Veteran publicist Beck Lee is switching hats, making his professional debut as a playwright. His dark comedy Subprime premieres in a workshop production at the Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) in June. It could be the easiest-to-get-to out-of-town try-out on record… just a PATH ride away.
Directed by Jason Jacobs, the five-character comedy, in which two Minneapolis couples come to New York for a bargain vacation nobody can afford, plays a limited four-show engagement at JCTC’s Merseles Studios, 339 Newark Avenue, on these dates: Thursday, June 8 at 7:30 pm; Friday, June 9 at 8 pm, and then on Saturday, June 10 at 3 pm & 8 pm.
Featured in the cast are Taylor C. Hays, John Long, Laris Macario, Sarah Street, and Jennifer Laine Williams. (Street starred in the critically acclaimed comedy Abigail’s Party at Barrow Group this past season.) The production design team includes Reid Thompson (set), Lawrence Schober (sound), Eric Marciano (projections). Gahlia Eden is the production stage manager.
Set in the summer of 2008 when hints of an impending financial meltdown were being felt and studiously ignored, Subprime introduces us to the Crocker-Kellys and the Swensons, two couples from the well-to-do Linden Hills neighborhood in Minneapolis. The scope of their denial about the state of their finances, their marriages and even their identities comes into sharp focus in the course of an evening of relaxation in their hotel.
Lee’s contemporary farce, which he co-conceived with Andrea Iten in Minneapolis, has had previous developmental readings in Minneapolis and New York.
http://www.onstageblog.com/reviews/2016/2/8/review-the-next-god-of-carnage-subprime-industry-reading
“This is an out-of-town tryout that couldn’t be closer to home, only a PATH train away,” says Lee, who adds, “I’m excited this project is being launched at JCTC, an exceptional new performing arts center in a charming, old part of Jersey City.” The Jersey City Theater Center— where Olga Levina is Artistic Director — is home of the new 450-seat, state-of-the-art performance venue called White Eagle Hall, which will present world-class contemporary theatre, dance and music from around the world. Subprime performs in the center’s smaller black box theatre, Merseles Studios.
For tickets, which are $25, visit www.jctcenter.org or call 877-987-6487. JCTC’s Merseles Studios, 339 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302 (bet 4th & 5th Streets), is six blocks west from Grove Street PATH Station.
Press is welcome at all performances.
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