CoHo’s NEWXNW New Play Competition Winner will be Featured in Fertile Ground 2012:
by Susan Mach
Staged Reading, directed by Erin Lucas
Sunday, January 22 – 2:00pm
Sunday, January 29 – 7:30pm
CoHo Theater
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Ablaze: an a cappella musical thriller
opening Fri 20 Jan 2012, closing Sun 22 Jan 2012
At an old abandoned high school on the outskirts of town, a group of loitering teenagers is suddenly surrounded by fire as the walls burn fast around them. They find a hole in a corner of the gymnasium floor. They jump in. They survive the flames. Then they realize…they are not alone…and someone is watching. As their nineteen days of captivity progress, personal demons and vendettas emerge with ferocity, forcing them to either turn forever against each other or fight for survival. Based on his 2004 play, playwright and composer Matthew B. Zrebski has created a new version of his claustrophobic exploration of teenagers under the eye of a monstrous predator they can’t see. Commissioned by the Wilson High School Drama Department in association with Playwrights West, this musical adaptation received a full workshop production in November of 2011. For Fertile Ground, the piece continues to be reworked with the original cast of 23 teenaged performers. Almost entirely sung with occasional percussive sounds and rhythmic spoken word, Ablaze is a bold experiment in musical theatre, and an unapologetic look at the lives of adolescents and the issues they must face.
