NY Theatre Workshop to stage new play on Armenian experience

PanARMENIAN.Net - New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced that Kathleen Chalfant will lead the cast of NYTW’s production of “Red Dog Howls,” written by Alexander Dinelaris, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator reported.

Ken Rus Schmoll will direct the production, which opens the 2012-13 season, beginning performances on September 5.

“Red Dog Howls,” which will officially open on September 24, will also feature Alfred Narciso and Florencia Lozano.

In “Red Dog Howls,” a box of old letters and a father’s dying wish lead Michael Kiriakos to uncover the buried secrets of his family history. As Michael gets to know Rose, an elderly Armenian woman, Michael discovers a past he never knew existed. “Red Dog Howls” explores the horrors of a forgotten genocide, the enduring strength of the human spirit and how the choices one generation makes for their children, for better or worse, will reverberate for generations to come.

Chalfant earned a Tony nomination for “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches” and appeared on Broadway in “M. Butterfly,” “Angels in America: Perestroika” and “Racing Demon.” Her off-Broadway credits include “Wit,” “Painting Churches,” “Talking Heads,” “Family Week,” “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” and “Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell.” Her film and TV credits include “The Laramie Project,” “Kinsey,” “Perfect Stranger,” “Junior,” “Rescue Me,” “Duplicity” and “Law & Order.”

NYTW is known for its innovative adaptations of classic repertory. Each season, from its home in New York’s East Village neighborhood, NYTW presents three to five new productions, more than 80 readings and numerous workshop productions, for more than 45,000 audience members. Over the past 28 years, NYTW has developed and produced more than 100 new, fully-staged works.

NYTW’s acclaimed productions of “Once” and “Peter and the Starcatcher” are currently enjoying Broadway runs, having garnered 20 Tony Award nominations, and “Rent,” which premiered at NYTW, is currently playing an off-Broadway revival. In 1991, NYTW received an OBIE Award for Sustained Achievement and in 2000 was designated to be part of the Leading National Theatres Program by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.