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BORDER PEOPLE directed by Nicole A. Watson

Company:
Working Theater

WORKING THEATER

taps new director - Nicole A. Watson - for Off Broadway Premieres

‘BORDER PEOPLE’
Written and Performed by award-winning creator Dan Hoyle 
A.R.T./ New York Theatres
(January 25 – February 22)

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PLAYWRIGHTS ANNOUNCED FOR OFF BROADWAY PREMIERE OF “BEST OF THEATERWORKS!”
AN EVENING OF SHORT PLAYS FROM THE COMPANY’S PLAYWRITING CLASS FOR WORKING PEOPLE
(February 22 – February 29)

 

Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director) has named a new director for the Off Broadway premiere of acclaimed play ‘Border People.’ The award-winning production by playwright and actor Dan Hoyle will be directed by Nicole A. Watson (Round House Theatre – Maryland). 

"Nicole has a long history with Working Theater, “says Producing Artistic Director Mark Plesent.  “Beginning in 2005 as the assistant to André De Shields who directed OyamO's Killa Dilla. She was a founding curator of our Directors Salon doing an extraordinary job both designing and implementing a multi-year program aimed at serving young directors. I've been thrilled to watch her career take off and am equally thrilled she will be back with us directing both Border People and Best of TheaterWorks!" he adds.

Border People will perform Off Broadway, Jan. 25 – Feb. 22, following a sold out ten-month run at The Marsh San Francisco, where it was originally developed with and directed by Charlie Varon. 

Part of the company’s 35th anniversary season, Border People is a solo show, written and performed by the award-winning artist, based on his conversations with immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and border crossers of all kinds at both the North and Southern borders of the United States. It offers a startling gallery of portraits of those, in Hoyle’s words, “who cross borders, geographical or cultural, by necessity or choice.” 

“A master of his craft. Each of Hoyle’s details as juicy as a new plum. Hoyle is one of our theatrical gems.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Dan Hoyle’s brilliant portrayals are exactly what we need right now.”
—Cecilia Muñoz, immigration advocate and director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Obama White House

Border People begins previews January 25, prior to an official opening on February 3, with performances on Wednesday through Saturday at 7 P.M. and Sunday at 2 P.M. – A special student matinee will be held January 28 at 11 A.M.  Running time: 75 minutes.

Tickets are $30 - $40 (discounts for students, seniors, union members and groups up to 30% off) and are on sale now at www.theworkingtheater.org. 

February 22 – February 29, Working Theater will present a week-long Off-Broadway production of ‘The Best of TheaterWorks!,” a showcase of seven of the best ten-minute short plays to come out of the company's TheaterWorks! playwriting and performance classes. TheaterWorks! is a signature program of Working Theater that brings the stories of working people to the stage. 

The plays & playwrights selected for Best of TheaterWorks will be performed at A.R.T./New York Theaters February 22 – 29.  They include:

Comte des Cierges by Carlos Cotto; A Cigarette Girl in the South Bronx by Constance Gemson; The Award by Alma Brothers; Drawing Close by Valerie Knight; Steps by Althea Matthews; To Boldly Go by Michael D. O'Hara; Expert Opinion by Dhipinder Walia. 

“The short plays are some of the best to come out of our TheaterWorks! program which teaches working people to write and perform plays about their own lives and experiences at work,” says Laura Carbonell Monarque (Managing Director, Working Theater). “From a doorman’s dystopian vision of the lobby of a NYC residential building to the community room in an apartment complex as a young man struggles to come out to his mother before his 14th birthday to a NYC hotel room where two old friends reconcile differences before attending a Star Trek convention…the best of TheaterWorks! shines an illuminating and humanistic light on life in New York City.”

The TheaterWorks program has been offered to hundreds of working people throughout all five boroughs of New York City, including members of DC 37 (Municipal Workers); CWA Local 1180 (Communication Workers); 32BJ SEIU (Building Service Workers) and PSC (CUNY Employees). 

Tickets are $30 - $40 (discounts for students, seniors, union members and groups up to 30% off) and are on sale now at www.theworkingtheater.org.

Performance space for ‘Border People’ and ‘The Best of TheaterWorks!’ was subsidized by the A.R.T./New York Theatres Rental Subsidy Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).

Dan Hoyle (Playwright/Performer) is an actor and writer. His solo shows have toured the country and overseas including The Public Theater, Culture Project, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Mosaic Theater Company (Washington, D.C.), Portland Center Stage, Playmakers Repertory Company, Painted Bride (Philadelphia), The Park in Kolkata, India, the Samuel Beckett Theater in Dublin, Ireland, Taliesin in Swansea, Wales, and Abuja, Bauchi, Calabar, Lagos, and Jos, Nigeria. He has been recognized with many awards, including the Will Glickman, Prize of Hope, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, and Lucille Lortel (Nomination). He holds a double degree in Performance Studies and History from Northwestern University and was a Fulbright Scholar in Nigeria in 2005-2006.

Nicole A. Watson is thrilled to be back at Working Theater. She is the associate artistic director at Round House Theatre as well as a freelance director and educator. Recent credits include The Niceties (Geva Theatre) School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Round House Theatre), A Doll's House Part 2 (Round House Theatre), Sweat (Asolo Repertory Theatre), and Skeleton Crew (Baltimore Center Stage). She is an associate artist at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, a New Georges affiliated artist, an alum of the Women’s Project Lab, the Drama League, and a member of the SDC. As a director she has worked at the O’Neill Theater Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Asolo Rep, the New Black Fest, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Lark, New Dramatists, and the 52nd Street Project. As an educator she has worked at the Kennedy Center, NYU, North Carolina School of the Arts, Smith College, Two River Theater, Long Island University, and ACT in San Francisco. More info at www.nicoleawatson.com

WORKING THEATER believes the transformative experience of live theater should not be a privilege or a luxury, but a staple. Targeting working people, ie Americans working in the industrial and service economies, who may be unable to afford commercial theater prices or feel that it does not resonate with their lives and experience, Working Theater strives to make play-going a regular part of their cultural lives. Toward that goal, offering low ticket prices and telling stories that reflect a diverse population of the working majority, in hopes of unite us in our common humanity.  Working Theater is under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Mark Plesent and Managing Director, Laura Carbonell Monarque. 

The A.R.T./New York Theatres are a project of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York), which provide state-of-the-art, accessible venues at subsidized rental rates, plus free access to top-line technical equipment, so that the city’s small and emerging theatre companies can continue to experiment, grow, and produce new works. Founded in 1972, A.R.T./New York is the leading service and advocacy organization for New York City’s 400+ nonprofit theatres, with a mission to assist member theatres in managing their companies effectively so that they may realize their rich artistic visions and serve their diverse audiences well. A.R.T./New York has received numerous honors, including an Obie Award, an Innovative Theatre Award, a New York City Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture, and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. For more information, please visit www.art-newyork.org.