THE LATEST BUZZ....

2008-08-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks for visiting... check out what's new...

Click here to read Timothy Nolan's interview with NYTheatre.com's Michael Criscuolo, where we learn how stories are always and never autobiographical, what it's really like to work with Christine Simpson, why using Dylan for inspiration is always a good idea.

Also, scroll down to Who Are We? to see the newest members of our team, Assistant Director Greg Enbrecht, choreographer Deb Silver, and production assistant Olivia Nolan.

More later!

A MUSE IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

2008-07-24T07:29:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our show blog.

NOT DARK YET is premiering at the New York International Fringe Festival on August 13. Click any of the links to the right to purchase tickets through TicketWeb. Below you'll find the stories of the amazing people who are working to put on this play. And over on the right you'll find what the play's about.

Stay tuned for more stories, reviews, podcasts, photos, and news. See you on the 13th.

(L-R) Jake Suffian, Kyle Knauf, Elizabeth Bell. Photo by Abbie Ross

WHO ARE WE?

2008-05-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

The Cast
Kyle Knauf* (Tom) will be featured in a book about the technique of Comedia del Arte written by Nicky Woltz and Arnold Arronson. In New York he has performed in New York Classical Theater's Love's Labours Lost, Classic Stage Company's Young Company version of Tartuffe and Scapin, and the Flea Theater's Obie winning production of Benten Kozo as Benten. Internationally he took part in two festivals: The Schauspiel Festival in Essen, Germany with Comedy of Errors and The Arezzo Festival in Italy with Scapin. Regional credits include: Romeo Y Julieta (Quantum Theater, LA), Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare by the Sea, CA), Naked Angels (Sacred Fools, LA). He is a member of the Present Company's artist workshop The Pool. Other projects include: Fete de la Nuit – Charles Mee (Columbia Stages), 365NYC Final Presentation– Suzanne Lori Parks (Ars Nova) at the Public, I-Claudius (Theater Askew) and various independent films. Kyle is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA acting program.

Elizabeth A. Bell (Anne) In New York: Islands Of Repair (EATFest ’08), Oswald's Backyard (Present Co.), A Murder Of Crows (Nicu’s Spoon), Fefu & Her Friends (Wings), Cinderella's Mice (Vital) as well as many workshops and readings. Regional credits include: How I Learned To Drive, Cyrano De Bergerac, An Ideal Husband (Tennessee Rep), Independence, Tartuffe, All My Sons (Actors Bridge Ensemble), The Seagull (H&P), Anne Of The Thousand Days (Act I (TN) & Center Rep (CA)), Oil City Symphony (New Stage). Elizabeth has studied at BADA (Oxford), with Eva Burgess, Wayne Maughans & Per Brahe in NYC, and at ACT in her hometown of San Francisco. She is a founding member of Butterfield 8 Theater Co., Actors Bridge Ensemble and Hit & Run Productions and treasures her time as a member of The Present Company’s Pool.

Jake Suffian* (Norman) most recently played Jason, the lead character in director Mary Zimmerman’s fable Argonautika. Mary is the 2002 Tony Award winning director of Metamorphosis. Jake has an MFA in Acting from Brandeis University, and in 2005, earned a Helen Hayes nomination for his portrayal of Shane Mungitt in Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out. Additional work includes Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing, Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest and Sebastian in The Tempest. On TV, Jake has numerous appearances on ABC Primetime, One Life to Live and Rescue Me. His film credits include leading roles in the Sundance Channel short Far Out and the independent film Header.

The Director

Christine Simpson is a Korean-American writer/director based in Manhattan. As a director, Ms. Simpson has directed with Ma-Yi Theatre Company, New Georges, Reverie Productions, Peculiar Works Project, Blue Heron Theatre, Bumblebee & Blackbird Productions, Present Tense Productions, Fluid Motion Theater & Film, Happy Lady Productions, at The Public Theater and the NYC International Fringe Festival. Plays penned by Ms. Simpson have been produced at the Blue Heron Theatre, Baruch Performing Arts Center, the New York City International Fringe Festival (2003 and 2006), and Theatre Row. She has also written and directed two short films that have screened globally. In 2005, Ms. Simpson was selected as one of five filmmakers to compete in the Asian American International Film Festival Michelob Light Music Video Contest. In 2006, she was named one of nytheatre.com's People of the Year. Happy member of The Pool and the HKK.

The Writer

Timothy Nolan was a winner of a 2003 Fringe Festival Excellence in Playwrighting award for Acts of Contrition. He is also the author of The Way Out, (award-winner, 2002 Fringe Festival), and Wrong Barbarians, which premiered at the 2004 Fringe Festival. His plays The Bull and What’s In a Name were both named Critics’ Choices at the Samuel French Off-Broadway Play Festival. The online animated short She's So Beautiful, which he authored, can be seen at buttcrackcarney.com. His other plays include Under the Green Ceiling, Applaud, Friends, and Pop’s Closet, all performed at the late, great Synchronicity Space. He is currently developing a television project called Bedford Park with Shiek Mahmud-Bey. He is a co-founder of Present Tense and a member of the Dramatists Guild and a proud member of Present Company’s Pool. His online page is Advertisements for Myself and My Friends.

The Vital People

SUSANNNAH NOLAN (Producer) is the co-founder and artistic director of Present Tense and the Present Tense Dramatic Writing Workshop. Her award-winning play Don’t Pick Up was named Best Play at the 2001 American Globe Theater Play Festival and has also been produced at Synchronicity Space, the 2001 Samuel French off-Broadway Playwrights Festival, New Dramatists, and was published by Smith & Kraus in an anthology of one-act plays. Other works include The Truth About Love (directed by Ms. Simpson, Manhattan Theater Source), Fed Up to Here (finalist, Samuel French off-Broadway Playwrights Festival 1992), The Man with David’s Face (part of “Bi-Polar Expeditions” at Synchronicity Space) and No Time To Change Clothes (presented as part of THAW Out for Peace @ Collective Unconscious). As a producer she has mounted Present Tense’s productions of The Way Out at both the Chelsea Playhouse and at FringeNYC 2002, Acts of Contrition (FringeNYC 2003) and Wrong Barbarians (FringeNYC 2004).

GREG ENGBRECHT (Assistant Director) Greg has worked as an actor, director, and stage manager in New York for nearly two years. This is his first Fringe experience and he would like to thank Christine, Kyle, Jake, Elizabeth, and Tim for their patience and great vibe! Also Mrs. H for getting him into this whole mess. Thanks as always to the Debber

DEB SILVER (Choreograper) has been training, performing, and choreographing (mostly modern) dance in New York for the last two years. She has worked with Lynn Barr, Bliss Dance Company, and various choreographers at Dance New Amsterdam. She’d like to thank the cast and crew of Not Dark Yet for inviting her to explore a new world of dance.

OLIVIA NOLAN (Production Assistant) has played Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory performed in the P.S.41 Auditorium Theater. She is also the production assistant for Not Dark Yet and Present Tense Production’s Mascot. This basically means she stays out of her parents’ way as they get their plays off the ground. Other jobs include braving IKEA to buy a bed for the set, lugging stuff from their Brooklyn apartment to Walkerspace and Atlantic Theater Co., passing out press kits, etc…

The Company

Present Tense was founded a dozen years ago by three playwrights, and has grown into a thriving hotbed of original, cutting-edge work for the stage and screen. The writers and actors of Present Tense have developed scripts that have gone on to triumph not only in the New York International Fringe Festival but in the American Globe Theater Play Festival, Samuel French Short Play Festival, the Strawberry One-Act Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, Taos Film Festival, Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and others. Working in collaboration with our company actors, the writers sustain and nurture their one consistent vision from beginning to end, while preserving the process essential to making compelling drama - to create life on stage in the “present tense.”