Tag Archives: Ben Prayz

Empire Stage to Present Yasmina Reza’s ART April 29 – May 15, 2022

06 Wednesday Apr 2022

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“…This comedy crosses cultural barriers with such ease …a limber comic exercise
 in escalating tensions.” ~ Ben Brantley, The New York Times

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

April 6, 2022

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL:  How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art? These are just some of the questions that are asked, but not necessarily answered in Yasmina Reza’s award-winning play, ART.  ART will open at Empire Stage on April 29th and run through May 15th.

ART is a fascinating, clever, and often comedic exploration of both art and friendship.  Serge, one of a trio of three long-time friends indulges his penchant for modern art and buys a large, expensive, completely white painting. His friend Marc is horrified, and their relationship suffers considerable strain as a result of their differing opinions about what constitutes “art”. The third member of the trio, Yvan, caught in the middle of the conflict, tries to please and mollify both of them.  As their discussions move from the theoretical to the personal, the three friends are forced to ask questions not only about the nature of art, but about the nature of friendship.

Amir Darvish

“I have been wanting to direct and work on ART for several years”, says the show’s director, Amir Darvish. “To me, productions that really resonate are those that delve deep into relationships and how those bonds are tested. I want to make audiences think and laugh at the same time. How a simple event can mean so many things to different people and the viewing audience.  What can we tolerate? When do we speak up? Who are our friends?”

Empire Stage Executive Producer David R. Gordon agrees wholeheartedly. “I am very excited to be working with Amir Darvish on this project.  ART is not the type of play we typically do here at Empire Stage, and I am very curious to see how many of our regular patrons show up to see it.”

Darvish has cast Dean Nigro as Yvan, Ben Prayz as Serge, and David R. Gordon as Marc.  Gordon recently garnered excellent reviews in Pigs Do Fly Productions’ 2 Across.

David R. Gordon, Dean Nigro, Ben Prayz

Yasmina Reza’s ART premiered in 1994 at Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The play, translated by Christopher Hampton, subsequently ran in London in 1996 and on Broadway in 1998 and garnered numerous awards during all three runs, including the Molière Award for Best Commercial Production, the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle for Best Play, and the Tony Award for Best Play.  ART has been produced in 30 countries and translated from the original French into 45 languages.

Brian Bloomer will serve as ART’s Stage Manager, Preston Bircher is the show’s Lighting Designer, Dean Landhuis is the Set Designer, and David Hart is the show’s Sound Designer.

Tickets for ART are $35 and are available online at www.empirestage.com or by calling 954-678-1496.  Performances are on Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and on Sunday at 5 pm. All performances will take place Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.

For more information about Empire Stage please visit www.empirestage.com.   To arrange for interviews or for photos, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

~

ART
April 29 – May 15, 2022By Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Amir Darvish
Tickets: $35
For tickets:
www.empirestage.com / 954-678-1496
Performances:
Friday & Saturday at 8 pm
Sunday at 5 pm
All performances take place at 
Empire Stage
1140 N. Flagler Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304

  • Amir Darvish
  • Ben Prayz
  • Dean Nigro
  • David R. Gordon
  • David R. Gordon, Dean NIgro, Ben Prayz
  • Dean Nigro, David R. Gordon, Ben Prayz

Southeastern Premiere! The Award-Winning Play CHASING JACK at The Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park March 12 – 22

18 Tuesday Feb 2020

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Jolt Productions, Inc. In Association with
Midlife Crisis Productions
Presents
The Southeastern Premiere of
Chasing Jack
March 12 – 22, 2020

 “This riveting, insightful and roller coaster of a ride is not done
until the last card is drawn.”
~ Susana Bowling – Times Square Chronicles

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

February 18, 2020

BOCA RATON, FL:   Chasing Jack, the award-winning play by John S. Anastasi, will have its southeastern premiere at the Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park this March.  The production, to be directed by Peter J. Loewy, will begin previews on March 12th and open on March 14th.  The show will run through March 22nd.

Chasing Jack, which won the Best Play Award at the 2019 New York Theatre Festival Summerfest, is the story of Dr. Jack Chase, a surgeon with a serious gambling addiction.  Through the lens of a malpractice lawsuit that could end his career, Chasing Jack explores familial relationships, medical ethics, and the potentially crippling effects of addiction.   The stakes couldn’t be any higher as Jack looks back at pivotal moments in his life, his relationships, and his career.

John Anastasi, M.D.

“I had written several plays, three of which were produced Off Broadway,” playwright John Anastasi said recently, when he was asked how Chasing Jack came about.  “It was after a reading of my play I Forgive You Ronald Reagan, starring Lucie Arnaz and her husband Laurence Luckinbill, and we were all out for dinner.  Lucie asked me about her mother’s aortic dissection (I am a thoracic surgeon in ‘my other life’!) and we started talking about heart surgery.  She listened to all the stories and was mesmerized, and at the end of the evening she said, “You write well but the best stories are when you write and talk about what you do!”  My response was that I spend 14 hours a day doing heart surgery, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer and write about it.

“So, two plays later I was at the opening night party of my play, Would You Still Love Me if, with Kathleen Turner,” Anastasi continued.  John Patrick Shanley came up to me and said almost the same thing: “Write about what you know…” There are two things I love, medicine and the law.  My daughter is a lawyer.  So, I started to think of how to connect them all and after an especially difficult operation, the germ of the story began.

“I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I’m Jack, because I’m not,” he says.  “Some of me is in him as I believe some of me is in all the characters I write, even the women.  The monologues Jack speaks regarding what it’s like to be a heart surgeon are very real.   The addiction concept is drawn from having the unfortunate experience of operating on drug addicts over the years, and watching them lie, betray, and systematically destroy every relationship, especially the people who love them the most.”

Anastasi and Director Loewy have cast a combination of local and out of town actors in the production.  Galen Murphy Hoffman will play Dr. Jack Chase, and two-time Tony Award nominee Crista Moore will portray the attorney Ockerman – the first time a woman has played this role.  Other cast members include India H. Jarvis as Taylor, Elana Valastro as Rebecca, David Sadaka as The Judge, Rick Malone as Robert, Ben Prayz as Dr. Fox, and Francis Allen as Dr. Noel.

Chasing Jack will run from March 12th – 22nd at the Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park.  Tickets are $30; group rates (6 or more tickets purchased in one transaction) are $25.  Tickets can be purchased online at sugarsandpark.org/chasing-jack  or by phone at 561-347-3948.  The Willow Theatre is located at 300 South Military Trail, in Boca Raton’s Sugar Sand Park (33486).

For more information about Chasing Jack please visit www.chasingjacktheplay.com/.  To arrange for interviews, or for photos, or to arrange to see the production, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

This is a story about a world-class gambling obsession
that starts off at 100 miles-per-hour and builds from there.
It’s not a courtroom drama.
It’s a courtroom bombshell.

~*~

Chasing Jack
March 14 – 22, 2020
Preview performances March 12 & 13.
By John S. Anastasi
Directed by Peter J. Loewy
Tickets: $30 / $25 for groups of 6 or more
For tickets:  561-347-3948 or https://sugarsandpark.org/chasing-jack
Showtimes:
Thursday, March 12 at 7pm
Friday, March 13 at 8pm
Saturday, March 14 at 2pm
Saturday, March 14 at 8pm
Sunday, March 15 at 2pm
Thursday, March 19 at 7pm
Friday, March 20 at 8pm
Saturday, March 21 at 2pm
Saturday, March 21 at 8pm
Sunday, March 22 at 2pm
All performances will take place in
The Willow Theatre at Sugar Sand Park
300 South Military Trail,
Boca Raton, FL 33486

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MNM Theatre Company Announces the Cast of MAN OF LA MANCHA – Tickets on Sale June 21st

13 Thursday Jun 2019

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MNM Theatre Company
Announces the Cast of
Man of La Mancha
Tickets on Sale June 21st

 

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

June 13, 2019

WEST PALM BEACH, FL:  MNM Theatre Company is pleased to announce that casting has been completed for their upcoming production of the award-winning musical Man of La Mancha, which will run from September 13 – September 29 in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

“We are absolutely thrilled with this cast, and this crew,” MNM’s Executive Producer/Artistic Director Marcie Gorman said recently. “We at MNM are committed to hiring locally – there is such a depth of talent and ability in South Florida – and our La Mancha actors, musicians, and entire creative team are proof of that.”

Bruce Linser, winner of the 2018 Carbonell Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his work on Woody Guthrie’s American Song, will direct Man of La Mancha:
“As an actor myself, I love working with actors during the audition and rehearsal process,” Linser says.  “They’re so hungry to get inside these characters and this story, and it’s exciting to help them personalize their work, and to watch them come alive within it.   I always look for an essence of the character within the actor at auditions, and I think this is going to be a particularly powerful retelling of this beautiful story with this particular cast of actors.”

Linser has cast Michael McKenzie* as Don Quixote, 2018 Carbonell Award-winner Anna Lise Jensen* as Aldonza, and Mark Kirschenbaum* as Sancho. (Brief biographies can be found below) Other cast members include Matthew Korinko, Johnbarry Green, Gaby Tortoledo, Ellie Pattison, Rebecca Diaz, Joey Swift, Manny Zaldivar, Jonathan Eisele, Frank Francisco, Joshua Graham, Milton Mendez, Shanna Woods, Rio Peterson, and Ben Prayz.

Paul Reekie will serve as Man of La Mancha’s Musical Director, and Christine Kellogg will choreograph the production.

Man of La Mancha will run from September 13 – September 29. The production will take place in the Raymond Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Rinker Playhouse.   Tickets are $65 and will be on sale on June 21st.  For tickets and information 561-832-7469; on line: www.kravis.org or mnmtheatre.org.  For group rates and sales call 561-651-4438.

MNM Theatre Company attained not-for-profit 501(c)(3) status in 2018. They are an award- winning theatre company based in the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Donations can be sent to MNM Theatre Company, 318 S. Lake Drive, Lantana, FL 3362.  For more information, please visit mnmtheatre.org.

For more information about MNM Theatre Company and/or Marcie Gorman, please visit mnmtheatre.org or contact Carol Kassie at Carol@CarolKassie.com / 561-445-9244.

*Appearing through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

~

Man of La Mancha
September 13 – 29
Written by Dale Wasserman
Music by Mitch Leigh
Lyrics by Joe Darion
For tickets: www.kravis.org / 561-832-7469
Tickets:  $65
Performances:
Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 7:30 pm
Saturday & Sunday at 1:30 pm
All performances at
The Rinker Playhouse at
The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
701 Okeechobee Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
mnmtheatre.org
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Michael McKenzie (Cervantes/Don Quixote) lives in both NYC and Boynton Beach and has appeared locally in Sweeney Todd (Palm Beach Dramaworks), We Will Not Be Silent (Theatre Lab at FAU), Dangerous, Déjà Vu (Caldwell Theatre), and Dinner With Friends (Cuillo Centre). On Broadway he appeared in Waiting in the Wings, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Eastern Standard. His Off-Broadway credits include Kari Floren’s If Wishes Were Horses, A Late Supper, and Voices of Swords. Michael has toured nationally in Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It, Orchards (John Houseman’s The Acting Company), and regionally (Baltimore Center Stage, Denver Center, Pittsburgh Public, Pioneer Theatre, Triad Stage, Capital Rep, Arkansas Rep, and many others). Some of his television and film credits include House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Younger, Blacklist, Law & Order, All My Children, and many episodes of Babylon 5.

Anna Lise Jensen (Aldonza) received a Silver Palm Award for her performance in MNM Theatre Company’s 2018 production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. She received both a Silver Palm Award and a ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ Carbonell Award for her performance in Slow Burn Theatre Company’s The Bridges of Madison County. Anna Lise has also received Silver Palm Awards for her work as Reza in Once (Actors’ Playhouse) and Alison in Fun Home (Zoetic Stage). Other South Florida theatre credits include Indecent (Palm Beach Dramaworks), Finding Mona Lisa, (Actors’ Playhouse), Sunday in the Park With George, and Passion (Zoetic Stage). Next season she will appear in the Florida premiere of Villainous Company (Primal Forces) and as Mother in Ragtime (Slow Burn Theatre Company).

Mark Kirschenbaum (Manservant/Sancho) is making his MNM Theatre Company debut with Man of La Mancha. He has been seen all over the world as an actor, educator, and director.  Some of Mark’s recent credits include Sam Posner in Crossing Delancey, Mal Beineke in Addams Family: The Musical, Peter in Company, Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, and Man 1 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.  He had the opportunity to join the Brooklyn cast of Man of La Mancha in 2007, where his portrayal of the Padre received critical acclaim from the New York Times.

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OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES Premieres in Florida – November 1st!

23 Thursday Oct 2014

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openingpage-2-1Old Jews Telling Jokes
Premieres in Florida
at the Broward Stage Door Theatre
OJTJ - Logo…a priest, a rabbi and a frog walk into a bar…

October 23, 2014,
Coral Springs, Florida

When Eric Spiegelman and his partner Tim Williams asked film and television producer Sam Hoffman if he had any ideas for an internet website, he pitched the concept of Old Jews Telling Jokes. Millions of views, shares, and guffaws later, Hoffman – in collaboration with Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent, brought his Old Jews to Off-Broadway for an extremely successful run at the Westside Theatre.

Mazel Musicals, Inc. award winning producer Lawrence Toppall in association with Derrell Bunn and the Broward Stage Door Theatre will launch the Florida tour of Old Jews Telling Jokes at the Broward Stage Door Theater beginning Saturday, November 1st.

The show, which has been called a “pickle-barrel full of giggles”, showcases five actors in a revue-type production that pays tribute to and reinvents classic jokes of the past and present. It celebrates the rich tradition of Jewish humor “and all the rabbis, complaining wives, fed-up husbands, patience-challenged physicians, gossiping ladies and competitive men” populating it. The humor can be suggestive (sometimes even raunchy) as the ‘Old Jews’ make fun of themselves as well as followers of every other religion.

“I attribute [Old Jews Telling Jokes’] success to a number of factors,” says Hoffman. “It’s funny. We launched …in [2009] the year when the recession was nearly at its worst and I think people really liked having something fun to download…. it celebrates older people with no irony, and I think that’s a fairly unusual commodity in popular entertainment.”

Toppall and Bunn have chosen Peter J. Loewy to direct the production, which will feature Ashley Brooks, Gail Byer, Adam Chisnall, Ben Prayz, and Michael Small.

Loewy is no stranger to the South Florida Theatre scene, having directed several Broward Stage Door Theatre productions including his own musical The Kid from Brooklyn. “The material, the premise, the humor, and this cast are a terrific combination,” he says. “This show is going to appeal to every audience, I guarantee it. Age, ethnicity, attitude – none of it matters – because laughter transcends it all.”

Old Jews Telling Jokes will open on November 1, 2014 at The Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs. The theatre is located at 8036 Sample Road, in Coral Springs.

Tickets for Old Jews Telling Jokes are $44. Tickets may be purchased at the Broward Stage Door Theatre box office at 954-344-7765 or on line at http://www.stagedoorfl.org.

For more information about Old Jews Telling Jokes and/or The Broward Stage Door Theatre, please visit www.stagedoorfl.org , or contact Derelle Bunn Executive Producer/Artistic Director, at DerelleBunn@yahoo.com / 954-344-7765 or Carol Kassie (ckassie@gmail.com / 561-445-9244).

Photographs and graphics available on request.

Old Jews Telling Jokes
Created by Peter Gethers & Daniel Okrent
Based on the website www.oldjewstellingjokes.com created by Sam Hoffman
Opens: November 1 – on sale through January 4
Tickets: $44
Phone: 954-344-7765
   Showtimes:
Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2:00 pm,
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm
Sunday at 7:00 pm (starting the week of… 2nd week)
The Broward Stage Door Theatre
8036 W Sample Rd
Coral Springs, Fl 33065
www.stagedoortheatre.com
Facebook Page
Old Jews Telling Jokes Website

 

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