Horse Trade Theater Group Announces 2009 Summer Season

By Byrne Harrison

Horse Trade Theater Group has announced its 2009 Summer Season. In addition to its monthly shows at Under St. Mark (Revealed Burlesque, Sci-Fi Screening Room, Sundays With Poe, The Matt Fried Show, Told, God Tastes Like Chicken, and Penny’s Open Mic), Horse Trade will feature eight productions from June to August - some new, some old favorites.

The season begins with Bigger Than I presented by the Counting Squares Theatre. With the popularity of confessional websites, blog culture, and the advent of the technology age, Counting Squares Theatre examines the cause and effect of our increasingly stark interpersonal relationships, asking the question, "Why can’t we deal with each other and really be ourselves out in the open." Bigger Than I runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 7 PM, June 4th through 20th, at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A).

The season continues with Joseph Kesselring's classic comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace, presented by Dysfunctional Theatre Company. The play runs June 12th through 27th, Thursday through Saturday, at 7pm and Sunday, June 21, at 3 PM at The Kraine Theater (85 E. 4th Street between 2nd and Bowery).

The season continues with Boatloads of Shame by Rick Blunt and Robert J. Gibbs. Raised in a house full of Catholic women, Rick learned that good girls don't like sex. Hear how he learned otherwise while growing up and transitioning from blue-collar union worker to Shakespeare scholar and professional actor. Boatloads of Shame runs June 25th through 27th at 8 PM at UNDER St. Marks.

Paul David Young's Waking Up With Strangers runs June 29th through July 2nd at 8 PM at The Kraine Theater. Marc is an American scholar in Berlin, attempting to rewrite a failed dissertation on Kleist. Konrad offers Marc help in understanding his attraction to Kleist and opens up a disturbing confrontation with identity. The life of Kleist finds its eerie parallels in Marc’s awakening.

Twisted, the Rising Sun Performance Company's Annual One Act Series, features five short perverse and funny stories that will make you scratch your head in disbelief. Twisted runs from July 9th through 25th, Thursday through Saturday, at 8pm at UNDER St. Marks.

Human Group presents the next play, The Hunger Artist. In this explosive performance, one of Franz Kafka’s strangest characters comes to life and invites the audience to come and share his dark cage. Using song, dance, and circus tricks, Human Group explores starvation, the human body, and what it means to be a performing animal. The Hunger Artist runs from July 16th through 18th at 8 PM in The Red Room (85 E. 4th Street between 2nd and Bowery).

The season concludes with Shakespeare's Julius Caesar presented by Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company. Julius Caesar takes place in a world of male power and dominance, in which the female characters attempt to avert tragedy but find themselves powerless to do so. The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company takes on this testosterone-filled play with an entirely female cast, exploring the performance of gender and challenging preconceptions of male and female. Julius Caesar runs August 13th through 16th, Thursday through Saturday, at 8 PM and Sun at 2 PM at The Kraine Theater.

Tickets to all shows are $18 and are available from SmartTix (212-868-4444) or at Horse Trade's website.