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Event
Moral Support
Mary is divorced, estranged from her family, and suffering with cancer. Her son Mike visits her during spring break. She asks him for concrete actions of moral support. Mike's father and aunt caution him not to get involved. Old wounds re-open, and the bonds of love are rigorously tested.
This naturalistic, family drama, autobiographical in detail, mixes elements of poetry and surrealism with a very real and devastating portrait of a troubled family and the demands of love.
This is a full-length play, eighty-five minutes long, performed without intermission.
Directed by Félix Gardón, the cast includes Richard Keyser, Cynthia Shaw, Nora McCarthy, and David A. P. Brown.
Stage manager: Brianna Mann-Hernandez
Costume designer: Janet Mervin
Lighting designer: Patrick Ashcroft
Richard Keyser (Mike) has been MST's technical director since 2007, lead producer and CFO since 2015. Favorite roles include Caligula (Caligula), David Williams (Helen of Troy New York), Filch (Beggar's Opera), Rosencrantz (Mr. Shakespeare & Mr. Porter), and the Street Sweeper (Ten Blocks on the Camino Real).
Cynthia Shaw (Mary), after winning Best Festival Debut in the 2018 United Solo Festival for her autobiographical one-woman show, Velvet Determination ~ a young pianist's journey to New York ~ is thrilled to join this cast as the troubled mother. Her films have screened at the Cannes, Soho, and Big Apple Film Festivals. Mara, in which she starred, was an Official Selection at the Soho International Film Festival and won awards in fourteen other festivals, including Best Experimental Film at the Los Angeles Movie Awards. Her episode of the web series, Brooklyn is in Love, won two awards at the LA Webfest.
A review of her solo show, Velvet Determination, relates that, "The emotional heavy lifting comes from Shaw's lovely performance, not just as her younger self, but also as a rogues gallery of side characters she meets on her journey. Shaw gives each of her characters a charming and often humorous flair that always sells the scene. Even her villains have a charismatic allure that keeps you smiling and wanting more. Her earnestness and passion help lift the play. https://allaboutsolo.com/hard-work-pays-off-in-velvet-determination/
Nora McCarthy (Beth), a unique and original singer, poet, songwriter and innovative improviser, has been an important force in the advanced New York jazz scene since 1996, when she recorded her first of thus far eight CDs, red&blue with John diMartino, Essiet Okon Essiet, Alvester Garnett, Mike Lee and Sato Takeishi. She is the winner of the 38th Annual Jazz Station Awards for Best Jazz of 2016 in two categories, Female Singer and Best Vocal Jazz CD, for blesSINGS. McCarthys musical roots run deep. Her burnished alto voice is rich with a distinctive style that cuts a broad swath from soul, rhythm & blues, jazz, Bebop, post-bop, and the free, avant-garde idioms but her sound is reminiscent of the great voices and horns in jazz. Nora McCarthys adventurous improvising is on a high level along with the intelligence of her lyrics, making blesSINGS, one of her most rewarding recordings. Scott Yanow, L.A. Times, 9-2016. She and her groups perform in New York City and elsewhere in the world. For more, please see her website, http://www.noramccarthy.com/
David A.P. Brown (Father/Older Young Mike) is pleased to be making his first appearance at The Medicine Show Theatre Company. He has been acting in New York longer than he can remember. He has appeared with The Hudson Warehouse Theater Company in numerous classical roles, including King Lear (King Lear), King John (King John), Polonius (Hamlet) and Sorin (The Seagull). He has appeared with The Articulate Theater Company in the role of Mr. Antrobus (The Skin of Our Teeth); with The Workshop Theater in an acclaimed performance of the role of Pugachov (The German Bitch); with the Julii Theatre Company as Judge Brack (Hedda Gabler); and in the Boo Arts production of Mrs. Warrens Profession as Sir George Crofts. He received an Outstanding Lead Performance Award for the role of Edgar Reginald Lehman Lear in the 2015 Fresh Fruit Festival production of The Lears: Fools of Fortune. Thank you Félix and Bill for including me in this deeply moving project.
Félix E. Gardón (Director) is an actor/artist/activist member of Medicine Show Theatre. He has been an active partner at the Medicine Show and has participated in 15 productions in the company, including his acclaimed rendition of the Painted Lady/ Kafka in Howards Pflanzer's On the Border. Mr. Gardón was the chair and artistic director of the Cuatro Gatos Teatro in Philadelphia, sponsored by Pregones Theater. As a bilingual actor and co-owner of Caracol Language Coop, he continues to strive in creating spaces for equity, social justice and inclusion in the arts.
William Considine (Playwright) writes poems and plays. He first studied writing poetry with Elizabeth Bishop. He was a member of the playwrights workshop of the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater, coordinated by Ed Bullins, with four staged readings there, readings at St. Clements and LaMama, and play performances at Theater for the New City, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Limbo Lounge, Ear Inn, ABC No Rio and Dixon Place. In 2017, the Operating System published a volume of his plays, The Furies, which is available on Amazon and from the publisher. The Operating System has also published a chapbook of his poems, Strange Coherence. A CD of his poems with music, An Early Spring, is available on iTunes and from the label, Fast Speaking Music. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Polaris North theater artists cooperative.
Performances of Moral Support on Thurs, Fri and Sat at 8 PM, and on Sun. at 4 PM,
February 21 - March 3
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LocationMedicine Show Theatre (View)
549 West 52 Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10019
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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