage and perseverance. Sadly, early in her life, she endures the
loss of her mother, Alice and younger brother, Jimmie to tuberculosis.
Her father, Thomas becomes overwhelmed and gives the children away first
to family members, then to the Massachusetts State Asylum. Annie
suffers from trachoma and is functionally blind and unable to read even the
simplest of texts.
Along the way, eight eye surgeries are performed on
this young girl and finally, she can see well enough to make sense of the
printed page. Annie now fully devotes herself to the rigors of learning
and becomes class valedictorian at the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston.
It is there, Dr. Anagnos, the headmaster offers
her a truly unique position to teach a rebellious blind-deaf girl from Alabama.
Runs about 90 minutes, free admission.
________________
Past Presentations…
February 11th 2017, 12pm
2017
NYPL Alvin Ailey Auditorium
115th
Street Branch
203
W 115th St, New York, New York 10026
(212)
666-9393
A
reading of a screen-play by Tom Meade
“THE
SLIP
With
Emily Meade, Phillip Ettinger and others.
Manhattan,
the 1990s.
Celebrity dog walker Jack Meehan is celebrating one year clean and sober. After
a day that includes rejections, potential job loss, and a very strange
encounter in a diner, Jack ends up taking a trip down the rabbit hole that got
him there to begin with. Chance meetings with friends old and new, and a past
love, Jack finds himself in a series of uncomfortable, bizarre and
life-threatening situations. He spends the next 24 hours just trying to get
back home.
Free
Admission.
Equity Library
Theater of New York presents:
“The
Bermuda Curse”
A staged
reading of a comedy by Johnny Culver.
March 4, 2017 @2:00PM
New
York Public Library – George Bruce Branch Auditorium
518 West 125th Street (at Amsterdam Ave.)
New York, NY 10027-3407
(A
B C D 1 to 125th Street)
(212) 662-9727
With:
Brady Blevin
Julie Kling
Susan Neuffer
Carole Serrano
Peyton Place, horses wearing blankets, the
Flushing train, Chicklets gum, John Wayne and more in this one hour 1970’s
comedy for the entire family! Free admission.
___________________________________________________
The Equity Library Theater Playwriting Festival – Winter 2017
Saturday
January 28th
NYPL 53rd
street Branch Auditorium at 1pm
18 W 53rd
St, New York, NY 10019
Presenting:
Martha’s
King – Linda Ziering
Directed
by Cynthia White w/Eleanor Boddie, Susanna Miller
Rosemary – Charles Lupia
Directed
by Charles Lupia w/ Susan Palmer Everly, Charles Lupia
Swimming Out – Minette Greenberg
Directed
by Minette Greenberg w/ Cam Kornman, Eve Sorel, Julie Torres
Tea with the Tin Man – Charles Leipart
Directed
by Hall Hunsinger w/ Penny Lynn White
Free Association - Julie Weinberg
Directed
by Norma Medina w/ Colin Chapin, Carole Monferdini, Anthony Scavone
Expecting Hamilton – Chip Bolcik
Directed by Betsy True w/Nick Webster, Kirsty Sadler
Hookup –
Burton Crane
Directed
by Burton Crane w/Burton Schwartz
Shock – Meny Beriro
Directed
by Meny Beriro w/Kitty Hendrix, Jo Anna Perrin
Teresa’s Journey – Nancy Palmento Schuler
Directed
and performed by Nancy Palmento Schuler
The Reflective Lie – Christina Gluck
Directed
by Christina Gluck w/ Laura Hesse
Zero to Hero – Mary Teitelbaum
Directed
by Yvonne (Bonnie) Cole w/ Nancy Ann Finn, Kyle McIlhone
How to be Dead – Benjamin Weiner
Directed
by Keith Paul Medelis w/ Kurt Hellerich, Eric Weiner
We the People – John Cappelletti
Directed
by John Cappelletti w/ Doug Rossi, Barry Sacker
Mountain Dew – J. Lois Diamond
Directed
by J. Lois Diamond w/ Minette Greenberg, Carol London, Julia Torres
OMG – Pete Mergel
Best
play today (chosen by the audience texting their choice to 631 898 4205),
will receive a fancy restaurant gift card!
Use
of library space by Equity Library Theater for this program today does not
indicate endorsement by The New York Public Library. Some actors appear
courtesy of Equity. The recording/photographing of any of these pieces is
permitted, only with prior approval. The order of the plays presented may vary
from the above listing.
Equity
Library Theater past productions have included: A concert by the Village Light
Opera Guild, Short Plays by John Ladd, KK Gordon and Craig Schwab, ATANST (new
plays by New York writers), Ferry Tales (plays set on the Staten Island Ferry),
a new play by Pamela Robbins, Katherine and Petruchio; (rare David Garrick
version from 1750), assorted plays by members of the Provincetown Playhouse,
and our annual winter and summer play festival!
Look on
Facebook for more info!
Do
you have a full length play you’d like presented by Equity Library Theater, let
us know!
We
are always looking for new material to produce.
We are presenting a free creative writing class at
the Queens Library Astoria branch.
Biweekly
at noon - September 24th – May 27th, 2017. All genres welcome. Call 718 278 2220 for more info.
Look for
us on Facebook!
Deadline: April 15, 2017 (OVER)
Submissions
are now being accepted for the New York's Equity Library Theater Summer 2017
Play Festival, to take place over two weekends in August at the NYPL Alvin
Ailey Theater and the George Bruce Theater in New York City.
Seeking short plays (no more than 10 pp), from playwrights from all over the USA.
Also seeking monologues (no more than 4pp). Musicals welcome!
Basic set
requirements.
One submission per playwright. No unpleasant profanity, as this is a family
friendly festival! No submission fee. Please include name, address, telephone
number and email address on your submission. We do not produce your work, we
provide a venue for you to present actors performing your play. There are no
costs involved for anyone. Seeking actors and directors, too!
Deadline: April 15, 2017 (OVER)
Email: submissions@pineyforkpress.com
Equity Library
Theater presented Three Hots and a Cot
Equity Library
Theater presented Plays by my Father
Equity Library Theater
presented Short plays by Johnny Culver (here)
Equity Library
Theater presented an afternoon of short plays by John Ladd
Equity Library Theater presented Catherine and Petruchio in 2014
Equity Library
Theater presented The Bermuda Curse in 2013!
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Equity Library Theater Gives Itself a Party
by ANDREW L. YARROW
Published: February 7, 1988
''AT
Equity Library Theater, the actor is our focus,'' declared George Wojtasik, the
theater's producing director.
Similar
sentiments might be voiced by the director of almost any theater company, but
none could say so with more conviction than Mr. Wojtasik. His
Upper West Side Theater - the country's oldest actors' showcase -will celebrate
its 45th season tomorrow at Town Hall with a benefit called ''My Funny
Valentine,'' a program of Richard Rodgers love songs.
The
theater, which is on the ground floor of an apartment building at Riverside
Drive and 103d Street, has been something of an anomaly among New York
performing-arts institutions since it was established in November 1943. The
founders were Sam Jaffe of Actors' Equity Association and George Freedley, the
theater curator for the New York Public Library.
''It was
founded to showcase artists to people in casting positions and provide free
theater'' to people who couldn't afford Broadway prices, said Mr. Wojtasik. ''At
that time, if actors weren't working on Broadway, they had no other place to
work. The showcase was born with E.L.T., and it even predated the Off Broadway
movement by a few years.'' Over the years, more than 11,500 actors, directors
and stage technicians have displayed their talents to producers, casting
directors and agents in at least 600 productions at the theater, and Mr. Wojtasik said about 60 percent had gotten paid
acting jobs as a result of those appearances.
With only
about 5 percent of the city's 20,000 Equity members acting for a living at any
one time, the theater has not only served as a remarkably successful theatrical
employment agency, but it has also been a launching pad for hundreds of
performers. Jason Robards was a little-known actor when he appeared
in ''The Petrified Forest'' in 1955. James Earl Jones got his start in a 1959
production of ''Dark of the Moon.''
Also on
the theater's roster of illustrious alumni are Martin Balsam, Ossie Davis,
Danny DeVito, Jack Klugman, Harvey Korman, Anne Meara, Sidney
Poitier, Jerry Stiller, Rod Steiger and Treat Williams. And the theater's
couples include Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach, who met in a 1945 production of
''This Property Is Condemned.''
Jean
Stapleton remembers being ''an aspiring, very young actress'' when she
interviewed for a role in a 1947 production of ''The Corn Is Green,'' which
also featured a young actor named Richard Kiley. ''I was assigned a very small
part,'' Miss Stapleton said, but she was asked to step in with only 10 days'
notice when the leading actress slipped on the ice. ''An agent who saw the show
called me and said I'd be right for the road company of 'Harvey,' '' Miss
Stapleton said. ''I got the job and that was my first big break in theater.''
Tony
Randall's appearances in ''The Second Mrs. Tanqueray'' and ''The Millionairess'' -
with Charlton Heston - during the 1948-49 season did not leadd to immediate stardom, but he said the theater had
been ''absolutely crucial for many actors' careers.''
''Today,
there are all sorts of showcases, but this is the only one with a real budget
and full productions,'' said Mr. Randall, who is a member of the theater's
board.
Equity
Library Theater began its life as a sort of New York City road show, with
performances rotating among 11 theaters built during the Depression in branches
of the New York Public Library. After
the library withdrew its support in 1948, the theater spent a season roaming
the city before settling in the Lenox Hill Playhouse on East 70th Street. It
stayed there until 1961, when it moved to the Master Theater on Riverside Drive.
''It was a
residential hotel for artists, with a theater, studios and a museum, known as
the Master Institute of United Arts,'' Mr. Wojtasik explained.
This little artists' colony eventually withered, and the family that owned 310
Riverside Drive sold the building in the 1970's, but the theater remained.
In its
early years, the theater presented as many as 56 productions annually, but
during Mr. Wojtasik's 21-year tenure, its season has been reduced
to a more manageable chaotic schedule of four musicals, each of which is
performed for four weeks, and four plays, each with three-week runs. ''When
E.L.T. was formed, the League of New York Theaters said we couldn't do original
works,'' Mr. Wojtasik explained, ''so we only present revivals or
public-domain works.''
The
theater also agreed with Actors' Equity that - since actors would not be paid -
it would try to use Equity members and not charge admission. Tickets now cost
$10 ($5 for the elderly) to help support a $750,000 budget, and the theater
continues to provide opportunities for about 200 actors during each 40-week
season.
''We try
to do the full range of theater over four or five seasons,'' Mr. Wojtasik said. ''Our library concept is to try to do
one classic and one or two American comedies or dramas a season. And of the
musicals, we try to do one contemporary work, one golden oldie and one piece of
fluff.'' A successful revival of ''Side by Side by Sondheim'' just closed;
Thursday, Bernard Pomerance's ''Elephant Man'' opens.
Actors
receive only a subway-and-sandwich stipend of $5 a day, yet 400 to 700 people
audition for each production, and about 100 directors vie for eight chances to
direct each season. Stars may be made at the theater, but name performers
almost never appear. ''I don't want lead roles taken from young actors,'' said
Mr. Wojtasik.
''And I don't cotton to the theory of having a star so that actors can have the
experience of working with a star.''
In 1986,
the theater signed a 15-year lease that will keep it ensconced on Riverside
Drive into the 21st century. Its financial health was also helped by the
addition last year of a balcony with 116 revenue-producing seats, expanding the
theater's capacity to 384 seats.
Given the
many constituencies the theater serves, Mr. Wojtasik is
sanguine about the theater's future. ''E.L.T. will be alive,'' he said, ''as
long as actors want to be seen, casting directors need actors and audiences
want to see good, inexpensive theater.''
Survival in the theater is an ancient script
that tells the story not only of individual plays but of entire well-endowed
companies. The Equity Library Theater is a survivor that, touch wood, has no ending
in sight, even as it rounds out 40 years as a dramatic fixture in New York.
It
is now in the final half of its season, with a mixed bag of plays and musicals
to come. Today sees the final performance of the Equity Library revival of Kurt
Vonnegut's madcap ''Happy Birthday, Wanda June.'' Then the company plunges into
rehearsal for the March 10 opening of ''Where's Charley?,''
the Frank Loesser-George Abbott musical that starred Ray Bolger in 1948. When
that closes on April 3, the Equity Library's stage takes a turn for the tragic
on April 14 with that 17th-century epic of revenge, ''The Changeling,'' by
Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. No sooner does that move off the boards on
May 1, than the season's finale, ''Promises, Promises,'' book by Neil Simon,
music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, takes over from May 12 to June 5.
E.L.T., as its friends call
it, is not sponsored by either Actors' Equity or the New York Public Library,
although each had a midwife role in its birth four decades and more than 650
shows ago. E.L.T. has become a watchword in the acting community, although it
is a name only dimly known to those theater-goers who have never ventured to
the Upper West Side to catch its act. It is zealous in its avoidance of any
suggestion that it is competing with any other theater in New York, although it
shares with them its desire for audiences, its earnestness in aim, its
professionalism in execution and its poverty in funding.
At this point, simple
description is required to explain what E.L.T. is, what it does, why it does it
and how it does it. E.L.T. is a theater company, a showcase in which talent,
the stockpile of acting talent that is stored in New York, can exhibit what it
can do. It works only with revivals of shows, some familiar, some not.
In the early 1940's, Sam
Jaffe, the actor, got together with Vincent Freedley,
curator of the New York Public Library. They felt there ought to be some place
for actors to show off their wares, a place where producers and agents could
candle the talent and where live audiences would be a sounding board for
performers. The pair found that they could do plays in 11 libraries - seven in
Manhattan, four in other boroughs - that had little theaters built into them.
The League of New York
Theaters said it had no objection to them doing revivals or plays in the public
domain. Actors' Equity said they could do shows without a contract - that is,
no need to pay actors - but that they should try to use Equity members and that
they should not charge admission. Hence, the name of the company.
E.L.T. was born in November
1943 and took its first step on Feb. 20, 1944, with a presentation of ''Shadow
of the Glen'' and ''Fumed Oak'' in the cramped little theater of the Hudson
Park branch library on Seventh Avenue South. Mr. Jaffe later recalled that it
cost $20 to do the shows, money that came from a $1,000 donation from John
Golden.
There are few organizations
that can drop as many names as this modest theater. Indeed, there is probably
no other group that can match E.L.T. when it comes to saying, ''I knew them
when.'' Armies of performers have swept through the casting sessions at E.L.T.
and many have later gone on to fame. A perfunctory glance through the record
book finds, among those thousands of then unknowns, the following: Alvin Ailey,
Jack Albertson, Roscoe Lee Brown, Ossie Davis, Andrew
Duggan, Hector Elizando, Alice Ghostley,
Lee Grant, Jose Greco, Earl Hyman, Richard Kiley, Sally Kirkland, Werner
Klemperer, Jack Klugman, Harvey Korman, Darren McGavin, Anne Meara, Kay Medford,
Ralph Meeker, Rosemary Murphy, Lois Nettleton, Sidney Poitier, Tom Poston, Tony
Randall, Jason Robards, Alexander Scourby,
Kim Stanley, Jean Stapleton, Rod Steiger, Jerry Stiller, Elaine Stritch, Eli Wallach and Fritz Weaver. And that's merely a
sampler.
Now, E.L.T. may not have
been the springboard to fame for these and others, but it was indisputably a
rung on the ladder up. Some still remember their E.L.T. experience with
affection and gratitude.
Fritz Weaver had a role in
Sean O'Casey's ''Within the Gates,'' an E.L.T. revival during the 1952-53
season. ''I was just back from touring,'' he recalled recently. ''This was my
first New York engagment and it led to everything. I
was a cockney soldier and Tom Bosley was a second
chair attendant. It was and is a tremendous organization for beginning
actors.''
Tony Randall, who did two
E.L.T. shows in one season, ''The Second Mrs. Tanqueray'' and ''The Millionairess'' during 1948-49, is so enamored of E.L.T.
that he is a board member today. ''I was an unknown and it was a chance to be
seen,'' he says. ''Someone, a director or producer, called and asked me if I
wanted a role in the show. Agents and other directors would see me. Charlton Heston was also in that 'Millionairess,'
while Edith Atwater was in 'Tanqueray.' E.L.T. does what Off Off Broadway can't do, because
those showcases don't have the same production values.''
Ossie Davis clearly recalls
playing in ''Stevedore'' in 1948-49. ''It was the first important piece I got
to do,' he says. ''It was a professional operation directed by Dan Levin, a
quiet kind of person, but a doer. In that cast were Rod Steiger, Jack Klugman
and George Roy Hill. It was important to me in terms of experience. I had begun
to learn about the craft of acting. I've always felt that we in Equity and in
general underestimate the function of such a theater. As an institution, E.L.T.
has been good to me.''
So much for looking back.
One of the key men in looking to the precarious present (every theatrical
present is precarious) and to the fearsome future (ditto for theatrical
futures) is George Wojtasik, E.L.T.'s managing
director, and a cheerful, busy sort who has one leg firmly planted on current
realities and the other jiggling tentatively on more dreamy turf. He has had
his job for 15 years and observes with some satisfaction that nobody else has
held it for more than two years since it was created in 1961, about the time
that the company moved from the now-demolished Lenox Hill Playhouse to its
present digs at 103d Street and Riverside Drive. Before a managing director
came along, E.L.T. was run by a committee of actors and stumbled into all the
pitfalls that committees are so adept at digging.
''Our theater has 273 seats
in a building that is 50 years old,'' Mr. Wojtasik
says. ''This was the Master Institute of United Arts once and had ballet, opera
workshops and a theater. The other groups eventually were disbanded, but they
kept us on.''
E.L.T. is still being kept on
at the building, although a year or so ago it seemed that they might be forced
to move. This possibility started an ambitious drive to raise $2.5 million to
build a new home, on West 75th Street and Broadway. The money could not be
raised, the lease on 103d Street was extended and now E.L.T. is looking for
$180,000 to restore the theater. Money is tight. A Federal grant, a small one,
about $2,000 was not renewed, but Mr. Wojtasik feels
that it was as though a Good Housekeeping seal of approval had been taken away,
because such grants attract others.
Last year, E.L.T. had a
slight deficit, $3,000, the result of using up reserves earmarked for the new
building. The 1981-82 budget is $362,000. This was designed to be funded by
donations - corporate and private -as well as by subscriptions and the
audience, which is asked to pay $6 per ticket, in recognition of the fact
discovered by other institutions that the cost of free has gone up also in
inflationary times. The New York State Council on the Arts has been
contributing $10,000 annually for the past several years.
Whatever the expenses, they
are certainly not attributable to labor. Directors, backstage artistic staff
and actors work free. From the first day of rehearsals, actors, carpenters,
electricians and lighting people get $3 a day to defray carfare. What with the
generous-sized showcase casts, this amounts to about $45,000 a year.
''We have a reputation for
quality work,'' Mr. Wojtasik says. ''We get calls
from all over for technicians. Lynn Montgomery, our producer and director for
11 years, functions as a placement service. We call E.L.T. an actors' showcase,
but it is a showcase for these others, too.
''I select the season,'' he
adds. ''I scout the directors' work. They must be members of the Society of
Stage Directors and Choreographers. I judge their work and, also, check their
temperament with actors, because we work under special conditions, not for
money. I try to match the play with the director. Once the director is chosen,
we have real open auditions. Sometimes 700 show up, all Equity members,
experienced people, not waitresses who want to become actors.''
Mr. Wojtasik
says that other showcases believe that E.L.T. has an unfair advantage beause it is allowed to do eight performances - a schedule
that makes the company qualify as an Off Broadway house, even though nobody is
paid - while other showcases are restricted to a total of 12 performances over
several weekends.
''We've earned our
concessions because of the demands for what we do,'' he says. ''We're allowed
to do what we do because our shows are not headed anywhere, they are done
solely to give exposure to the cast. That's one reason, incidentally, why we
have so many problems with musicals. How do you cast someone in a part that was
identified with a Bert Lahr or a Zero Mostel?''
Some E.L.T. productions
have, indeed, moved on, but with results that generally indicate a loss of some
quality that made them sing on 103d Street and whimper in other houses.
E.L.T. has a 40-week winter
stock season so there is always something either onstage or in rehearsal or in
audition. Outside of its full-time salaried staff, working out of its offices
on West 46th Street, personnel is constantly turning over. If someone has had a
lead in a musical, they can't do an E.L.T. musical for the next year. Some
actors do come back; Lloyd Hubbard, a character actorcomedian,
probably holds the record, seven shows, all in supporting parts.
''The future is tricky,''
says Mr. Wojtasik, looking ahead. ''We would like to
convert into a small regional theater, one without any permanent cast. In New
York, we can select the best talent for doing our specialty: big musicals on a
small scale. We do that very well. Anyone who can do 'Street Scene' with a cast
cut from 60 to 20 and do it well must be doing something right. We must be kept
alive for future generations of actors.''
A few
reviews:
“An
Afternoon with the Piney Fork Press Theater” - January 7, 2012
David Garrick’s “Katherine and Petrucio” at
Equity Library Theater
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“Gig” George
Reeves 2018
Manhattan Repertory Theater, (K. Wolfe,
Director)
”The Fitting” Tailor 2018
Thespis Theater Festival (D. Stishan, playwright,
Nom. Best Play)
“The Night Before The Night Before Christmas” Lou (Lead) 2017
Second Street Theater (C. Daniel, playwright)
“L&O: Spec. Victims Unit” Dick
Wolf 2017
St Pauls Theater, Brooklyn
“Fractured Fairy Tales” Narrator 2017
St. Jeans Players One Act Festival, Ritz Players
“And Then There Were None” Rogers 2016
Gingerbread Players
“Oliver!” Brownlow 2016
Boys and Girls Harbor, Heckscher Theatre
“All in the Timing” Typewriter/Trotsky 2016
First String Players
“The Father (staged reading)” The
Pastor 2015
Equity Library Theater
“Timothy and Mary” Timothy 2015
Manhattan Repertory Theater, 2017 Columbia University
“Keeping Up Appearances” Emmett 2015
FAPC Theater Fellowship/Equity Showcase (US Premiere)
“Our Town” Howie
Newsome 2014
St. Barts Players
”The Shabbos List” Mike
Green 2014
Thespis Theater Festival
“Nude with Violin (Noel Coward)” Clinton
Preminger 2014
FAPC Theater Fellowship
“Kiss or Make Up” Hanley
Swope 2014
First String Players
“Bye Bye Birdie” Harry
MacAfee 2013 Gingerbread Players
“Anything Goes” Rev.
Dobson 2012
Maggie’s Theater
“Eben on the Dark Side” Eben
Scrooge 2011/2013
Manhattan Repertory Theater
“To Kill A Mockingbird” Heck
Tate 2011
St Jeans Players
“Amateurs” Wayne
Seabury 2011
Parkside Players
“Pygmalion” Neppomuck 2010
Gingerbread Players
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” Westcott/Other 2008
FAPC Theater Fellowship
Directing
(New York)
“Lincoln’s Birthday” Playwright/Director Thespis Theater Festival New York, 2018
“Lunchtime” Playwright/Director The Secret Theater One Act Festival, New York, 2018
“Aunt Maggies Will
(1918)” Director Woodside
Players, 2018
“Just like the Movies” Director Strawberry
One Act Festival, 2018 (P. Scarpinato, playwright)
“The Vigil” Director FAPC
Theater Fellowship/Equity Showcase, 2018
“Hyacinth Goes Camping” Director Equity
Library Theater, 2018 (C. Jackson, playwright)
“Be Calm, Camilla (1918)” Director Woodside
Players, 2017
“I Remember Mama” Director FAPC
Theater Fellowship/Equity Showcase, 2017
“Rub Some Dirt In It” Director American
Academy of Dramatic Arts/River City Stages, 2017 (S. Ward, playwright)
“Going Green Festival” (Young Adults) Director Langston
Hughes Theater, Corona, 2017
“The Lady of the Hall*” Director Gingerbread
Players, 2017 (*Based on the BBC Comedy “Keeping Up Appearances”)
“The Wiggle Room” Director Strawberry
One Act Festival, 2017 (G. Morgan, playwright)
“My Name
is Asher Lev” Director FAPC
Theater Fellowship/Equity Showcase, 2017
“All in the Timing (Death of Trotsky)” Director Working
Actors Studio, New York, 2016
“Diary of Anne Frank” Director FAPC
Theater Fellowship/Equity Showcase, 2016
“Asylum” Director The
Secret Theater One Act Festival, New York (Kirby Wright, playwright), 2016
“The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” Producer Jefferson
Market Players, NYPL, 2016
“Edward’s Closet” Director MITF
Short Play Lab /13th Street Rep/ (Jenn Dlugos,
playwright), 2016
“College Without Walls” Director Manhattan
Repertory Theater, 2016 (M. Sanders, playwright)
“Plays by Alice Gerstenberg” Director Equity
Library Theater, 2015
“Angel on a Yellow Couch” Director Strawberry
One Act Festival, 2015 (KK Gordon, playwright)
“Keeping Up Appearances” (US Premiere) Director FAPC
Theater Fellowship/Equity Showcase, 2015, Gingerbread Players, 2017
“Across
The Lake” Playwright/Director Students
from HB Studios, 2012-13, Manhattan Repertory Theater, 2014
“A Dolls Life” Director Thespian
Productions, 2014 (Martha Patterson, playwright)
“Cowboy
Nocturne” Director The
Secret Theater One Act Festival, New York (Evan Blake, playwright), 2014
“Hangin’ with Satan” Director Teatro LATEA, New York, 2013 (Reynaldo Rivera, playwright), 2013
“Something Good to Eat” Director Between
Us Productions, New York (John Glass, playwright), 2013
“The House on the Hill” Playwright/Director New
York Public Library/ Lenox Hill House Auditorium, 2013
“The Bionic Woman Scrapbook” Playwright/Director Love
Creek Productions, the Producers Club, 2012
“In Swirly Letters” Playwright/Director “ 55th
and Bleecker” at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 2012
“Another Life” Director Strawberry
One Act Festival, 2012 (A. Esposito, playwright)
“The Value
of Empty Boxes” Director Manhattan
Repertory Theater, 2011 (A. Leventman, playwright)
“A Bite to Eat with Edwina Huffington” Playwright The Puzzle, Marble Collegiate Church, New York, 2011