NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP

TO PRESENT

THE RETURN OF

THE FIVE LESBIAN BROTHERS

 

FIRST PERFORMANCE TOGETHER IN SIX YEARS

 

OEDIPUS AT PALM SPRINGS

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY THE FIVE LESBIAN BROTHERS

DIRECTED BY LEIGH SILVERMAN

 

FIRST PRODUCTION OF NYTW'S 2005-06 SEASON

 

BEGINNING PERFORMANCES WEDNESDAY, JULY 20

AND OPENING WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3

NEW YORK, JUNE 30, 2005 - New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), one of New York's leading non-profit theatre companies, will present a new production by The Five Lesbian Brothers. New York Theatre Workshop Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Lynn Moffat have announced that Oedipus at Palm Springs, directed by Leigh Silverman, will begin performances Wednesday, July 20 at 7:00pm, at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. Opening night is scheduled for Wednesday, August 3 at 7:00pm.

Love! Valour! Lesbians!  The Five Lesbian Brothers (comprised of writers/performers Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron) are back after a six-year absence with a sexy new take on a crusty old play.  Oedipus at Palm Springs examines the real-life work of trying to love another person through the story of two long-term couples on a weekend trip to the desert paradise.  When the Brothers magically mix the fun-loving surface of tanning, mixed drinks, golf, and sport utility vehicles with a messy infrastructure of commitment, marriage, passion, and motherhood they serve up a comedy so brave it will leave you not only shaken but stirred.  Oedipus at Palm Springs is directed by Leigh Silverman, who recently directed Lisa Kron's Well at both the Public Theater and San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater.

Oedipus at Palm Springs marks the return of The Five Lesbian Brothers to New York Theatre Workshop.  Previous productions at NYTW include Brides of the Moon (1997) and The Secretaries (1994).

James Nicola, NYTW's artistic director says, "We're going to have a hot summer with the Brothers. Their singular blend of wit, deviance, and drama will surely captivate audiences as they take a loving wrecking ball to a classic story and give it fresh twists for our times."

The Five Lesbian Brothers are Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey and Lisa Kron. The Brothers came together as a theatre company in 1989 after performing together in various other combinations at the Obie Award-winning WOW Cafe Theatre. Their repertoire includes four full length plays, Voyage to Lesbos,

Brave Smiles, The Secretaries and Brides of the Moon, as well as numerous event-specific showstopping acts. The Brothers’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway and beyond by New York Theatre Workshop, The Joseph Papp Public Theater, the WOW Cafe Theatre, Downtown Art Company, Performance Space 122, Dixon Place, La Mama, the Kitchen and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Phillip Morris. They have  toured to London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Columbus, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, and the deep woods of Michigan. Their plays have also been produced by other companies throughout the United States and, believe it or not, in Zagreb, Croatia.  In addition to their theatrical work, the Brothers have also written a book of lesbian humor for Simon and Schuster and three short films for HBO. They were selected, along with Kiki and Herb and Tammy Faye Starlight, to host episodes of "Late Night Out" on the Showtime Network. Their work is taught in theatre and queer/feminist studies courses in universities throughout the U.S. The Brothers are the recipients of a Village Voice Obie Award, a New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie"), and a New York Press Award as Best Performance Group. An anthology of their plays entitled "Five Lesbian Brothers/Four Plays" was published in 2000 by Theatre Communications Group.

Leigh Silverman most recently directed the world premiere of Well by Lisa Kron at New York's Public Theater and a subsequent production at San Francisco’s ACT. Well appeared on numerous prestigious top ten lists of 2004, including The New York Times. Other New York directing credits include the 20th anniversary revival of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at Second Stage Theater and Finder's Fee at Rattlestick Theater.  She will be directing the world premiere of Big Times at Walkerspace. Regional credits include Bad Dates at the Cleveland Playhouse, Jump/Cut (world premiere) by Neena Beber at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre (Washington, D.C.), Wit on London's West End and at the Geffen Theatre (Los Angeles), How I Learned to Drive at Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan at Theatre J (Washington, D.C.), and Blown Sideways Through Life at the Adirondack Theatre Festival. Other workshop productions include Baltimore Center Stage, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, New York Stage & Film and the Sundance Theatre Lab (2001 & 2003). She wrote and directed Brandon Teena, which had an extended run in New York, was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award, and had subsequent productions in Texas and Pennsylvania. She holds a dual degree in directing and playwriting from Carnegie

Mellon University.

Scenic design for Oedipus at Palm Springs is by David Korins; costume design by Miranda Hoffman; lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger; sound design by John Gromada; and the production stage manager is Martha Donaldson.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is a leading voice in the world of Off-Broadway and within the theatre community in New York and around the world. Since its founding in 1979, NYTW has emerged as a premiere incubator of important new theatre, honoring its mission to explore perspectives on our collective history and respond to the events and institutions that shape our lives. In addition, NYTW is known for its innovative adaptations of classic repertory. Each season, from its home in New York's East Village neighborhood, NYTW presents five to seven new productions, over 80 readings, and numerous workshop productions, for over 60,000 audience members. Over the past twenty-five years, NYTW has developed and produced over 100 new, fully staged works, including Jonathan Larson's Rent, Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul, Doug Wright's Quills, Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde, David Rabe's A Question of Mercy, Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away, and A Number, and Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla. The 2002 remounting of Martha Clarke's seminal work Vienna: Lusthaus and subsequent American tour was one of the longest-running productions in NYTW's history. NYTW supports artists in all stages of their careers by maintaining a series of workshop programs including work-in-progress readings, summer residencies, and minority artist fellowships. These workshops have enriched the entire theatrical community, as NYTW has participated in the evolution of many plays that have garnered critical and audience acclaim, such as Margaret Edson's Wit and Tony Kushner's Angels in America. In 1991, NYTW received an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement and in 2000 was designated to be part of the Leading National Theatres Program by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Oedipus at Palm Springs plays at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. The performance schedule is Tuesday at 7:00pm, Wednesday through Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sunday at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. The running time is approximately ninety minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $60 and may be purchased on-line at www.telecharge.com, 24 hours a day, seven days a week or by phoning Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200. For exact dates and times of performance, you can also go to Telecharge.com.  

Maintaining its commitment to making theatre accessible to all theatregoers, NYTW continues its CheapTix program in which all tickets for all Sunday evening performances will cost $20. Tickets may be purchased in advance, payable in cash only, and are available in person only at the NYTW Box Office during regular box office hours. And for all performances, student tickets cost $15, based on availability, and can be purchased in advance from the NYTW Box Office with valid student identification.  The NYTW Box Office is open 1:00pm to 6:00pm, Tuesday through Saturday.