Andy Boyd

September 20-28 2019

3B Development Series

Tickets 

IN RESIDENCE: September 17 – October 14, 2019

The Trade Federation is an allegorical comedy about Star Wars. It is also an agit-prop missile hurled at the mechanisms of global capital. Empowering the many and directly confronting a global model that benefits the few, this is a play for anyone who aspires to create change and who’s ever wanted to Strike Back at the Empire.

PERFORMANCES: September 20th-28th
TIME: Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm; Sundays at 3pm
LENGTH OF SHOW: 70 minutes, no intermission.
PRICE: $18.00
At IRT:154 Christopher st. NYC #3B (third floor)

Written by Andy Boyd
Directed by Allen MacLeod

Stage management… Lydia Faith Johnson
Scenic design… Daniel Prosky
Lighting design… Keith Truax**
Video design… Taylor Edelle Stuart
Fight design… Joe DiNozzi
Makeup Design…Rie Ogura
Graphic design… Kristian Sorensen
Production Assistant… Claire DesLauriers

Featuring…
David De Almo*
Dale Duko*
Paris Ellsworth
Kevin Gilmartin*
David Lamberton*
Wolfen St. Michael de Kastro*
Jessica Noboa*
Alex Pires
Lynne Taylor*

*Actors appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

A young, avant-garde playwright pitches his screenplay for a new Star Wars film. The concept: A prequel to Episode One that fleshes out the economic and social implications of the Trade Federation, the mysterious intergalactic shipping conglomerate that sets the entire trilogy in motion. The problem: it’s far from your typical Star Wars movie — in fact, it’s a full-on activist rallying-cry, replacing the veiled references to colonialism from more recent films in the franchise with blatant political allegory. The meeting doesn’t go well. George Lucas thinks the movie sounds really boring. The playwright questions his decisions. Little does he realize that, in the process, he may have stumbled into one of the largest conspiracies in modern history, one with roots deeper than he could have ever imagined and which threatens to uproot not only his world, but all of society as he knows it…

The Trade Federation asks us to consider how we can use the grand narratives of late capitalism against capitalism itself. It weaponizes one the most successful film franchises of all time against the dead-end ideology of “capitalist realism,” which insists that history is over and that there is “no alternative” to the unfettered rule of the market. No, it counters, we can always fight back. Star Wars told us so.

Andy Boyd is a playwright based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA in Playwriting; Harvard University, where he earned a BA in American History and Literature; and Arizona School for the Arts, where he studied acting. His previous plays include Acres of Diamonds (Phyllis Anderson Prize), She Shall Be Praised (Rhode Island State Council for the Arts Playwriting and Screenwriting Grant), and River Rouge, his MFA Thesis. Prior to attending Columbia, Andy served with City Year Providence.

Allen MacLeod is a Manhattan-based theatrical director and producer. Directing credits include Prophesy (The Fresh Fruit Festival, best direction award), Look What You Started (The Green Room 42) A Bit Too Much About Me (NAMI), Totally Gay and Almost Happy (The Duplex), You’re Not My Type (The Duplex), Out of Touch (Secret Theatre); and Fireside Chat (Manhattan Rep.); Associate/assisting credits include How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (The Kennedy Center), I Hate Hamlet (Bucks County Playhouse), Frozen: A Musical Spectacular (Disney Cruise Lines); Presto Change-o, A Little More Alive, and Man of La Mancha (Barrington Stage), We Are the Tigers (Gallery Players), and the inaugural season at The Script @Stage 74.

IRT Theater is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new generation of artists. Tucked away in the old Archive Building in Greenwich Village,  IRT’s mission is to build a community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the development and presentation of new work. Some of the artists we have supported include Young Jean Lee, Reggie Watts and Mike Daisey.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts, and The Nancy Quinn Fund, a project of ART-NY.

PLEASE NOTE: All sales final and there is no late seating at IRT Theater.
***IRT is a fully wheelchair-accessible facility.***