Welcome to Accidental Repertory Theater

ART — entertaining ... provocative ... good theater.

 

Adams' Apples

The Film

... What rules the world? Power or love...?

Based on ART's popular 2011 stage production, inspired by Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, written and directed by ART Artistic Director John Strasberg, Adams' Apples is now a motion picture! Winner of Oniros Film Awards (monthly edition) for Best First Time Director (John Strasberg), Best Editing (Cheryl Grant & Bryce Earhart), and Grand Jury Award for Best Screenplay (John Strasberg), the film oscillates between a Moscow Theater-influenced black-box studio performance and a wildly colorful and sensual auteur style film.

Adams' Apples is streaming on BroadwayOnDemand.

 

Accidentally On Purpose

These video clips are excerpts from Cheryl Grant's award-winning documentary film Accidentally On Purpose featuring ART's Artistic Director, John Strasberg, and company members, now available on YouTube.

Accidentally On Purpose is streaming on BroadwayOnDemand.

Previously ...

An ART project @ IRT...

Round Dance

A new translation of Arthur Schnitzler's Reigen

Translated and Directed by H. Clark Kee

IRT presents an Oldest Boys Production in association with Accidental Repertory Theater
Round Dance, March 10 - 27, at IRT Theater, 154 Christopher St. With: Jonathan Wong Frye*, Ruth Guimera, Talylor Hadsell, Judy Krause*, Joe Penczak*, Mark Peters*, Christopher Pio, Mike Roche*, Samantha Simone*, JP Stewart*, Shannon Stowe*, Katie Zaffrann*. More information ...

*Appears Courtesy Actor's Equity Association
Round Dance was developed in part in the Accidental Repertory Theater professional workshop.

 

An ART project @ IRT...

The Fool's Lear

Shakespeare's King Lear from the Fool's Perspective

Adapted and Directed by H. Clark Kee

IRT presents an Oldest Boys Production in association with Accidental Repertory Theater
The Fool’s Lear, January 9 - 26, at IRT Theater, 154 Christopher St. Tickets available on Brown Paper Tickets. With: Virginia Armitage, Elizabeth Bell*, Sean DeMers*, Brian Heuer, Judy Krause*, Robert G. McKay*, Joe Penczak*, Mark Peters*, Fariaz Rabbani*, Mike Roche*, Annie Winneg. More information ...

*Appears Courtesy Actor's Equity Association
The Fool's Lear was developed in part in the Accidental Repertory Theater professional workshop.

 

An ART project @ Theater for the New City...

Don't Tell Mother

A new play by Peter Welch

Directed by H. Clark Kee

Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Director, presents Don't Tell Mother, December 27 - January 13, at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. Tickets available on SmartTix. With Ruthanne Gereghty, Judy Krause*, Robert G. McKay*, Wes Seals*, Aristotle Stamat, Louis Vuolo*. More information ...

*Appears Courtesy Actor's Equity Association
Don't Tell Mother was developed in part in the Accidental Repertory Theater professional workshop.

 


The Good Morning America Johnny Johnson Dream Show

Written and directed by John Strasberg

It's the Day of the Dead, and America's #1 morning news show has some uninvited guests ....

Johnny Johnson, star commentator/journalist has a reputation for truthful, honest reporting and opinion. One of today's guests is a medium -- and, suddenly, uninvited, great human beings from the past begin to appear spontaneously on the show, talking among themselves, and bringing the power of their truths and perceptions to bear on events of today's world. They are the unheard voices of history, who think and say what many of us feel, consciously or unconsciously, but cannot articulate. Plato, Mark Twain, Hamlet, Mary, Abraham, Bonnie and Clyde, Adolf Hitler and Margaret Sanger, are among the visitors. As the show progresses, the line between dream and reality dissolves. Johnny's strength and equilibrium, his image of himself and being in control, begins to crack, as he cannot stop the guests from speaking out what they believe, and pressuring him to tell the truth. His confusions about his beliefs, and what is really true in his own life and events during his lifetime life, begin to surface. We follow Johnny's journey, presented in a savagely comic way, to the surprise conclusion, revealing what he, our American hero, really is.

Thursdays - Saturdays, November 17 - December 17 at 8pm
Sundays, November 20 - December 18 at 7:30 pm
No performance Thursday, November 24
At The Living Theatre's performance space at 21 Clinton Street.

Buy your tickets here.

Equity Showcase (approval pending)

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Adams' Apples

Written and directed by John Strasberg

What rules the world? Power or love...?

Around the beginning of the 20th Century, Chekhov wrote The Cherry Orchard, the play that inspired Adams' Apples. The time he wrote about was one of unrest, turmoil: pre-revolutionary Russia. In contrast, Adams' Apples takes place in the United States today, a little over a 100 years later. Adams' Apples honors Chekhov's spirit of writing about what was going on in the world in which he lived. But, the Adams and the characters that surround them, are characters of today, presented, we hope, without judgment, as Chekhov did – characters with the problems we all suffer with: our rapidly changing world, the national and global economies, the environment, the need for us to clarify what we mean by success and freedom. And, whether success is something more than material success, greed, and license. While anyone familiar with The Cherry Orchard will recognize the roots of Adams' Apples, we hope audiences will become so involved in the lives and problems of our contemporary characters that they will forget those roots. And, those who do not know The Cherry Orchard , need not fear or feel they are missing something. Because, the play is a play of today, filled with the comedy and tragedy that make our lives what they are.

Thursdays - Saturdays, May 5 - June 4 at 8pm
Sundays, May 8 - June 5 at 7:30 pm
At The Living Theatre's performance space at 21 Clinton Street.

Equity Showcase

 

Living Room Series


Copenhagen

by Michael Frayn

The year was 1941, the year in which the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, in which Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, and the US responded in kind. In September of that year, physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg met in Copenhagen. “Why” is the subject of Copenhagen, Michael Frayn’s masterful exploration of science and morality in the new world of quantum physics and nuclear weapons. “No one understands my trip to Copenhagen,” Heisenberg says. “Time and time again I’ve explained it…. The more I’ve explained, the deeper the uncertainty has become. Well, I shall be happy to make one more attempt.”

Following each performance, discussion and Q&A featuring a variety of guests, will examine the play from scientific, philosophical, historical and literary points of view.

December 15, 16 and 17 at 2pm
December 18 at 3pm
$25

Equity Showcase (approval pending)
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

The Creative Process: Steve Buscemi

Accidental Rep's Artistic Director John Strasberg interviews SAG and Golden Globe Award winner Steve Buscemi on the personal nature of the creative process, in a benefit for ART.

One night only. Wednesday, June 1 at The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton St., NYC.

General admission tickets ($60) are available from smarttix.com or by calling 212 868 4444.

Benefactor tickets ($500), including reserved seating and admission to an invitation-only reception with John Strasberg and Steve Buscemi may be purchased here or by calling 646 435 7867.

WoW

On February 24 ART reprised the acclaimed inaugural production in its World-of-Writers (WoW) series: Tennessee Williams: the Writer and His World for students participating in the I Have a Dream Foundation's spring break program. Watch the video.

Living Room Series

From Stanislavski to Strasberg to Strasberg

Thursday December 3, 2009 at 8pm.

This informal lecture explores the obsessions, personalities and problems of these artists that influenced the way in which their work process evolved, such as: Stanislavski's difficulty in being concentrated and truthful as an actor, Lee Strasberg's difficulty in expressing personal feeling, and John Strasberg's overwhelming insecurity and need to trust his own sense of truth and intuition in the face of The Method and his father's success. It also clarifies the reality of what the Actors Studio was, and the misconceptions that are held as to what The Method was and is.

Suggested contribution: $10

The Organic Creative Process
and the Nine Natural Laws of Creativity

Thursday December 10, 2009 at 8pm.

In a sequel to the first lecture, Mr. Strasberg explains how his work evolved from that of Stanislavski and the American school that followed — Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Sandy Meisner — whose brilliant work broke the creative process down into its separate parts. Stanislavski, The Method, Meisner, Adler: each system focuses on particular aspects that process. Their development was a natural consequence of mechanical, linear thinking (Descartes and Newton) that has dominated human thought processes since the 18th Century.

While all of them recognize and revere talent and inspiration, they considered those realities part of God's work, mystical, undefinable, invisible. John Strasberg's discovery of the Organic Creative Process begins where they leave off. It is an organic, rather than a mechanical, process, based on the reality that life is not programmed in the mind, but is the process of one's talent, imagination, intelligence, knowledge, and ability to be spontaneous. The lecture deals with his discoveries, and the Nine Natural Laws of Creativity.

Suggested contribution: $10

Full House Series

Brecht on Brecht

by George Tabori

directed by John Strasberg

music director Ross Patterson
With: Virginia Armitage, Judy Krause*, Audrey Lavine*, Jerry Marsini*, Anne Pasquale*, Robert Rowe*, Louis Vuolo*.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday October 29 - November 21, 2009 at 8pm.
Additional perfomance Sunday, November 1 at 7:30pm

Brecht on BrechtIn the more than 50 years since his death in 1956, Brecht’s name has become a household word wherever theater is known, and especially where it is made. Brecht was dedicated to creating theater that was both real and appealing. At Accidental Rep we share those goals, and also the spirit of spontaneity that pervaded the original production of Brecht on Brecht. While the framework of the piece remains constant, from night to night the text and actors may change.

"We tried to teach and entertain ourselves before sharing our experiences with the audience," George Tabori wrote. With scene and word and song we hope to do the same for ourselves and for you.

See also our calendar.

Tickets: $15

*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.
This production is an Equity approved Showcase.
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.