PTP/NYCNew York, NY – With great regret, PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project) has announced the cancellation of their 2020 Off-Broadway summer season at The Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street) in New York City. Their 34th season was scheduled to run July 7 – August 2, 2020.

The company’s three directors, Cheryl Faraone, Richard Romagnoli, and Jim Petosa agree on the savage irony of the cancellation: “Of course this season was developed well in advance of the current horror -- eerily, the often blackly humorous or powerfully emotional stories of greed, loss, inequality and, yes, a pandemic are the headlines of our times.”

The rep was scheduled to include a double bill of Harold Pinter’s PARTY TIME, along with the playwright’s 10-minute PRESS CONFERENCE, directed by Richard Romagnoli. PARTY TIME and PRESS CONFERENCE illustrate the unavoidable consequences of human callousness. Pinter’s familiar menace is embodied in an invisible insurgency that demands accountability, causing the privileged to shudder as their culture begins to crack under the stress of their self-importance and indifference. The cast was to include Alex Draper, Caitlin Duffy, Tara Giordano, Emily Kron, Christopher Marshall, Jonathan Tindle and Kathleen Wise, with Madeline Ciocci, Madison Middleton and Max Tuana.

A second double bill was to feature the New York premiere of Caryl Churchill’s 2015 HERE WE GO, a triptych about death and aging, which the Guardian called “a striking memento mori for an age without faith.” HERE WE GO was paired with HOT FUDGE, a 1989 piece about grifters on a gravy train. Cheryl Faraone was to direct her fourth Churchill evening for the company in New York. The cast was to include Alex Draper, Caitlin Duffy, Tara Giordano, Christopher Marshall, Jonathan Tindle, Kathleen Wise and Connor Wright, with Becca Berlind, Wengel Kifle, Gabi Martin, Wynn McClenahan and Gabby Valdivieso.

The season was to be completed by THEN/NOW, described by director Jim Petosa as “a response to the current time and drawing largely from the impact on the lives of those most affected by the HIV pandemic, THEN/NOW sought to be a source of illumination, provocation, and inspiration as challenge would meet challenge from the stage.” The evening included the full text of Robert Chesley’s DOG PLAYS and additional material, and was developed and arranged by Petosa and Jonathan Adler, and made possible in part through a grant from the Mellon Foundation through the Sketch Model project at Olin College of Engineering. The cast was to include Jay Dunn, Christo Grabowski, Lucy Van Atta and Alan Wade, with Molly Dorion, Cooper Kelley and Lior Selve.

The production team was to include Designers Mark Evancho and Josh Bradford, and Production Stage Managers Devin Wein and Alex Williamson, with ErinMarie Suscheck.

The company looks forward to presenting their 34th season in the summer of 2021.

PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project) continues to redefine politically aware theatre for the 21st century by presenting theatrically complex and thought-provoking work of contemporary social and cultural relevance. Howard Barker is one of PTP/NYC’s most produced writers, along with Caryl Churchill, Neal Bell, Sarah Kane and David Edgar. The company’s writers are provocative, engaging and often confrontational.

PTP was founded in 1987 by the artistic team of Cheryl Faraone, Jim Petosa and Richard Romagnoli who continue to run the company. Alex Draper is Associate Artistic Director. Since moving to New York in 2007, PTP/NYC has produced 30 main stage productions and numerous late evening readings, workshops and experimental theatre pieces in their After Dark series. The company is committed to the training of young actors and designers, enabling them to work with experienced and generous professionals as they serve an apprenticeship and begin their own work in the theatre.

For more info and upcoming events visit PTPNYC.org. Like PTP/NYC on Facebook at Facebook.com/pages/Potomac-Theatre-Project-PTP/32709392256, follow on Twitter at @ptpnyc, and on Instagram at @ptpnyc.official.

 

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David Gibbs/DARR Publicity

646-744-7200 or david@darrpublicity.com