The Committee's 2007 Season

TASTE: a reading series of new plays

THE VIGIL OR THE GUIDED CRADLE * by Crystal Skillman * Thu Jan 11 & Sun Jan 14
LULU ASCENDING * by Caridad Svich * Fri Jan 12 & Sat Jan 13
SENSE OF AN ENDING * by Ken Urban * Mon Jan 15 & Tue Jan 16

THE VIGIL OR THE GUIDED CRADLE
By Crystal Skillman, Directed by Judson Kniffen

An American girl meets a translator on the streets of Prague.
In the 16th century, Ippolito invents a new form of torture.
A play about how now is then.

Thu Jan 11th @ 8pm & Sun Jan 14th @ 4pm

LULU ASCENDING
By Caridad Svich, Directed by Dylan McCullough

Lulu is trapped in a world drunk on sex and money.
But true escape requires extreme means.
A contemporary riff on Wedekind's PANDORA'S BOX.

Fri Jan 12th @ 8pm & Sat Jan 13th @ 8pm

SENSE OF AN ENDING
By Ken Urban, Directed by Pat Golden

Charles must get the story of two nuns accused of genocide.
But before the journalist can know, he must understand with his skin.
An Easter play for skeptics.

Mon Jan 15th @ 8pm & Tue Jan 16th @ 8pm

All readings at the Linhart Theater @ 440 Studios, 440 Lafayette, 3rd Floor
(6 to Astor Place, N to 8th Street, across the street from the Public Theater)
Suggested Donation: $5
Reservations: rsvp@thecommitteetheatre.org or 212 969 0499

ken's other hobby

as if playwriting didn't keep me occupied and poverty-stricken enough. i have been making music for the past year as occurrence. music made by machines and person for other machines and persons.

look here, occurrence has a myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/occurrencemusic
(go here to download tracks, check out photos and kick it myspace style.)

look here, occurrence was a finalist for an award:
http://drunkenboat.com/db8
(go here to read about awards and such and enjoy art made by very talented peoples.)

xken

patron saints of the booth

these guys watched the show every night
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kept tabs on things
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as you can see they are quite animated
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har

dylan in the booth

sept 30 curtain call from stage

closing night final moment

closing night "the moment"

closing night curtain call

strike day one

strike day two

two weeks later

exciting pictures posting soon
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thanks to all who came
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thanks to all who worked on the show
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thanks to those who read this and are still

Check out Lee Savage's web site for some great production shots (the site takes a minute or so to load so be patient)
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http://www.wingspace.com/pmwiki.php/Projects/Kant

More post-show fun coming soon.....

American Oggi

Gli attori - a New York sono sempre sorprendenti. Precisi e convincenti. "I Love Kant" di Ken Urban. Dura solo un'ora perché il regista ci fa vedere tutta la lenta preparazione del palcoscenico. Siamo compensati poi da quattro donne in quattro cubicoli che ci rivelano la loro personalità. Linda (Kate Benson) studia da anni Kant. Betsy (Frances Mercanti-Anthony) è pronta all'amore ma è spesso delusa. Pam (Edelen McWilliams) sa che morirà in un'esplosione. Succede. Maureen (Kate Downing) e la più sensibile e sfortunata. Droghe e un amante che la tratta male. Steve Boyer è l'uomo che passa da un cubicolo all'altro. Molti appluasi a cinque abili attori, ben diretti da Dylan McCullough.

You Tube

This is the moment when something weird happens
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Words - Backstage

splendidly
adroit
misery
(or not)
naturalistic
isolated
company
out-of-the-blue
beautifully
humorlessness
funniest
unites
strikingly
jarring
dull
surprising
best
inscrutable
meaningful

Words - Show Business Weekly

disparate
worth
lonely
confused
uptight
lost
overcome
succumb
beauty
agreeable
beautiful
sublime
good
versatile
shine
enlighten
realm
ghost
ambitious
arane
subtleties

Words - TONY

notion
inspiration
comedy
exceeds
familiar
bizarre
prophetic
smart
handily
myriad
enhances
invigorating

Words _ Variety

daunting
flaky
neurotic
collective
cleverly
polished
finicky
reflective
raw
OK
comfortable

Words - NYT

crafty
little
unexpected
nimble
knowing
admirable
free-flowing
empathy
detailed
noisy
gimmick
meaningless
more

open

we're open.
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we played to 150 during our first weekend. great huses for a 65 seat house.
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now we wait for those that talk about such kind of events to talk about them.
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too proud and happy to care what they say. as an artist.
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as a producer, good things please.
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lovely opening night party at virage.
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didn't take pictures.
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come see the play now.
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byeeeeeeeeee

1st preview

1st preview

Newark Star Ledger

N.J. trilogy in works

Linda, a Highland Park resident, is at Rutgers, trying to write a dissertation. At a reunion in Toms River, Betsy has an incestuous relationship. Maureen is a Jersey City substitute teacher who's in a terrible romance. Pam works in Newark in a building that's been bombed by terrorists.

They're the characters in "I (Heart) KANT," Ken Urban's new play, and the first in a trilogy. All three are set in New Jersey.

Urban knows the Garden State. His father, Walter M. Urban, was once mayor of Medford in Burlington County. He also taught at Rutgers during the '90s, where all three plays are set.

"When I was growing up in South Jersey, it seemed so Republican," says the playwright. "Now it's changed so much. ... The state has gone through massive alterations."

"I (Heart) KANT" plays Friday through Oct. 2 at the Linhart Theater, 440 Lafayette St., New York City. Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays and Mondays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18. Call (212) 352-3101 or visit www.theatermania.com.

--Peter Filichia

Brooklyn Rail

Check out Isaac Butler's wonderful article about the play/production.

The link is just to your right.

just move your eyes over and let your mouse/trackpad/imbedded pointing device do the work.

Village Voice

Ken Urban’s New Jersey–set comedy concerns four Garden State gals, each in need of enlightenment, and includes the philosophies of the immortal Immanuel. Reviews from its L.A. premiere offer plenty of pure reasons why it should be enjoyed. We Kant wait. Dylan McCullough directs. (Soloski)

day before the day

invited dress tomorrow.

we've added a powerbook to the sound system. so now a smapler, powerbook, iPod. No traditional playback of any kind will be used.

the show looks amazing. the actors and designers are doing amazing work.

you all should really come.

use special code KANT for $12 tix for perfs on 9/8, 9/9, 9/10, 9/15, 9/17, and 9/18.

TONY

Time Out NY's preview says about I (Heart) Kant:

"Ken Urban's new philosophical comedy follows four women in New Jersey coming to grips with Kantian epistemology, talking stuffed cats and, you know, living in Jersey. Will Dylan McCullough's direction be phenomenal or noumenal? Only your Pure Reason will figure it out."
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I'm hoping for a little of both.
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ah tech....

kate asleep.

linda's bookshelf

still a work in progress. a lot of the books that we have brought in for inspiration are a part of this. lots of philosphy books. and infinite jest.

thom with scaffold backstage

alone on stage at midnight

tech day one of three

This is the only picture I have of tech which is our production meeting which kicked off at 11:15 tonight.
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If you need four great designers or a great production manager or great stage management, these are the people you want.
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We're blessed to have them.
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We teched the first 12 pages or so which was a perfectly respectable day one. Oh and it looks great.

i heart k?

kmart is using this as a marketing campaign. crossover appeal? we should write ANT on all the windows...
hmmm...

sound

this is the sound set up for the show. betsy could explain it better but we're running sound off of my ipod, a cd player, a mini disc and an akai sampler with midi triggers which is what the roland keyboard is for. different sounds will be triggered by the different keys which will allow me (did i mention i am running this system during the shows?) to access many sound cues and choose different ones each night for individual moments. we've also augmented the theatre with additional speakers and amplifiers to cover all this.

I will be running sound for every show (though i am hoping Betsy will come in and guest dj when the mood strikes her). I will also be able to manipulate the lights nightly (though I am also hoping that Thom will come in and guest dj as well). I will have 24 submasters that i can use to augment the "set" light cues. The costumes also have some elements that can be altered from perf to perf. This truly creates a one-of-a-kind experience for every performance.

in essence we are doing a different version of the production every night, much like a band performing a song. There is a set form to follow nightly but room to experiment.

our process will never end and the actors, SM and I will touch base after each show to talk about what effects worked and which maybe didn't. We're growing with each performance. it's all very exciting (and scary).

Linhart Theater Midnight Thursday 8.31.2006

set build day #3

ryan saws wood

set build day #3

lee mixing

set build day #3

ryan w/ saw

set build day #3

thom & grant & joe ben on set

set build day #3

grant on set

r14

designer run through before focus tomorrow. we had staged most of the play except for scene four.
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here is part of me, emily, thom, lee and betsy.

i cannot express how exciting and invigorating it is to get in that rehearsal room at the end of the day.
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i for one am very intersted to see how this will turn out.

Linhart Theater 9am Wednesday 8.30.2006

r13

we rehearsed in the smaller black box @ 440 (home for the 29-31 before we move into the space on 9/1). we staged the first half of the play.
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this is really happening.

r13

r13

Linhart Theater 9am Tuesday 8.29.2006

at the beginning of day two....

Linhart Theater 9am Monday 8.28.2006

here is what the theatre looked like at 9am monday, day one of load-in

r12

our last day of table work. we finished working through the play and then read it once at the table. For the first time the actors interacted with the actual groundplan of the space for a run throught of the play. Words used by the actors to describe it included "thick, huh and little."

During the run, when they weren't in a scene, they were drawing with two colors (except for steve who had five) their experience of the play. or something like it. what follows are each of their drawings
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r12

kate's

r12

frances'

r12

katy's

r12

steve's

r12

edelen's

r11

more at the table

r10

i took no pictures today so here is the sky

to the table today. we worked scene one at the table. ken came. kate brought cupcakes. they were tasty. time to get specific. not time to think we don't have time and we have to hurry and "decide" everything and not be fluid. Time to take the enriching character work that we have done over the last week and marry it with the text. the play is the thing.

postcards going out....

field trip

while the production team had its 2nd production meeting, the five actors were sent to NJ on field trips. They were each given $20 for train fare and to use to buy (and/or find) five items; one for themself and one for each of the other characters in the play. Here's where they went:

Pam to Newark

Linda to New Brunswick

Maureen to Jersey City

Betsy to Metuchen

The Guy to Edison

They shared interesting tales during Wednesday's rehearsal.

The pic is from an office building in Newark snapped by Edelen.

postcard

r8

our first run through.

not much music used today except for the arvo part's cantus in memory of benjamin britten. one of my favorite pieces of music. haunting stuff. i first experienced this piece at the Shaw Festival during a production of The Petrified Forest. The huge battle scene at the end of the play was staged in silence and all you heard was the Cantus. Absolutely breathtaking spectacle.

r8

i asked them about 40 questions tonight for the characters to answer in a 1st person, stream of concsiousness way. This is my favorite Ken Washington exercise. Questions ranged from "what role does romantic love play in your life?" to "describe a time when you were happy with your family." to "What's your last name?" Gives the actors more to think about and create a fuller life for their character which inevitably makes what happen on stage deeper. It also blurs the line between actor and character in a farily vivid way.

rehearsal 7

we worked a bit on scene three. we shuffled the pages up and did pages at random. steve as the guy would rip the tape off the floor exposing the women.

we used some sub sub (doves), manic street preachers, eminem and many versions of everything in its right place.

for the first time in the rehearsal, the women got to be together and touch and use each other's strength. they crerated a formidable scene partner. this is a great shot of them blurring together.

r7

steve facing the women

r7

edelen (foreground) frances (background) in their boxes

rehearsal 7

katy (foreground) kate (background) in their boxes

r6

we found this balloon in our rehearsal space. we like it very much.

music used today: basinkski (disintegration loops), the bees, bowie.

other material used today: dfw's infinite jest:

"so yo then man what's your story?"

actors created their characters' story with words and drawings

color blocks

we created these during rehearsal 5. eight colors with words on top.

Immanuel