My interview with the new writers' site Kanjy is here. On the the inter-generational journey of becoming an artist, the wisdom of Deb Margolin, and how paleontologist Jack Horner lit a fire under my ass. Check it out!
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Tickets on sale now. Buy now and buy often. Bike America is coming home to NYC! Four weeks only: September 24 - October 20 @ The Theatre at St. Clement's Get a ticket and stick it in your calendar. Because saying, "I saw that!" is so much more satisfying than saying, "Ohhhhhh I wanted to see that." Tickets available at Ma-Yi's website right here. Bike America by Mike Lew directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel Featuring Vandit Bhatt, Jessica DiGiovanni, Melanie Nicholls-King, David Shih, Marilyn Torres, Tom White, and Landon G. Woodson Set by Andrew Boyce, costumes by Melissa Schlachtmeyer, lights by Matthew Richards, and sound design by Jill BC Du Boff. Winner of the Kendeda Grad Playwriting Competition! Bike America is a wildly theatrical picaresque journey that crams the entire continent onto one stage. The play unfolds as a cross-country bike trip from Boston to California, with stops in big cities and small towns along the way. Our feckless heroine Penny is looking to bring more meaning into her life, to find a lifestyle that suits her and a town that feels like a home... so she drops her clingy boyfriend in Beantown and takes off for Santa Barbara! Along the way she befriends a colorful crew of bikers: Ryan, the health nut biking instructor; Tim Billy, the innocent wanderer; Annabel and Rorie, the badass activists seeking to get gay-married in every state they hit on the trip; and the mysterious Man with the Van who carries their stuff. BIKE AMERICA
by Mike Lew directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel with Vandit Bhatt, Jessica DiGiovanni, Melanie Nicholls-King, David Shih, Marilyn Torres, Tom White, Landon G. Woodson designs by Andrew Boyce (set), Melissa Schlachtmeyer (costumes), Matthew Richards (lighting), Jill BC Du Boff (sound) September 24 - October 20 The Theater at St. Clement's TICKETS ON SALE NEXT WEEK! BIKE AMERICA is a wildly picturesque journey that crams the 48 contiguous states onto one stage. The play unfolds as a cross-country bike trip from Boston to Santa Barbara, with stops in big cities and small towns along the way. Our feckless heroine Penny is looking to bring more meaning into her life, so she drops her clingy boyfriend and takes off for the Pacific. Along the way, she befriends a colorful crew of bikers in this multi-state, multi-generational, Blue and Red mash-up. BKE AMERICA was originally produced at the Alliance Theater. For more info go to http://ma-yitheatre.org/ This weekend Rehana and I will be doing a little husband-wife collabo by shooting a couple episodes of a new web series we are co-creating. To give you a sense of our relative skill sets, she said "We should work on a shot list" and I said, "Yes, what kind of drinks?"
Here's a link to my Q&A with the Working Theater about the playwright/director relationship. This is in anticipation of the upcoming 4th Annual Working Theater Directors Salon, which will feature my new short play Ten Page Manifesto
Please join me for the 4th Annual Working Theater Directors Salon The June Havoc Theatre: 312 West 36th St 7 NEW PLAYS inspired by WAITING FOR LEFTY, directed by YOU! ("YOU" to be determined in a drawing on June 17th.) Featuring my new short play "Ten Page Manifesto," as well as short works by Keith Josef Adkins, Chad Beckim, Michael Lew, Halley Feiffer, Cándido Tirado, Mfoniso Udofia, and Alladin Ullah. After trips to Atlanta, DC, and San Francisco, Bike America is coming home for its NYC premiere.
Get ready for it in September. More soon... -M Video: Cast members Tonya Pinkins, Julie Reiber, Julian Fleisher, and Maulik Pancholy attempting a synchronized cartwheel. My wife Rehana and I just finished co-writing one of the 24 Hour Musicals, which is an evening of four 15-minute musicals, all written, composed, rehearsed, and performed in a single day. We got paired up with the fantastically talented composer Sam Willmott, and the three of us stayed up all night Sunday to serve up a delicious serving of skin-of-your teeth musical theater. At 9pm Sunday we met up with the company and met all the actors. At 11pm we drew for a cast and got to work. By 7am the next day we'd written a brand-new short musical. Rehana and I have co-written several times before, but never NEVER under such high-pressure, sleepless conditions. WHAT was going to happen?? It all had me feeling a little like this... Fortunately, our love and our dramaturgy remained strong. Sam was an insanely generous presence, and everyone around us generally kicked ass. (The video above is brought to you by the fact that Julie Reiber mentioned she'd never done a cartwheel onstage, so we found a way to work that into our book. The cast was so amazing and collaborative that they all decided to get in on the action.)
Here's a before-and-after pic of our overnight writing session... Bike America will be produced by Ma-Yi Theater in NYC Sept-Oct. Check back here for more details soon...
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