Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Photo copyright Rache Philipson
The Hangar Theatre Company's The Wedge series features FREE cutting edge performances at The Cherry ArtSpace, 102 Cherry Street in Ithaca.

The Wedge performances run Thursdays-Fridays at 6 & 8 p.m., and are free and open to the public. 2019 dates include: June 20-21, July 4-5, July 11-12, and July 25-26.

Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (June 20 & 21) by Alice Birch, directed by Sophia Watt. Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again is a rowdy, funny, and terrifying play about the coming revolution to dismantle the patriarchy and the women preparing to lead it. This fierce new play examines language, behavior, and the forces that shape women in the 21st century. Originally developed as part of the Making Mischief festival at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The Revolutionists (July 4 & 5) by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Amanda McRaven. Though set in Paris in 1793, The Revolutionists is a contemporary story of sisterhood as a means of survival. Four women—a playwright, a queen, an assassin, and a spy become allies in the face of patriarchy. Inspired by the lives of real women—Charlotte Corday, Olympe de Gouges, and Marie Antoinette—playwright Lauren Gunderson also invents Marianne, a freed Haitian woman fighting to end slavery in the Caribbean. Realizing their only power is in telling their stories, they do and so claim their place in history.

The War Boys (July 11 & 12) by Naomi Wallace, directed by Sharifa Elkady.  The War Boys follows three young Texan men who spend their nights patrolling the Mexican border wall to earn a $10 bounty for every Mexican they catch crossing it. To pass the time, they play the game "The War Boys". But on this night things turn from fun to violent when the lines between fantasy and reality become dangerously blurred. The War Boys are forced to decide what it means to be an American and who has the right to belong.

The Thing I Hold (July 25 & 26) by Harrison David Rivers, directed by Ismael Lara, Jr. The Thing I Hold is a modern re-telling of Euripides' Greek classic, Alcestis, the story of a woman who chooses to sacrifice herself to death in place of her ill-fated husband. In the process, she both frees herself and becomes love personified, inviting us all to be love. Regional Premiere.

Since 1983, The Wedge has been the proving ground for some of the most dynamic and innovative theatre artists working today. Serving as a home for the Hangar's Lab Company and led by directors selected for the Drama League Summer Program, The Wedge produces provocative, cutting-edge theatre. This will be the third year that the Wedge has been in residence at The Cherry Artspace. In the past, The Wedge has produced original productions by some very exciting playwrights including: Kenny Finkle, Anne Washburn, Kathryn Walat, Gregory Moss, Caridad Svich and Lauren Yee. The Wedge has also launched the directing careers of such theatrical ground-breakers as Michael Mayer, Mark Brokaw, Lisa Peterson, Rob Jess Roth, Sam Gold, Rachel Chavkin, Kevin Moriarty, Joe Calarco, and the Hangar's Artistic Director Michael Barakiva.

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