Ashley Harrell

To those of you in New York, please come and see my play, “Pleasures of Peace.”  Here are the details:

MEDICINE SHOW THEATRE ENSEMBLE, one of NYC’s longest-running experimental theatres, concludes its 38th season with the World Premiere of  “PLEASURES OF PEACE,” a new theatrical revue that celebrates peace while showcasing writings from a diverse group of authors, composers and playwrights ranging from LOUISA MAY ALCOTT to OSCAR WILDE. The production, directed by Obie-Award winner BARBARA VANN, runs from June 12th through June 28th with an opening scheduled for Friday, June 20th at MEDICINE SHOW THEATRE, 549 West 52nd St., 3rd Floor (between 10th and 11th Ave.). The performance schedule is Thursdays through Sundays at 8:00 PM,  (with an additional performance on Wednesday, June 25th at 8). Tickets are $18 and are available from Smarttix at (212) 868-4444 or via the web at http://www.Smarttix.com. For more information, please log onto the company’s website at http://www.MedicineShowTheatre.org.

Medicine Show concludes their “War & Peace” themed season with “PLEASURES OF PEACE,” a breezy and funny theatrical revue of plays, music, jokes, and improv comedy all centered around the general theme of Peace. Among the gems in this eclectic evening: Howard Pflanzer’s stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Perilous Play,” about a group of young socialites who enjoy bonbons laced with hashish; Oscar Wilde’s “The Model Millionaire,” about an impoverished man who sees his fortunes change through a selfless act of kindness; and John Gruen’s new one-act “Guards In Love,” about a Buckingham Palace guard and a Vatican guard who compare notes on their respective lives after a night of passionate love-making.  Intertwined with the plays are several new short works (by David Nugent and Susan Yankowitz), as well as poems from lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg’s “Rhymes for the Irreverent,” set to new music by Lenny Hat.
 
Featured in the cast: Molly C. Blau, Paul Cloeter, Mark J. Dempsey, Felix Gardon, Jason Alan Griffin, Beth Griffith, Ashley Anne Harrell, Nina Karacosta, Ward Nixon, Andrei Robakov, Peter Tedeschi, Alex Martinez Wallace and Ann Marie Yoo.

Director BARBARA VANN is a founder of the Open Theatre as well as the Medicine Show. She won an Obie Award for her work on the musical “Bound To Rise” and appears in the Platinum Edition of “Who’s Who.”

Set and costumes are by UTA BEKAIA, music is by YAEL ACHER, DAVID FINKLESTEIN and LENNY HAT, and the stage manager is RICHARD KEYSER.