A blog on theater (and other stuff) from the fine folks at Apple Core Theater Company
A Modest Suggestion opens TONIGHT! And to give you a taste of the madcap mayhem that is to come, here are a few photos of our wonderful cast in action.
Performances begin tonight down at Theatre Row and continue through May 27 (with shows on Tuesdays at 7 PM, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 PM). And remember, tickets are only $15!
We hope to see you there. We promise: you’ll laugh your tuchus off.
Actor Jeff Auer on the rehearsal room
Today we load-in A Modest Suggestion into our new home, Theatre Row, and as we’ll be pretty busy all day hanging lights and painting walls, we thought we’d take this opportunity to hear from one of our wonderful actors, Jeff Auer.
Jeff has been a collaborator and friend of ACTC from the beginning. He in fact helped launch this whole shindig with his stirring performance as a traumatized war veteran in “The Return of Odysseus” in Won and Lost. Then he took on an equally challenging part in our revival of William Hoffman’s As Is: that of a man stricken with AIDS, when the disease was first emerging in the mid-1980s.
As terrific a writer as he is an actor, here is Jeff’s take on what the rehearsal room for A Modest Suggestion mean to him.
Let me let you in on a little secret. A Modest Suggestion is actually no so modest at all. It tackles big themes and poses questions destined to provoke, all the while going for cackles in the aisles. It very well could piss a few people off. I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a project quite like this. Yet stepping into the unknown and the nerves that come with it have been counterbalanced by a much needed sense of serenity.
You see, my life has been, in a word, chaotic. Let’s face it, whose isn’t? Especially in this stressful, unforgiving, wacky town that I love to pieces even when it drives me nuts. But lately I have been ensnared in a particular stretch of madness. Some of my own doing, some not. I’ll explain.
First, the stressful. I’m an actor, so I’ve set myself up for a life of consistent inconsistency. I’ve make my living in voiceovers. If you’ve watched TV or listened to the radio in the last ten years and actually pay attention to the commercials (why you would I have no idea), you’ve probably heard my voice. But as any actor knows, you’re only as good as your last job. For most of us there is no steady paycheck or any sense of stability. Compound that with a mortgage and two young kids to raise, my days are not exactly carefree. Sometimes I bring my children to auditions and while they stare at me as I’m about to read a few lines off a piece of paper that could be worth their college education, I can’t help but think they’re thinking, “Daddy, don’t f*** this up.”
Now, the unforgiving. My family and I recently moved back home after nearly seven months away due to an issue in our apartment that was detrimental to my wife’s health. Unsure how long it would take to fix the problem, we moved eleven times in the first four months until we found a place that could house us permanently. While we were gone my son got eaten alive by bedbugs at one the places we lived, one of our cats suddenly died without us being there for his final days and upon moving back in we discovered we were robbed, including many pieces of vintage jewelry passed down through the generations to my wife who had hoped to give them to our daughter. The cops came, filed a report and really haven’t given a crap since.
Finally, the wacky. I was checking the messages on my home phone which I hadn’t done while we were away. There was a message from September, a man about thirty calling to let me know I had left a backpack at his cafe across the street from my son’s school in Brooklyn. Nothing too strange about that, except for the fact about a month and a half later the young man was found shot to death and burnt beyond recognition in a field in Pennsylvania. After leaving an audition recently I was hustling to get across the street when a man with one lone tooth on his bottom gums ran to block my path, shoved me, said “Move, faggot!”, and proceeded to calmly walk down the street. Then there’s the subway, where one of my agents was on a crowded rush hour train when a woman began screaming uncontrollably right before defecating in her pants and my wife had to flee to the opposite end of a train she was on so she could avoid getting into the middle of a scissor fight between two passengers.
Which brings me back to working on this play. When I step into the rehearsal room, all of life’s extraneous circumstances washes away. No kids, no bills, no faulty apartment, no bedbugs, no dead cats, no thieves, no murders, no psycho pedestrians, no subway degenerates. Three blissful, uncluttered hours of doing what I love to do. For A Modest Suggestion, that means embodying a character who leads a group of men into repeating one of the darkest chapters in the history of humanity. What could be more peaceful than that?
We may not have posted about A Modest Suggestion in a while, but we’re going to make it up to you with a series of behind-the-scenes photos from our recent rehearsals, and much more in the next few days. Check out our dashing businessmen as they run through the first scene of the show — and don’t forget to buy your tickets!
Drum roll please…
We have artwork for A Modest Suggestion!
Adam Kaynan - who designed the image for As Is and took on the set design for our last show, By the Dawn’s Early Light - put together this striking image for us.
What do you guys think? We hope you think it’s as provocative as we do and will prompt you to click here over and over again.
Interview: Russell Jordan
Throughout our production of A Modest Suggestion, we’ll be posting interviews with our cast and production team. We’re thrilled to begin with the inimitable Russell Jordan, who is not only a social media guru (follow him on Twitter!), but also plays the role of “C” in A Modest Suggestion.
Why did you decide to pursue acting?
In a 2004 event that could only be described as kismet, I was reunited with a good friend and fellow York College (CUNY) Theatre Arts alumnus, who after asking the usual catch-up-on-lost-time questions, inquired as to how my acting career was “coming along.” (The reality was that after earning my degree, I had settled into my day-job and was not acting.) I shared with him that since graduation I was basically just plugging away at the day-job… and then 9/11 had happened (I was on the 64th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001)… and then there were the recovery efforts (where my office was moved to Jersey City, New Jersey for year and change)… and then my office was moved back to midtown Manhattan… and then there was this… and after this there was that…
And my friend responded with: “All I know is that you are an incredibly talented actor and I do not believe the reason why you did not perish in the 9/11 attacks was so you could live out your remaining days plugging away at the day-job.”
At that moment, I decided to actively pursue acting.
My off-stage life has had enough drama (9/11, remember?), and being a storyteller affords me, with every performance, the opportunity to balance the scales.
How did you end up in New York City?
No choice as to how I ended up in New York City… I was born here and have lived here all my life, except for one year where I attended Clark-Atlanta University in Georgia.
What’s your neighborhood? What’s your favorite part about it? Least favorite?
I live in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and love my close proximity to Atlantic Terminal while also being far enough away from all the hustle and bustle on Flatbush Avenue. Prospect Heights, like my former Clinton Hill, Brooklyn neighborhood, has been “discovered” and gentrification is happening at a fast clip. Note to Mayor Bloomberg: the introduction of restaurants and bars and the like do not fill the cultural void left by the residents, most of whom are renters, who get “priced out.”
With A Modest Suggestion, playwright Ken Kaissar aims to not only lampoon racism and anti-Semitism, but the competitive, often surreal climate of office culture.
What better demonstration of Jewish humor and the absurdity of office culture than Frank Loesser’s brilliant How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying? “The Company Way” — especially as performed by Bobby Morse and Sammy Smith — is practically a vaudeville routine.
Harpo says: tickets are now on sale.
We’re more excited than Harpo Marx when he sees a pretty lady.
Tickets for A Modest Suggestionare now on sale! So click here to get your tickets!
You can also visit www.Telecharge.com or call 212.239.6200. Or if you’re strolling around 42nd Street (not that kind of stroll…), come on down to the Theatre Row box office to pick up your tickets — 410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenue.
And because we really do love you, we’ll type out all of the performance dates for you:
Thursday, May 10 at 8 pm
Friday, May 11 at 8 pm
Saturday, May 12 at 8 pm
Sunday, May 13 at 3 pm
Tuesday, May 15 at 7 pm
Wednesday, May 16 at 8 pm
Thursday, May 17 at 8 pm
Friday, May 18 at 8 pm
Saturday, May 19 at 8 pm
Sunday, May 20 at 3 pm
Tuesday, May 22 at 8 pm
Wednesday, May 23 at 8 pm
Thursday, May 24 at 8 pm
Friday, May 25 at 8 pm
Saturday, May 26 at 8 pm
Sunday, May 27 at 3 pm
So what are you waiting for? It’s a small house - only 55 seats actually - so those tickets will go fast. Especially since they’re only $15 a pop.
And you may just laugh harder than these guys.
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We had a terrific meet-and-greet last night for A Modest Suggestion, and now that we’re beginning our mad descent into the rehearsal process, we only thought it’d be appropriate to introduce you to the fine lads we have onstage.
Aren’t they a handsome lot?
* * * * *
JEFF AUER - This is Jeff’s third production with Apple Core and fifth under the direction of the inimitable Walter J. Hoffman. Theater: As Is (Theater Row), Buddy Becker’s Big Uncut Flick (Player’s Theater), The Return of Odysseus (TBG Theater), Tough Guys Don’t Shoot Blanks (Barrow Street Theater), Is That A Gun In Your Pocket? (Emerging Artists Theater), Vice Girl Confidential (Cherry Lane Theatre), Clinton’s View (Teatro La Tea), Fool For Love (Arthur Seleen Theater), Divinity Bash/Nine Lives (Pantheon Theater), Burn This (Westside Dance Project), A Lie Of The Mind (American Theater Of Actors), The Beauty Part (Gloria Maddox Theater). Film: Thunder Road, One Night Only, Summer Thunder, Yoga and Ecstasy, Monotony, The Clinic, The Bump In The Road. Jeff has appeared in national commercials and recorded numerous voiceovers for radio and television. SAG-AFTRA, AEA
BOB GREENBERG - This Improv Comic, Stand-Up, Actor and Clown has been making people laugh for years. Film: Dark Corner, The Tailor, Sad Sack Sally, Glow Ropes, Freax of the City, Heartbreak Hospital, Big Money Hustlas and Maid In Manhattan. TV: SNL (with Jim Carrey in Opening Monologue), Lights Out, The Next Best Thing, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, LateLine (Al Franken), Primetime Live (Diane Sawyer), Guiding Light and Law & Order. Regional Theatre: The Odd Couple, Pomp Duck & Circumstance (Circus), Harvey and Running In The Red. On Broadway: Hosted THE 39 STEPS Talkback Tuesdays, Winner of The 39 Steps1st Annual Alfred Hitchcock Look-A-Like Contest & Hosted the 2nd & 3rd Contests. Off-Off Broadway: The Jazz Singer. Bob stars as “Ralph Camden” in New York Dinner Theater’s The Honeymoaners. Bob is also a member of the Friars Club.
ETHAN HOVA is a founding member of Exit, Pursued by a Bear, where he recently played George Tesman opposite Billy Porter and Jeff Whitty in The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler. Other New York productions include King Lear (EPBB), Arok of Java (EPBB), Spinning the Times (59E59), Rhinoceros (Brooklyn Lyceum), multiple Youngblood Brunches (Ensemble Studio Theatre), and the original production of A Modest Suggestion at Columbia University. Ethan can also be seen and heard on episodes of ER, E-Ring, NCIS, and the feature film Accepted. He’s a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and thanks Ken for this opportunity and his continued support.
RUSSELL JORDAN makes his Apple Core Theater Company debut in this production. Other Theater Row: Beirut (Athena Theatre Company), Tower of Toys (Aurora Theatre Ensemble). Other NY Theatre: Big Black Mexican Woman (Metropolitan Playhouse), Hell and High Water… (MultiStages). He is a Maieutic Theatre Works (MTWorks) company actor, last seen in Absinthe (part of their 2012 National Newborn Festival). He would like to extend his deep appreciation to Walter, Allison, and the entire ACTC family for the opportunity to “play” with such a talented cast. Follow Russell on Twitter at @RussJordan and sign-up for his newsletter at http://www.bitly.com/rjnewsletter. Russell is a member of AEA.
JONATHAN MARBALLI is currently a performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade performing monthly as a member of the Maude team “Beige.” He is also a former member of The Flea Theater’s resident acting company (the Bats). His last show there was The Great Recession with world-premiering one-acts by Will Eno and Adam Rapp, directed by Jim Simpson. Other New York work includes: Hamlet reading with Alec Baldwin (Fundamental Theatre Project), Toby in Twelfth Night and Cloten in Cymbeline with Frog & Peach and Henry V and Measure for Measure with Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. He has also worked with Miscreant Theatre, Terra Firma, Berkeley Rep, and others. Film/Web: UCBComedy, CollegeHumor, Onion News Network, and others. Jon has also performed at the Del Close Marathon, the Boston Improv Festival and the Providence Improv Festival with his indie team “The Garys.” www.jonathanmarballi.com
ROBERT W. SMITH has been away from the theatre for a number of years. Now retired from the health department he’s once again become involved in acting. He returned several years ago and in the past two and a half years he has appeared in over 30 short films. While most of them have been for student directors at NYU, Columbia, SVA, Brooklyn and Hunter Colleges, Fairfield Univ. and NYFA. Robert has also appeared in It’s All Relative, Lakota Films, LLC; Rust, Guinea Pig Pictures; Adrift, Companion Pictures; The Gays, BTB Productions; and The Meet, 3PS Productions. This past fall he returned to the stage, appearing as Les Kennkat in Boy Gets Girl at the Access Theatre. Robert is a member of AEA, AFTRA and SAG.
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Apple Core Theater Company produces emotional, entertaining plays by American writers. Valuing the immediacy and intimacy of theater, we strive to present plays that cut down to the core and go straight to the heart. Believing that theater should be accessible to all people, we are committed to providing affordable theater to New York City.
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