The New Century by Paul Rudnick

Reviews

By Judith Newmark – stltoday.com, May 14, 2012
“New Century’ succeeds! Performers deliver three strong entertaining character sketches to stage.”

By Richard Green – Talkin’ Broadway, May 16, 2012
“Go, enjoy; admire Ms. Siteman’s and Mr. Knoll’s waspish quips and Ms. Billo’s wonderfully simple, heartfelt remembrance. It’s a well-balanced meal of titillation and defiance, and a great big helping of unequivocal love.”

By Ben Brantley – The New York Times, April 15, 2008
“The one-liners fly like rockets in “The New Century,” the rollicking bill of short plays by Paul Rudnick that opened on Monday night at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. And more often than not, they hit their targets smoking. If Leno and Letterman regularly scored this ratio of hits to quips, much of America would be hospitalized with late-night laughter burn.”

Articles

By Judith Newmark – stltoday.com, May 12, 2012
“Rudnick, 54, who acknowledges that he has always been funny, has been professionally funny for decades.”

By Andrea Braun – thevitalvoice.com, May 12, 2012
“I talked to Paul Rudnick on the eve of Max and Louie Productions presentation of his play The New Century, which consists of three one-act vignettes and a fourth titled “The New Century”, which ties all the characters together. It is hugely entertaining, but is also a profound statement on gay life from the perspectives of a PFLAG mother, a flamboyant cable TV talk show host, and a mother who has learned to deal with grief through crafts. Rudnick uses comedy to convey his observations on art and life.”

Synopsis

When the playwright is Paul Rudnick, expectations are geared for a play both hilarious and smart, and The New Century is no exception. It is a provocative and outrageous comedy, featuring a collection of hilarious characters.

In Pride And Joy, Helene is a Long Island matron, the self-proclaimed “most loving mother of all time” to her three gay children, whom she brags about at the Massapequa chapter of Parents of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, The Transgendered, The Questioning, The Curious, The Creatively Concerned and Others. The flamboyant Mr. Charles, Crrently Of Palm Beach is described by Mr. Rudnick as “an aging homosexual hounded out of New York City by younger gay men, who find his theatrical style a threatening throwback to an earlier, tougher time”. Mr. Charles spends his exile in the company of the hunky Shane, with whom he produces a cable television show, Too Gay. In Crafty, Barbara Ellen is a Midwestern craftswoman and competitive cake-decorator who has lost a son to AIDS.

In The New Century, all of these hilarious and poignant people collide under surprising and comical circumstances, providing evidence of just where our new century might be heading.

Cast

Gary Wayne Barker* – Announcer
Peggy Billo* – Barbara Ellen Diggs
Elizabeth Graveman – Joann Milderry
Alan Knoll* – Mr. Charles
Joshua Nash Payne – Shane/David Nadler
Stellie Siteman* – Helene Nadler

*Member of Actor’s Equity Association

Production Staff

Ted Gregory – Director
Kim Gifford* – Stage Manager
Mark Griggs – Sound Designer
Patrick Huber – Set Designer
Andria Mantle – Prop Master
Glenn M. Dunn – Lighting Designer
Marci Franklin – Costume Designer
Erica Rogers – Running Crew

Play Times and Venues

Opening Day
May 10, 2012
Closing Day
May 20, 2012

COCA
(314) 725-6555 ext 130
524 Trinity Avenue, St. Louis MO 63130
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