Venues
Events
MediaTheater
Theater Breaking Through Barriers Cooks Up Bass for Picasso
Kate Moira Ryan’s play set for its world premiere
| | More
In Bass for Picasso, amputee and New York Times food writer Francesca Danieli throws a dinner party for her friends, recreating recipes (including the titular entrée) from the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook. These friends include her multilingual art detective lover, who has spent time in Guantanamo for visa problems; a lesbian widow with a small child and Republican in-laws who are trying to gain custody; an OB/GYN whose lover is a geographically challenged crystal meth addict; and a playwright who has recently fallen off the wagon and written a soon-to-open Off-Broadway play about all of them.
All of the action takes place in a fashionable downtown loft, a fact that presented itself to be an interesting challenge for Director Ike Schambelan when working on the play’s set. A literary agent brought Schambelan the script and he immediately thought it was “a little like Moliere, definitely missing a moral compass.”
Actress Anita Hollander, who plays Danieli, describes her character as a “one-legged lesbian food writer for the Times who has a neurotically driven personality.” Not only is Hollander an amputee herself, which allows her a more authentic take on the physical aspect of the role, but she can also identify with many of the character’s experiences on sexuality and writing.
Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), formerly known as Theater by the Blind, is the only Off-Broadway theater “showing the wares of this talent” says the director. The company integrates both able-bodied actors and actors with disabilities for its performances. Schambelan speaks of three things that must be done to change the discourse on normality that currently exists: “We need producers who are willing to employ these actors, we need schools willing to train them in their craft and we need role models.”
Playwright Kate Moira Ryan was excited to work with TBTB, partially because she grew up with a disabled mother, but she says, “Make no mistake, I haven’t written The Miracle Worker. This play is an irreverent farce.”
The audience should expect an authentic and funny play, all happening within the boundaries of a typical New York dinner party on a Friday night.
Bass for Picassowill begin previews April 17 prior to its official press opening May 2 at Theatre Row’s Kirk Theatre (410 W. 42nd St.). For more information and tickets, go to: www.tbtb.org