Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by Luke Leonard
Performances: November 7, 13, 14, 15 at 8:00 PM
November 9, 15 at 2:00 PM
Lab Theatre
Admission: Free
Media and Resources:
Synopsis: The Ortiz Funeral Room is in big trouble: The body of beloved community activist and nun Sister Rose has been stolen from the viewing room, and waiting for her proper return are some of New York City's most emotionally charged, life-challenged neighborhood denizens, trying to find a place to put their grief, checkered pasts and their uncertain futures. A dark comedy in two acts.
Playwright: Stephen Adly Guirgis
Stephen Adly Guirgis is a playwright, actor, and teleplay writer. He is a member of the New York City LAByrinth Theater Company, whose other members include Philip Seymour Hoffman and Justin Reinsilber. His plays have been performed at the Union Square Theater in New York City; The East 13th Street Theater; London's Donmar Warehouse, the Hampstead Theatre, and the Arts Theatre in the West End, along with theaters in Australia, Norway, Finland, Chile, South Africa, and across the United States, such as Boston's Company One Theater Production company.
His play Jesus Hopped the A Train won the Edinburgh Fringe First Award and the Detroit Free Press Play of the year. It was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Awards as Best New Play. Our Lady of 121st Street received a best play nomination from the Drama Desk. In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings was named one of the Ten Best Plays of 1999 by Time Out New York. In 2008 his play The Little Flower of East Orange was produced by New York's LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and featuring Ellen Burstyn in the title role.
His television writing credits include NYPD Blue, UC: Undercover, and Big Apple, along with many projects in the works.
He continues his acting on stage and on film, in movies like Todd Solondz's Palindromes, Brett C. Leonard's Jailbait (opposite Michael Pitt), and Noah Buschel's Neal Cassady.
Director: Luke Leonard
Luke Leonard is a current M.F.A. Directing candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. Before relocating to Austin, he spent 12 years in New York where he received a B.F.A. in Acting from Brooklyn College and worked in theater and film as an actor, writer, director, producer and amateur-cinematographer. From 1996 – 2001, he and his wife were among the pioneering artists living in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) where he founded DUMBO Theater exchange (DTX) and served as Theater Coordinator for the annual d.u.m.b.o. arts festival. Later, he created and coordinated a bi-monthly series called Theater Nexus for BRIC Studio in Brooklyn. Recent directing credits include: Mac Wellman's BAD PENNY (The Blanton Museum of Art), Soo-Jin Lee's WHY KOREANS DON'T HUG (The Lab Theatre), BEAT VOICES in conjunction with the exhibition ON THE ROAD WITH THE BEATS (The Harry Ransom Center), and I LIKE THINGS THAT ARE REALLY SOMETHING ELSE, FOR REAL (Austin Museum Day at The Blanton Museum of Art). Recent awards include: a Morton Brown, Nellie Lea Brown, and Minelma Brown Lockwood Scholarship Fund in Drama, a Jack G. Taylor Memorial Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Fine Arts, a Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professorship Travel Grant, and a the University Co-Op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Research and Development Grant. He is a member of a NY-based non-profit called Monk Parrots, Actors Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Dramatist Guild of America.
- Joey LePage as Victor
- Bobby Ramirez as Balthazar
- Rodney Richardson as Rooftop
- Ben Schave as Father Lux
- Joshua McGowan as Flip
- Jake Lewis as Gail
- Jennifer Ihegword as Inez
- Denise Saenz as Norca
- Emilio Banda as Edwin
- Julian Castillo as Pinky
- Leslie Chastain as Marcia
- Amanda Cayo as Sonia
