The new political satire, THE WAR PARTY will have its New York City premiere at The New York International Fringe Festival in October. Written by Vincent Delaney’s and directed by Broadway veteran Don Stephenson (Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Goodspeed, Paper Mill Playhouse), the limited run will play October 14 – 23 in Manhattan.
Originally inspired by Republican Linda Smith’s hard-fought 1998 Senatorial race, which she lost to Democratic opponent Patty Murray, the play has enjoyed previous productions at the Seattle Public Theatre in Washington and Interact Theatre in Philadelphia. Further updated by playwright Vincent Delaney after a developmental reading with Up Theatre Company in January 2018, this timely and provocative satire is even more relevant today given our current political climate and culture!
It’s 3 am on election night. Campaign headquarters is outfitted for a huge celebration, but the room is dead quiet. Laura Smith, the Republican incumbent and supposed favorite, lost her Senate race in a landslide. Suddenly without friends, and drunk as a skunk, Laura is thinking of cashing it all in…that is, until one of her loyal and spunky interns, Jesse, rescues her from the brink of disaster and wrestles her, quite literally, back to political life. With the uninvited ghost of FDR, THE WAR PARTY is a modern political parable about our broken two-party system.
The cast features Jennifer Piech as Laura Smith (Titanic, The Ride Down Mount Morgan, original Broadway casts), Odelia Avadi as Jesse (Diary of Anne Frank, Azalea Path/MITF), and William Youmans as FDR (Carousel-2018, Wicked, Bright Star, original Broadway casts).
The creative and production team includes Scenic Design by Rob Bissinger (Sochi 2014 Olympic Opening Ceremony), Costume Design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy (A Christmas Story, The Goat), Lighting Design by Shelby Loera (Your Alice at BAM, Lysistrata Jones), Sound Design by Shannon Slaton (The Illusionists, The Humans, Present Laughter), Production Artwork by Michele Parrella, Stage Management by Rachel Kaufman and Assistant Direction by Amanda Kate Joshi. Executive Producers: Jennifer Piech Pasbjerg and Odelia Avadi. Producers Jared Wietbrock and Jay Douglas.
In keeping with the festival spirit, this year, all audience members will meet at The FringeHUB, 685 Washington Street (Between Charles & Perry) and will be walked to the theatre by a Fringe Ambassador. All theatres are within 3 blocks of the FringeHUB. Tickets are $22 and go on sale September 1 at https://bit.ly/2wqWWDj. Running time: 1:35.
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