Award Winning Retro Productions Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary Season With
The Butter and Egg Man
By George S. Kaufman
May 15 – 30, 2015 at the Gene Frankel Theatre
“Modern theatre is often about The Now or even about The Next, but Retro Productions understands the importance of remembering our recent history. The significance of reflection is always poignantly observed in their revivals.” – New York Theatre Review
“Retro Productions is a force of nature, with such strength it blew me away…Truth, honesty, and great chops, it’s everything that is great about American theatre.” – nytheatre.com
“Retro Productions, one of the Off-Off Broadway’s best kept secrets, has been wowing those in the know with one stellar production after another.” – nytheatre-wire.com
“I’m off to one of my favorite theater companies: Retro Productions, which unearths plays from the distant past.” – Theatremania
Retro Productions is celebrating their 10th anniversary with, The Butter and Egg Man by George S. Kaufman. Perhaps one of Kaufman’s lesser known works, The Butter and Egg Man is a wonderful comedy about producing theater and was one of Kaufman’s biggest Broadway successes when it opened at the Longacre Theatre in 1925. The production is directed by Ricardo Rust who co-produced Retro Productions, An Appeal to the Woman of the House which was nominated for 3 New York Innovative Theater Awards and won an award for Heather E. Cunningham for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role.
The Butter and Egg Man follows our hero, Peter Jones, a likable Mid-Western boy, as he navigates the sometimes exasperating and always exciting world of Broadway. Written in 1925, it is a hilarious satire about a seemingly simple country boy who comes to New York to break in to theatrical producing under the misguided idea that he will double his money. But the young man may be smarter than he seems – will he be able to turn a “flop” in to a “wow”?
The production stars Heather E. Cunningham (Off-Broadway/The Runner Stumbles), Shay Gines (Retro/Dear Ruth), Rebecca Gray Davis (The Brick), Sarah K. Lippmann (59E59/Billboard), Ryan McCurdy (Broadway/Once), Ben Schnickel (Guthrie Theater), Seth Shelden (59E59/Asymmetric), Brian Silliman (Clay Mcleod Chapman’s The Pumpkin Pie Show), Alisha Spielmann (Off-Broadway/The Runner Stumbles) and Matthew Trumbull (FringeNYC/The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children).
The creative team includes dramaturgy by Dillon Slagle, sound design by DeLisa White, light design by Andrew Trent, set design by Jeff Stander (NY IT Nomination for Retro’s Dear Ruth), properties design by Sara Slagle, costume design by Viviane Galloway (NY IT Nomination for Retro’s The Desk Set), and stage management by Alyson Cermak.
All performances take place at the Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street (Between Lafayette & Bowery), New York, NY 10023. Subways: 6 to Bleecker Street, B/D/F/M to Broadway/Lafayette.
Tickets are $18.00 (adults), $15.00 (students/seniors), and $10.00 (children under 12) and are available at www.retroproductions.org
SHOW DATES:
Friday, May 15th @ 8:00 pm (Preview)
Saturday, May 16th @ 8:00 pm (Opening night)
Sunday, May 17th @ 2:00 pm
Monday, May 18th @ 8:00 pm
Wednesday, May 20th @ 8:00 pm
Thursday, May 21st @ 8:00 pm
Friday, May 22nd @ 8:00 pm
Saturday, May 23rd @ 8:00 pm
Wednesday, May 27th @ 8:00 pm
Thursday, May 28th @ 8:00 pm
Friday, May 29th @8:00 pm
Saturday, May 30th @ 8:00 pm
BIOGRAPHIES:
George S. Kaufman (Playwright) was an American director and playwright who often collaborated with other writers. Notable plays include Royal Family, Dinner at Eight, and Stage Door all written with Edna Ferber. With Moss Hart he wrote Once in a Lifetime, Merrily We Roll Along, The Man Who Came to Dinner and George Washington Slept Here. He won a Pulitzer Prize for the play You Can’t Take It With You (1937 with Moss Hart/currently on Broadway), and the musical Of The I Sing (1932 with Morrie Ryskind and Ira Gershwin) which was the first musical to receive a Pulitzer.
Ricardo Rust (Director) recently served as the music supervisor/choreographer in developing a new musical, Somewhere With You, which premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival this past July. He has directed and/or choreographed numerous shows in New York, including: The Whaleship Essex (Movement Director), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Choreographer), Upon My World and Word (Director/Choreographer), Benefactors (Fight Choreographer). Regional credits include: directing and choreographing Forever Plaid, Footloose and Sweeney Todd. Evil Dead: The Musical (West Coast Premiere/Choreographer), Mame (Co-Choreographer), Avenue Q (Regional Premiere/Choreographer), and RENT: School Edition (National Premiere/Choreographer).
ABOUT RETRO PRODUCTIONS:
Retro Productions (Heather E. Cunningham, Artistic Director) was founded in 2005 with the mission to present works of retro theatre. Retro is defined as “involving, relating to, or reminiscent of things past (American Heritage Dictionary).” Retro Productions strives to tell good theatrical stories which have an historical perspective – with an emphasis on the 20th century – in order to broaden our own understanding of the world we live in.
Over the past 10 years, Retro has produced 16 full-length plays including The Runner Stumbles which was moved to an off-Broadway run by The Bleecker Company in 2011.
Retro Productions has received 21 New York Innovative Theatre Awards nominations since 2008 – including 2 wins for Outstanding Actress in a Lead, for Kristen Vaughan (Benefactors by Michael Frayn in 2011) and Heather E. Cunningham (An Appeal to the Woman of the House by Christie Perfetti Williams in 2014). Nominations include Outstanding Production of a Play for An Appeal to the Woman of the House in 2014, Benefactors in 2011 and The Desk Set in 2010, Outstanding Original Full-length script for An Appeal to the Woman of the House in 2014, Outstanding Ensemble for Benefactors in 2011, as well as acting and design award nominations. www.retroproductions.org
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