The Garden of Hannah List by Michael McKeever
February 2 - February 27, 2000

A stately German widow in her fifties carries out a secret personal campaign to undermine the Nazi takeover of Nuremberg in the late 1930s. Director Henry Fonte.

"…a satisfying mixture of the historical, the familial and the macabre." The Jewish Week

"Consistently surprises and compels…deserving the most florid praise." CitySearch

"…nary a dull moment…provocative, well-staged entertainment." Curtain Up!

"…first-class production…earnestly engrossing." Backstage

The Heart of Art by Michael Weller
October 27 - November 20, 1999

The play, set in the "crazy days" of the iconic nonprofit theaters of New York, is a travesty about a short producer and the tall artists with whom he works. It's an angry, fun-filled story, certain to delight those who know and love theater--and those who have learned to hate it as well. Director Amy Feinberg (Producing Artistic Director, HTC). Impresario Arthur (Art) Dick can make a famous playwright out of anybody who walks in his door. He's a legend in his own mind and his theater's a monument. But he's driven off his most successful dramatist, Henry Livid, and now needs a vehicle for a bankable star, Val Gigante. So he condescends to the advice of his theater's furnace room, the literary department, and selects a play by Kyle Wayward, an obscure scribbler now living on the Lower East Side, to be his next hit. Kyle's a made man. But if you're a playwright in Art Dick's theater, Mr. Dick is gonna "bore a hole in your head and suck your brains out. He's gonna strip you of privacy, canonize and defame you on a whim, mutate your play, break up your marriage and basically take away your cojones in order to give 'em back bigger. He's bet the bank on an unknown pisher from Indiana and now the pisher is gonna pay the bitter price of Art."

"…director Amy Feinberg has performed a wonderful feat putting the play on stage…Feinberg has made some brilliant choices." Backstage

"…clever, 'Front Page'-style moments." The New York Times

Mickey's Home by Stephen Fife
February 24 - March 14, 1999

It begins simply enough with an aging immigrant Jewish couple in lower East Side section of Manhattan. Esther is snipping the ends off beans for Ira's favorite goulash. Only it's not his favorite goulash and his diatribe about how much he hates it alerts us to the fact that we are in a realm that unlike genre Jewish family plays, is going to be more Pinteresque than picturesque. The interchanges between Esther and Ira quickly intensify the feeling that nothing we see and hear can be taken at face value. Esther and Ira may look and sound like typical immigrants and survivors to be found in a neighborhood like this, but something about them does not jibe with preconceived notions of kitchens filled with the aromas of recipes brought over from the old country along with colorful family lore. A young man named Robert comes to interview them about their lives and remains to become part of this bizarre mystery. Robert, like Esther and Ira, is not exactly the earnest and eager young researcher he at first seems to be. It would be unfair to discuss the plot any further, or to try to interpret the meaning behind its games and discordant stories.

" …a compelling piece of drama…It sets the tone for the works to come." Town & Village

Detail of a Larger Work by Lisa Dillman
February 3 - February 21, 1999

Elderly American expatriates Ed and Vanessa Grand live in a small town in central Mexico. They are visited by a young couple, Zach and Chloe, acquaintances of their old friend Duane, who has recently died. The play juxtaposes Ed, a once well-known painter whose eyesight and health have begun to fail him, with Zach, an up-and-coming photographer. Zach is fresh from an NEA success, a photo study chronicling Duane's battle with AIDS. Fueled by grant money and fascinated by the process of dying, Zach becomes obsessed by an idea for a new photo study, this one illustrating the decline of Ed Grand in his foreign habitat. The play addresses, among other themes, the implications of art as a form of trespassing and the inherent morality of the artistic process.

"...The one cry we hear more often than any other is: "Where are the new playwrights? Just name one good play, well acted and well directed, and we'll stop complaining about the state of the American Theatre." Well, there may not be six great plays on the boards right now, but we can think of four we can unreservedly recommend, and we consider that a lot for any midseason point: COLLECTED STORIES, WIT, THIS IS OUR YOUTH, and SNAKEBIT. And now or at least for the remainder of this week, a fifth title can be added to this select list: DETAIL OF A LARGER WORK by Lisa Dillman." Theatre Scope

Ghost on Fire by Michael Weller
March 19 - April 4, 1998

In Ghost on Fire, Weller has created a funny, sharply observed drama of disillusionment and faith regained through the trials of life. The story is of a trio of film students who hope to change the world only to lose their dreams and friendship to the hands of time. Reunited 15 years later, now nostalgic for their lost idealism and questioning the choices they have made in their lives, the trio sparks the fires of their old dreams and fantasies.

"…a poignant play suffused with humor…principal performances are all first-rate…a witty and rueful elegy for a generation." The New York Times

On Tour . . .

Ellis Island Stories by Amy Feinberg & Kevin Cornelius
1992 - present

Based on oral histories of Immigrants who passed through Ellis Island, an inspector character guides the audience through this one-act play that traces 3 immigrants from their home lands, over the Atlantic, through the processing on Ellis Island and into the new world. The show was presented by the National Park Service at The Ellis Island Immigration Museum for eight years and now tours to schools and community centers locally, regionally and nationally.

"It makes history immediate and personal" The Record (New Jersey)

"…touching dramatization…By the end of the play, audiences better understand the personal sacrifices and joys that epitomize the immigration experience." Staten Island Advance

"…splendid performance…we spontaneously stood and applauded at its conclusion…You are performing a remarkable service to all." Joan Simpson, Claremont, NH

"Outstanding presentation!" Sheila Dale, Waynesville, NC