Check out the B*tch Commercial

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Universal Monsters Lineup!

Universal Monsters is a collection of 11 of Sean Pomposello's written work. The Theatre Project will be presenting these plays in a series of readings throughout the months of November and December. Revolving around the concept of "Man's inhumanity to man," the Universal Monsters Series offers a brazen look at the aggressive side of humanity in the 21st Century. Here is the complete series lineup!


November 3                                Bitch


November 17                             Unlimited Nights
                                                  Dark Future
                                                  The Walkaway
                                                  To Hell with Darwin
                                                  The Dog House
                                                  Daddy's Little Girl


December 1                              IT
                                                 Plus One


December 15                           Turnpike South
                                                 Barbicide




We look forward to seeing you at these 5 Free play readings.


@ The Players Theatre
115 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10012


Plus!


Check out our Universal Monsters key art, and an interview with writer Sean Pomposello about the plays!

 

                                                  

Announcing our Cast!

We're very excited to share with all our followers our casting decisions! We have cast 5 actors to appear in both Universal Monsters and Bitch. These performers will be delving into 10 of Sean Pomposello's plays this fall and winter! They are a mighty talented bunch and we are proud to have them on board for this project! And here they are:

Michael Neithardt as Junie

Benjamin Weaver as Mitts

Brian Cheng as Davy Dollar$

Gina LeMoine as Gil

Arthur Aulisi as Uncle Knee Co

Universal Monsters: Part 2 with Sean Pomposello

Universal Monsters: Part 1 with Sean Pomposello

from the director's notebook v.3

9. 12. 11                      9:48 pm

Today were auditions for Bitch and Universal Monsters. There is always a slight nervous feeling that hits me whenever I hold an audition. I guess I tend to worry that what and who I'm looking for may not show up. However, one thing I believe in is, you don't have to worry about that in New York. There will always be one or in most cases, many people who can fill the roles you are looking to fill. With so many performers in the city it becomes much easier to cast a show. 

At my last audition, for 4.48 Psychosis, I bumped into Tim Gunn. Let me rephrase that. At my last audition, Tim Gunn bumped into me! It was outside of Parsons on my way to Ripley-Grier. And as he accidentally tried to walk through me he said, "Oh! Love that chartreuse!" I know, very exciting. He was referring to the color of my polo. A compliment from Tim Gunn on your fashion choice is like having Bobby Flay tell you, you make wonderful grilled chicken, so I knew that my auditions were sure to go well! Needless to say, I didn't bump into Tim this time around. But I did walk past a poster of him on my way to the theatre that read "Make it work" so I took that as some sort of a sign that things would go well. 

There was a great audition turnout and we had a great mix of performers. I wanted to see actors with both film and theatre experience because Sean's language lends itself to a more cinematic approach. It has made my decision very hard because I had so many talented men and women come through. Casting is a decision I am going to have to think carefully about. How the actors look together plays an equal role as to how talented they all are. Luckily I have a few combinations so I'll certainly have to come to a good decision. 

Outside of auditions, I've been busy working on scenic and design sketches to get ahead of the game. I tend to be a perennial planner and constantly push to be ahead of my own schedule. This can be both a great relief to Keri Anne; the Executive Director of our company because it makes her world 300 times easier, but it also can become a bad thing. Especially when I start to second guess the decisions I have made and start to tweak them, specifically for the fact that I have time on my side. 

With that said, I believe that I have finally touched upon my final design choices for the Universal Monsters series key art, as well as the scenic sketch for Bitch. The key art for Bitch still needs development, yet I would like to share some of the ideas that have influenced the execution of the current scope of work.

For Universal Monsters, Sean Pomposello and I wanted to create an aesthetic that heavily correlated with the themes in his pieces while intriguing a theatre goer in an abstract way. Sean's work heavily focuses on "man's inhumanity to man" and we wanted to create a visual conceit that pushed that theme. His plays tend to focus on people who wear "masks." Figuratively speaking, characters whose presence is cloaked in some sense. With that in mind, we went for this image as our final look.

A young girl, wearing a gas mask with her Teddy bear following suit. It calls towards the idea that a monstrous human being can appear to be very much the opposite. 

For the set, this sketch is what I have been seeing lately, so I'm eager to perfect it. 

The play takes place in a cramped, Bronx chop shop. I wanted to create depth and lines in the design. The aerial piping and wainscoting help to set the tone of the place. This also has lead me to create interesting ideas for the "dog's blocking." I won't divulge all just now. 

As for the key art for Bitch, here are a few ideas. I'm having trouble realizing this but I love the photo Kelly Marsh has taken. It speaks towards animal cruelty, the greasy aspect of the chop shop. But what I like is how the wrench is evocative of a dog bone. I'm sure I am close on this one!

I think that's it for now. This is what happens when I write my blog posts on the subway, I end up writing short stories. I hope somebody finds them insightful. Who knows, maybe Tim Gunn does. After all, I am starting to believe that he may be my  audition fairy godmother!

-Christian

The director's notebook is a blog Christian Amato started through theatre projected in order to allow people to see how a younger director approaches his work.

Part 3 of 3/Mini-Interview with Sean Pomposello on Bitch

Part 3 of 3 with Sean Pomposello on Bitch. Stay tuned for our next video spotlight on Sean's 

Universal Monsters series.

Interview 2 of 3 w/ Sean Pomposello on "Bitch"

from the director's notebook v.2

8/31/2011                3:00 PM

It has been a interesting week! I'm starting to realize how tough it is to manage a Kickstarter campaign. That in itself is like having a full time job. I think a secret is having a lot of content. The campaign in itself is a little over a week in, so I'm not to worried about the progress as of yet, I feel that people will be more provoked to donate later on in the campaign. As for content, I believe that the interviews with Sean are great. They give an audience a chance to learn more about the person behind the words. There are two more interviews regarding Bitch, and then we will be moving on to discussing the plays in Universal Monsters.

Outside of the whole Kickstarter world, auditions will be announced later today and casting notices will be going up. I have been debating over whether or not I should have sides available prior to the audition, or if I would like to do cold readings. Typically I prefer cold readings because it reveals an actor's abilities instantaneously. It also shows how quickly an actor can develop a concept behind a piece of text, which fascinates me.

Regarding what I will be having those auditioning read, I'm not only looking a the Bitch script. I'm also looking into the plays in the Universal Monsters series. The great thing about Sean's writing and his style with language is it's consistency. Since the performers will be auditioning for Universal Monsters and Bitch, it will be the perfect way to evaluate them for the work as a whole. 

Design wise, our key art for marketing was just completed. Scenically we are in early phases of the design process. I had been planning to discuss that this week, but I am holding off until next week when there is more imagery to share! The interesting thing is that the set is the office of a chop shop, so there is a lot of fun in considering the objects in the room. The set must be easy enough to move quickly in terms of strike, but hearty enough to appear permanent. It will be a challenge but I think it will turn out very well. Regarding key art, there is a big play with the masculinity of the chop shop paired with a subtle hint of animal cruelty. Being that the play focuses on dog fighting, our imagery aptly touches upon numerous ideas while maintaining a strong design aesthetic.

I'm eager to share the design concepts at length, so expect another post very soon! Feel free to send in questions as well as well as comments and please share our Kickstarter project!

-Christian

The director's notebook is a blog Christian Amato started through theatre projected in order to allow people to see how a younger director approaches his work. 

Mini-Interview 1 of 3 w/ Sean Pomposello

Interview with Sean Pomposello

Check out our new interview with Sean Pomposello, writer of Universal Monsters and Bitch.
This is part 1 of many other interviews with Sean to be released!


Also, were now on Kickstarter! Please show your support and share with your friends..

from the director's notebook v.1

August 15, 11:40 AM

As I sit on the two train en route to meet up with Sean, the playwright I am fortunate enough to be working with this fall, I cannot help but be nervous. Despite having met a couple of times in person and sharing a regular dialogue through email, today fills my stomach with excitement as my nerves jump like a student at his first day of classes.

Today I will be filming an interview with Sean where I will be asking him questions to learn more about his play Bitch and his play series, Universal Monsters. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to work with a modern playwright and actually speak to him one on one. What has been fascinating is the way I can read his word and then be able to question him about it.

Sean Pomposello's writing intrigues me in the simple fact that it combines New York's grit with a cinematic movement and a conversational thread. It reads very naturally, and with auditions fast approaching and the summer coming to a close, I look forward to being able to getting inside his mind. 

Email interaction can only go so far, but to truly understand the play, I must truly understand Sean. This video interview should do the trick! As I prepared the questions, I thought of how a character in Bitch might ask them. I wanted to avoid a "Inside The Actor's Studio" format because frankly I felt it would be perceived as too lofty. That would have been the opposite of what I am trying to achieve. I want to keep The Theatre Project accessible, and as a young company, I believe that is what makes us relatable.

I can't help but imagine that the characters in Bitch all have ridden this train before. The play is set in my town, which is not initially attracted me to the script, but certainly made me consider it. As I look around I can see people who remind me of the characters. Real people on their grind—which is what makes the characters unique. It doesn't glorify or enlarge a situation. Bitch exposes real people doing what they have to, no matter how corrupt, in order to survive

August 15, 8:05 PM 

After I emerged from the Penn station subway stop, I met with Sean and we hopped back on a train heading towards the West Village. As we got off the Christopher Street/Sheridan Square stop, and walked over towards The Players Theatre, I felt a sense of gratitude in the fact that such a great playwright would be willing to place such faith in my hands. We went over to one of the best coffee shops in the area, Pubblico Espresso, a favorite haunt of mine.

Pubblico is right across the street from the theatre and delicious. Over iced coffee we discussed marketing, scenic design, and most importantly—the show itself. After posing many questions on the script, I was thrilled to have been able to pick up on and relate to aspects of the script that may lie more dormant in the dialogue. Facets of the plot that are there, but not spelled out. It's refreshing to know you are on the right track, especially with such a contemporary work. After coffee and small talk, we went to the theatre and I conducted my interview with Sean. We filmed at the Players Theatre which I felt was appropriate since it will shortly become a "home base" for The Theatre Project. It was a noisy day on MacDougal Street and the noise of the day served as the underscore to our interview, which went extremely well and was an eye-opening experience. By learning more about the playwright, I have learned more about the script itself. I highly recommend doing something like this, be it in person or through email in order to fully understand a project you may delve into. It particularly helps if the playwright you are working with happens to be alive. I would not be able to have done the same with say, a Chekhov play. Unless, that is, you happen to be able to channel the dead.

I also was able to show Sean the space where Universal Monsters and Bitch will be staged. There was something exciting about standing in the theatre with Sean and talking about the show. Mostly it was inspiration, the rest was probably fear that he may say something along the lines of "Look at this shit hole," but he was actually pretty psyched!

Overall, it was a great day for me as a director, and a great day for Sean and I as artists, as we step further into this venture. I'll wrap it up there since this is a blog post and it's becoming a novella. I look forward to my next blog post as well as newer developments in the project.

- Christian Amato



The director's notebook is a blog Christian Amato started through theatre projected in 
order to allow people to see how a younger director approaches his work. 

Were Now on Youtube!

Check out our awesome new youtube teaser!

Q&A With Sean Pomposello

Want to learn a little bit about the man behind the plays we will be producing this upcoming 
fall? We're very excited to launch our first Q&A session with a brief interview Christian Amato had with Universal Monsters and Bitch playwright, Sean Pomposello! See what Sean had to say:


Explain yourself in 10 words or less...

People have been attempting to do that without a word count for years, without success. I’m assuming you’re referring to me as a person and not me as a writer. I did have a professor and a girlfriend, independent of one another, in the same week, refer to me as a “walking contradiction”. So, I now have a surplus of 8 words to dedicate to some other 

question. Shoot.    

Can you describe your writing style?

Well, I can—but I don’t believe anyone else would share my perspective. I often sit at my computer writing things that I’m certain will be perceived as hysterically funny only to learn, when the piece is staged, that no one else is laughing. It’s like when you see a person take a very awkward fall on the sidewalk and you suppress the urge to laugh fearing that they’ve been injured. I suppose, in my writing, I expend very little effort fighting that urge. So, darkly funny, I think, to answer the question. Also, actors don’t care for this, but I like to write a lot of lengthy monologues. 

What is Universal Monsters?

Universal Monsters is a collection of pieces I’ve written over the last few years. Thematically, they each shed light on certain unsavory aspects of our nature that we’d 

often prefer to shroud in darkness, I suppose. The shorter pieces, almost without exception, all have a confessional thread running through them; the longer ones tend to be crime dramas.

Who are your influences?

Not one writer in particular, but postwar English playwrights; writers like John Osborne and Harold Pinter. Also, Mamet, of course. Howard Korder. But, to be honest, I think my writing is more a byproduct of novels by Hubert Selby, Jr., Nelson Algren and the criminally neglected Jon Fante. At a young age, I had an uncle who was important to me who introduced me to these and a lot of the other authors who still continue to inform my writing. Beyond any particular writer, relative to form, my true playbook is Greek theater. You will often find Greek theater relies a lot on storytelling to move along the plot, with a lot of action and violence central to the story occurring off stage. You can see a great deal of this technique employed in some of my longer monologues.

Your writing is pretty aggressive. Where do you think that comes from?

I really try not to over-analyze why I write certain things, fearing that it might slow my progress as a writer. But, I think I have confronted my share of anger and violence in my life, so it is only natural that it would rear its head in my work. I grew up in the projects in the Bronx and I often joke that my first memory was having a bottle hurled at me out of a fourth floor window that struck me square in the face, resulting in quite a lot of stitches across my chin. That being my earliest memory, it should come as no surprise that violence would shape my worldview. 

What were your favorite TV shows and Movies growing up?

I was a huge All in The Family fan. To me, each episode was a little play. All other television shows paled in comparison. I grew up during the 70s—arguably the best decade in the history of movies. Certainly for someone interested in writing the kind of stories I write. I also watched a lot of movies from the 40s. My dad was a film buff and introduced me to everything from John Huston to Howard Hawks, Michael Curtiz to Anthony Mann, Nicholas Ray to Sam Fuller, and everyone in between. Film Noir, in particular, matched my sensibilities and captured my imagination. 

How do YOU begin to write a play? (Take us through your thought cycle.)

If it’s like everything else I do, not the proper way. It all begins very vaguely for me, with a subject I want to explore. For instance, a recent job working alongside some pretty fucking hideous colleagues compelled me to write it, my play that staged at The Strawberry Festival and is included in Universal Monsters. Then, I begin building characters. My action or plotting comes out of the characters. I don’t really write treatments, but I do need to know a few important details before I begin. I need to know the opening, what happens at the end of the first act, an important midway point incident, and an epiphany that occurs at the three-quarters point—an incident that reconciles the event at the end of my first act. Then, I need to have a title. If I know those, I can begin to let the story tug me along until I hit those points. If I know too much before I write the revelations don’t seem to occur very organically. That’s my process. I’m sure a professor of drama would take me to task for this approach, but for me, this works. Until it doesn’t, of course.

What should no playwright be without?

For one, a day job. It’s lunacy to put pen to paper thinking you will make a dime at it. If you’re fortunate you will get a comped ticket for your troubles, and that’s about it. Secondly, a passion for storytelling is essential. That passion will get you up before work to write. Without it you will become one with the snooze button, trust me. The last, and most important thing you should have is at least one person that believes in you. For me, it’s my wife. If you could choose, it would be good for it to be a producer with deep pockets, but failing that, a wife, a parent, a close friend—any supporter is a good supporter. Also, it never hurts to have a heavy-handed bartender that fancies you.

What's your biggest problem with today's theater?

What do I know? I’m not even sure why I write plays—there are so few that I like. Nothing I see feels real or authentic or honest. Maybe that’s the problem, all of it seems too artificial to me.

Tell us about Bitch...

Back in 2007, I opened the newspaper to read about Michael Vick, the Philadelphia Eagles   

quarterback, who was implicated in an interstate dog fighting ring that he had reportedly   operated for over 5 years. After the immediate outrage, I began to talk to anyone who would listen about this awful story. Now, I love dogs as much as the next guy, but I wasn’t sure why this story struck such a nerve. Then, after months of following the story in the papers a friend brought to my attention the fact that dogs always seem to figure prominently in my stories. A light bulb went off. Sure, there was outrage and disgust, reading these articles, but perhaps I was really just doing research for a future story. But, what kind of fool would choose to be entertained by a story about dog fighting? What kind of fool would choose to write one. I immediately put the story on ice. Months later, Michael Vick was back in the headlines. He had served 21 months in jail and was being trotted around by his agent and publicist, trying not only to repair his image, but resume his football career. These articles painted a far more sympathetic portrait of Vick. Born in Newport News, Virginia, Vick’s family lived in the Ridley Circle Homes, a public housing project in a depressed and crime-ridden neighborhood located in the East section of the port city. Apparently drive-by shootings and drugs deals were a common occurrence. In one interview Vick said he used to “go fishing even if the fish weren’t biting, just to get away” from the violence and stress of the projects. If it was the journalist’s goal to make me feel for the guy, he succeeded. I thought to myself, maybe that’s the goal of my play as well. A story about equally icky people painted in a sympathetic light. Failing that, I can always fall back making them a little darkly funny. Four weeks later, the first draft of Bitch was complete.

Any upcoming projects?

I’ve been working on another in this cycle of Bronx tales, titled Jamie Towers. It is to the Castle Hill projects of the 60s what Bitch is to dog fighting. The story concerns some dirty business that needs to be attended to before a low income housing facility gets constructed. The play will have its first reading in the Universal Monsters reading series. It's hysterically funny in the I- just-took-a-hard-fall-on-my-ass–in-front-of-a-lot-of-people sort of way.

Welcome to THEATRE PROJECTed!

To all of our loyal supporters, and to the many new visitors stopping by our website, The Theatre Project is back and in full force! This year is very exciting to us here because we are going to have a lot to offer in the upcoming months. We have spent a large portion of our year developing our upcoming season of events, and decided to share them with everyone earlier rather than later!

 First off, we have updated our look. With the upcoming excitement we will have to offer, we felt The Theatre Project deserved a really clean site!

 As for our upcoming season, The Theatre Project is proud to be producing our first season dedicated to the work of one individual modern Playwright. That playwright is Sean Pomposello. When we first met Sean, we originally intended to produce just one of his plays, until we realized he had a treasure trove of other theatre pieces. So, with Sean as our wordsmith of the season, we are proud to announce our upcoming theatrical line up!

 This fall we will be unveiling our first play series, Universal Monsters. The series, will span from November to December. On select Thursdays we will feature ten of Sean Pomposello's plays! The plays are all very different, and the series will feature both full length and one-act plays, presented in readings and staged readings. We will also be offering talk backs with the playwright and cast throughout the series. Overall we are very happy to be able to offer this, and are looking forward to hearing our audience's reactions.

 After Universal Monsters, we are proud to present the world premiere production of Bitch by Sean Pomposello. Bitch is a very important production to us here at The Theatre Project. We have been working with Sean since this past January on developing the production! The play offers a unique look into the world of dog fighting, certainly a foreign subject on the theatrical stage, but a hot-button issue in mainstream media. Bitch is being presented the month of January 2011 as a limited run.

 With Universal Monsters and Bitch set to hit the stage in the late fall/early winter, we decided to offer something a bit earlier in the season for our fans to enjoy. Coming this September we will also be offering our new improv-comedy show, Dirty Sexy Improv! This monthly show will feature a team of comedians performing original sketch-comedy as well as long-form improvisation. Enjoy the laughsand cheap booze as Dirty Sexy Improv prepares to immerse you in a show that thrives when the audience gets liqoured up and involved!

 All of our upcoming productions will be staged at The Players Theatre complex, located in the heart of the West Village, at 115 MacDougal Street.

Now that you are all up to speed, The Theatre Project is excited to announce the launch of our new blog, THEATRE PROJECTed! Our blog will take you behind the scenes with interviews, videos, articles and sneak peeks of the innerworkings here at The Theatre Project! We hope you follow along, tell your friends and enjoy the ride!

 Check back here for many more updates throughout the upcoming months. If you can't get enough of us, please show your support by following us on twitter and blogger and become a fan on facebook!

Christian Amato

Founding Artistic Director

KeriAnne Murphy

Executive Director