COItc in CT

War Crimes hits the road.

Our offering at the 2010 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity will be revived at Tunxis Community College, Farmington, Connecticut, on April 8-9. In addition, the playwright will be participating in Tunxis' Eighth Annual Writers Festival on April 13. You can read more about the festival here.

[Tunxis]

your weekly af(sw) update

The waters keep rising.

Our friends and family keep coming through, helping us build a base of funds to continue our campaign into the fall. Of course, we need you to join up sooner rather than later.

There will be some chances for you to join us before the main event. We are an official selection as a staged reading in the 2011 Planet Connections Theater Festivity, and keep tuned to this space for more details on that and other opportunities for you to rub elbows with our spectacular cast and crew.

In the meantime, toss a couple nickels our way, wont you?

All’s Fair (Six Western) is made possible through the generous support of the Puffin Foundation, Centrum, Anonymous, Leonardo Giadone, Andrew Grosso, Barbara Hohlt, Eunice Inquimboy, Aaron Isquith, Janet Isquith, Steven Leshnower, Esq., Jackie Miller, Cristian Ossa, and Laura Rubin.



Conflict of Interest theater company (COItc) is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of COItc may be made payable to Fractured Atlas. The value of various goods or services is variable depending on contribution level. Any contribution above amounts specified on the campaign page is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

[af(sw) campaign]

call for submissions [PCF]

Actors, Writers, Directors --

The Planet Connections Festivity is accepting submissions for its third year. If you've got some stuff to strut, read on:

The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, New York's premiere eco-friendly/socially conscious, not-for-profit theatre festival, is currently accepting submissions for its 2011 season. The festivity accepts all topics and subject matters including but not limited to: new works, musicals, adaptations, one-acts, and solo shows. No time limits. We accept short and long formats. For details and an application, please visit www.planetconnectionsfestivity.com.


The deadline is February 1st. The festivity will take place in June 2011 at Robert Moss Theater (440 Lafayette Street), The Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond Street) and Bleecker Street Theater (45 Bleecker Street).


The Festivity is designed to utilize art to promote social consciousness, inspiring people to become involved in their community. Live theater can ignite social change. Through theatre, audiences view the world from a new perspective, exploring the unique connection of humanity.


Fostering a community of like-minded artists is fundamental to the success of the festivity as the relationships formed throughout allow talented artists to find new audiences and partner with new teams opening doors to creative outlets beyond their previous scope.


Executive Director, Glory Kadigan, is “looking forward to the third year of the festivity with eager anticipation. As I meet with the returning artists and new artists I am confident that this year will continue our tradition of coupling high-quality productions with vital philanthropy. The festival has been written up in the NY Times, Clyde Fitch Report, Broadway World, Theatre Is Easy, The Happiest Medium and featured on The Sundance Channel. Productions have received favorable reviews from Back Stage, Broadway World, NYtheatre.com, Fab Marquee and more.

sausage gets made, special Monetizing Emma edition

Playwright Felipe Ossa and dramaturg Sergei Burbank at the final run-through for Monetizing Emma:

Monetizing Emma was originally staged as part of the 2009 Planet Connections Festivity, where it won a boatload of awards (to the point of crowding out Wrestling the Alligator in some categories, ahem ahem), and it now being remounted as part of the 2010 NYC International Fringe Festival.

With us having this much fun in rehearsal, how could you resist? Tickets are still on sale. Only five performances left, and the next performance is tomorrow.

(They're going fast, so hurry.)

Monetizing Emma returns

In case you missed it during its critically acclaimed, sellout run at the 2009 Planet Connections Festivity -- Monetizing Emma is back, and it OPENS TOMORROW! Directed by lass="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">COItc's very own Leah Bonvissuto and with the entire original cast, Felipe Ossa's outstanding play was preciously prescient a year ago. It's terrifyingly right-on-target now.

But don't take my word for it: take a gander:

This pirated version is our personal favorite, though:



Monetizing Emma runs from August 14 - 25 at HERE Arts Center in New York City. Get your tickets now.

belated congratulations

We are way overdue in recognizing the work of COItc's resident graphic designer, Eunice Inquimboy, whose brilliant postcard design won Outstanding Postcard Design at this month's Planet Connections Festivity Awards, recognizing her brilliant work for War Crimes. She was the only winner of our bevy of nominees -- all of whom were quite deserving -- but we're especially proud that her great work was recognized.

The War Crimes postcard was so good, so innovative, we can't even replicate it on the internet. It lived in three dimensions -- if you were lucky enough to be on COItc's mailing list, you got a piece of history in your mailbox in June. If not, well, remedy that right away: join our mailing list by dropping us a line -- conflictinfo [at] gmail [dot] com.

congrats to the cast and crew of War Crimes

It's awards season for the second annual Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, and COItc will be making a return trip. Congrats to the following nominees:

Sarah Hartmann Outstanding Actress in a Featured or Cameo Role of a Play
Mike Inwood Lighting Design
Sara Wolkowitz Outstanding Use Of Projections, Special Effects, AND/OR Multi-Media Event
Eunice Inquimboy Outstanding Postcard Design
Sergei Burbank Congeniality Award

(And, of course, huge congratulations to COItc Managing Director of Stage Leah Bonvissuto and Felipe Ossa on their multiple nominations for Cake. The smart money says they'll be running the table again this year....)

The awards ceremony will be August 1 at the Players' Theatre. Tickets and a full list of nominees are available here.

war crimes production photos

Now that you've run out of chances to see it (and the cast has their copies), I guess we can show you production pics from War Crimes, which closed Sunday night at the Robert Moss Theater as part of the Planet Connections Festivity. (This post links to a couple reviews we got.) [All pictures are by the incomparable Karen Sieber.]

Sarah Hartmann as Martha

Timothy Roselle (hand) as John and Mariam Habib as Salha

Roselle, David Nelson as Pieter Schaghen, and Alexis MacDonald as Pascal

Hugh Sinclair (screen) as the President and Nelson

Laura Piquado as Thomasina More and MacDonald

it's a little strange...

...that I like the ambivalent parts of our reviews the most. I know they're not pull quote material, but I want them to be. if we learned one thing between last summer and this one, it's that live theater is better with booze -- especially if the main take-away of your play is that everyone dies.

without booze, theatre is easy's review of War Crimes is all "meh":

If you're looking for a pick me up, this is not the show for you, however if this subject matter interests you in the slightest, you should see for yourself the story concocted here. It is sure to leave you with much to think about.

but the easy favorite is nytheatre.com's write up. they liked it, but you can clearly tell the reviewer is annoyed that she does:

We're left wanting more, but more of what?

Who the hell knows? Come see for yourself.

100 reasons why you should buy tickets to war crimes [10-1]

Tickets are on sale now for our June production of War Crimes. You should buy some. Here are some reasons why:

10. Because you have even more chances to see us -- two show dates have been added to our run
9. Because since it's our podcast, we can't record a hilarious show preview like the one released this week for Ossa, Bonvissuto & Co
8. Because you want to be able to brag about going to the Planet Connections Festivity in “the good old days”
7. Because for the love of Pete, how prescient can one script be?!
6. Because you'll want to brag about seeing these actors before they hit it big
5. Because with all the hard labor that's gone into mounting this production, it's so worth it
4. Because it's a stage, film, and radio drama all rolled into one
3. Because free t-shirts [Note: there are no free t-shirts associated with this production]
2. Because surely Cake is sold out by now, and I am the intellectual bastard child of Felipe Ossa
1. And because we open tonight.

That's it. I have no more reasons for you: buy your tickets right now.

A new episode is ready for download. Something a little different this time, as we chat with Leah Bonvissuto, Felipe Ossa, and Erin Leigh Schmoyer, three of the forces behind Cake, which opens on June 5th at 45 Bleecker, and is part of the Planet Connections Festivity.

This episode's got everything:

• Veiled references to sado-masochism
• Not-so-veiled threats for Ann Coulter
• A music preview from A Silent C, performing later this month at the BoCoCa Arts Festival

As always, there are three ways to listen:

(1) Stream the episode below

(2) Visit our podcast page and listen online: conflicttheater.podOmatic.com

(3) iTunes users can click this link

countdown

One day until War Crimes. [tickets]

Three weeks until live COI podcasts as part of BoCoCa. [tickets]

[Do you miss my rants about things other than upcoming shows? Well I miss sleep. We all have to make sacrifices.]

100 reasons why you should buy tickets to war crimes [20-11]

Tickets are on sale now for our June production of War Crimes. You should buy some. Here are some reasons why:

20. Because our run got extended -- two new performance dates added!
19. Because we've got a French lesbian character in it
18. Because our production supports Amnesty International, and Amnesty serves as an advocate for the innocent, like this man
17. Because the DoD doesn't want you to know about it
16. Because where else will you see Dutch, French, British and Americans milling about in the same place -- other than any given street in Midtown?
15. Because we can all agree that terrorists are assholes, and the rule of law annoys them
14. Because between this and other choice productions, finding quality plays in this festival is a piece of Cake
13. Because you know you think accents are sexy
12. Because even civil servants serving in the prestigious halls of international justice can be catty bitches

11. Because it's a great lead-in to coming to see us in Brooklyn later this month

Need more reasons? Come back next week. Otherwise, buy your tickets right now.

more War Crimes in the news

Martin Denton's nytheatre blog writes up our connection to Amnesty International and how our plot dovetails with their mission. It's worth a look. (So's War Crimes.)

countdown

One week until War Crimes (it skipped a week because our run has been extended!). [tickets]

Four weeks until live COI podcasts as part of BoCoCa. [tickets coming soon!]

sausage gets made, continued (war crimes)

Set pics from the second film shoot for our upcoming production of War Crimes:

[buy tickets]

100 reasons why you should buy tickets to war crimes [30-21]

Tickets are on sale now for our June production of War Crimes. You should buy some. Here are some reasons why:

30. Because you know the kind of intellectual laziness that leads writers to develop numbered lists instead of developing fully fleshed-out ideas? Yeah, this play is the exact opposite of that
29. Because it was prescient enough to be relevant to the legal clusterf*ck that is the state of Arizona
28. Because it's useful to see America as a strange new land sometimes
27. Because I would much rather you buy a ticket than buy me a birthday present
26. Because some of the script also turned out to be prescient in a creepy way
25. Because this cast is a revelation
24. Because tickets to a pseudo-courtroom thriller make for the perfect gift
23. Because an Arab-American is the new Miss America -- progress!
22. Because after the show you have an embarrassment of culinary riches
21. Because of all depictions of the end of the American Empire, this is the least disturbing

Need more reasons? Come back next week. Otherwise, buy your tickets right now.

War Crimes gets the talkup

We mentioned it before, but if you can, take a listen to the most recent episode of the Broadway Bullet Podcast, you'll find a chat with yours truly about War Crimes. (It's somewhere around the 1:50 mark...)

new profile of COI online

The NY performing arts examiner has a new profile up of the company, and it's worth a look, if for nothing else the dazzling slideshow at the bottom...

100 reasons why you should buy tickets to war crimes [40-31]

Tickets are on sale now for our June production of War Crimes. You should buy some. Here are some reasons why:

40. Because Amnesty issues outstanding reports like this
39. Because The Market Complex is gunning for our guy
38. Because this play illustrates that will happen once we're not listening to each other anymore
37. Because our fake trial will tide CSPAN junkies over before the Kagan confirmation hearings begin
36. Because our postcards provide tactile delight -- seek one out today and you'll be sure to agree
35. Because we're trying to get a Betty White cameo via Facebook group
34. Because you probably should get a handle on the end of the American Empire before it happens for real
33. Because certain Michigan lawmakers clearly need to see this play
32. Because you probably need solace after voting for the Lib-Dems
31. Because the male cast members are really, really tall; it's kinda unsettling

Need more reasons? Come back next week. Otherwise, buy your tickets right now.