A Murder of Crows

by Mac Wellman

June 28, 29, 30
and July 5, 6, 7
at 8 pm (running time is one hour)
El Jardin Del Paraiso

4th Street between Avenues C and D.
Take the F or V train to 2nd Ave, walk North on 2nd to E 4th street.
Turn right onto 4th and continue to park.

directed by: Ryan Iverson
stage manager: William Koski-Karell
costumes by: Ramona Rose
dramaturgy: Colette Robert

featuring
Peter Fenzel - Matthew Kirsch - Emily Lodish - Brooke Lyons - Scott Peterman - Kate Robbins - Nate Schenkkan - Richard Silverstein - Jessie Wiener

An absurdist mood piece about the American family, A Murder of Crows centers on a young girl who prophesizes an apocalyptic change in the world's weather. The play presents a ridiculous America and an American Dream that has gotten so big that we, the people, cannot manage to live up to it. Wellman is a herald of a new classical period of poetic drama, upholding Gorilla Rep's mission statement of "the highest quality productions of classical dramatic material, with the flavor of contemporary immediacy."

Context

In 1990 Mac Wellman wrote A Murder of Crows, his most approachable piece, predicting the Gulf War syndrome and presenting an American family drama that raises nothing but questions about our lives, our values and the direction in which our nation is headed. It is at once a celebration, condemnation and lamentation of the American way of life.

The Production

This production of A Murder of Crows was first seen in October 2001 at Yale University as a thesis project in directing. The director, the bulk of the crew and all performers are current Yale students or recent graduates. On seeing the show, professor and Gorilla Rep founding artistic director Christopher Carter Sanderson offered to produce a re-mounting of the project in NYC.

Return to the full season.