Rady&Bloom

MAY 22 - JUNE 12 2015

3B Development Series | Archive Residency | Productions

Tickets 

IN RESIDENCE: December 2013- June 2015

New Ohio Theatre & Rady&Bloom Present The Upper Room

AN ARCHIVE RESIDENCY PRODUCTION, in collaboration with IRT Theater

Written and directed by Jeremy Bloom and Brian Rady
Music by Catherine Brookman

PERFORMANCES: May 22- June 12
TIME: Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8:00 PM
Length of Show: 90 Minutes
PRICE: $18.00
At New Ohio :154 Christopher st. NYC #1E

“The infectious high spirits that this company brings are downright inspirational.” – NYTheater.com

Featuring: Catherine Brookman*, Tjasa Ferme, Dana Kaplan-Angle, Govind Kumar, Robert Gadol Lavenstein, Joyce Miller, Stacy Ayn Price, Julia Sirna-Frest*, Heather Thiry, and Joe White

The Upper Room is a new play with original music inspired by the back-to-the-land movement. Set on an island way off the north coast of Maine, the last participants of a once thriving commune meet the sea. Anxious and restless, the quorum gathers around the table in their upper room to confront the rising water and certain members’ curious ailments. A darkly humorous consideration of spirituality and the dangers of our changing environment combines with a live mixed score, antique scuba suits and an overhead projector to create a brand new music theater event.

The tenets of the back-to-the-land movement are more relevant than ever today, with rising sea levels in New York City, and the introduction of miles of pipeline beneath our feet. How can we find simple quality food? How can we relate to the earth? How can we react to a rapidly changing ecosystem? Aided by myth and offbeat religious practice, a strange new possibility for sustainability and survival emerges from these questions.

Inspirational sources include the lives of Helen and Scott Nearing (authors of “The Good Life”), the grandmother/grandfather of the back-to-the-land/ homesteading movement. The play is also inspired by Iris Murdoch’s novels “The Bell” and “The Unicorn,” by Karen Blixen’s short story “Babette’s Feast,” and by selkie and mermaid legends at large.