Kate Hamill, John-Andrew Morrison and More Join MAN AND SUPERMAN Benefit Reading at Gingold Theatrical Group

Gingold Theatrical Group has announced that Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw will continue their 18th season of Project Shaw. Inspired by the works of George Bernard Shaw, Project Shaw is a special series of play readings that aim to provoke peaceful discussion and activism. Shaw’s Man and Superman will be presented at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2537 Broadway at 95th Street) on Monday June 19th, 2023, at 7PM. To reserve tickets, visit www.symphonyspace.org/events/vp-bernard-shaws-man-and-superman.

 

Man and Superman, one of Shaw’s most enduringly delightful, famously iconic, and most requested plays, will be performed in a two and ½ hour version (complete with the infamous Don Juan In Hell dream scene) created by director David Staller. When Staller directed Man & Superman Off-Broadway in 2012, Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal said “Mr. Staller, who runs New York’s Project Shaw and may know more about Shaw’s theatrical work than anybody in America, has chosen to compress the entire play, including the ‘Don Juan in Hell’ scene, in the hope of preserving its essence while reducing its scale. Insofar as such a thing can be done, he’s done it, and the result is a performing version of Man and Superman that is both short enough to be practical and long enough to make sense.” The New York Times called it a “sparkling revival. In its intellectual energy and exhilarating vivacity, this production honors Shaw’s life force as well.” The Associated Press called it “a thoughtful, bright and lively production.”

 

“George Bernard Shaw became a playwright to embrace comedy as a way for us to find clarity in our lives. He was the first actual theatrical activist in the English language, fighting for the individual rights of all people,” said Staller. “This amazingly fast-moving comedy of discovery and romance is the perfect play to share today as it challenges everything we’ve been taught while encouraging us to face life on our own terms. We founded Gingold Theatrical Group in 2006 as a response to our concerns about basic human rights and free speech under the Bush administration and our mission has never seemed more vitally important. GTG was initially founded to produce Project Shaw, but the series is now just one part of the company, which produces full productions, hosts new play development labs, and facilitates three inner-city educational programs.”

 

The cast of Man and Superman will feature Kate Hamill, Shawn Kumar Jain, Christine Toy Johnson, Olivia Kinter, Carman Lacivita, Dakin Matthews, Max Gordon Moore, John-Andrew Morrison, Michael McCorry Rose and Nick Wyman.

 

Man and Superman will be directed by David Staller.

 

Shaw’s infamous Man and Superman: A comedy of Hellish proportions! This ground-breaking battle-of-the-sexes comedy written in 1903 is one of Shaw’s most treasured comedies. A colorful collection of characters do everything they can to both face and hide from their deepest desires and fears, speeding across continents and, even in the dream act of DON JUAN IN HELL, to Hades for a chat with the Devil, and back again. It’s a fast-paced verbal contest between hopeful humans about love, sex, money, life, and even eternity! This incendiary play is generally considered one of Shaw’s masterpieces and will be performed in a two-and-a-half-hour adaptation by director David Staller.

 

Additional readings for the 18th season of Project Shaw will be announced at a later date. This season, every play will be presented in a concert-reading format at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space. Tickets are $40 and will be available for purchase by calling 212-864-5400 or visiting www.symphonyspace.org. Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre is an accessible space. Infra-red hearing devices will also be available. To learn more about Man and Superman, visit gingoldgroup.org/man-and-superman. 

 

Now celebrating its 18th year, Gingold Theatrical Group's Project Shaw made history in December 2009 as the first company ever to present performances of every one of Shaw's 65 plays, including full-length works, one-acts and sketches. They will also present plays by writers who share Shaw’s activist socio-political views and embrace human rights and free speech, including Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Elizabeth Robins, Rachel Crothers, Arthur Wing Pinero, Oscar Wilde, James Matthew Barrie, and Harley Granville-Barker. GTG’s other programs include its new play development and educational programs. For those interested in lively off-site discourses, each Project Shaw event is followed by a talk-back with cast members.  This script-in-hand series is also a direct link to Gingold’s SPEAKERS’ CORNER New Play Development Program, dedicated to creating new plays inspired by these classic works of theatrical activism.

 

GTG recently completed a highly acclaimed Off-Broadway engagement of Shaw’s CANDIDA, which will be streamed online later this year.

For more information about Project Shaw and all the programs at Gingold Theatrical Group, call 212-355-7823, email info@gingoldgroup.org, or visit gingoldgroup.org.

 

ABOUT GINGOLD THEATRICAL GROUP

 

Gingold Theatrical Group, now in its 18th year, creates theater that supports human rights, freedom of speech, and individual liberty using the work of George Bernard Shaw as our guide. All of GTG’s programs are inspired by Shaw’s humanitarian values. Through full productions, staged readings, new play development, and inner-city educational programs, GTG brings Shavian precepts to audiences and artists across New York, encouraging individuals to breathe Shaw’s humanist ideals into their contributions for the future. Shaw created plays to inspire peaceful discussion and activism and that is what GTG aims to accomplish. GTG’s past productions include Man and Superman (2012), You Never Can Tell (2013), Major Barbara (2014), Widowers’ Houses (2016), Heartbreak House (2018), and Caesar & Cleopatra (2019).  

 

Founded in 2006 by David Staller, GTG has carved a permanent niche for the work of George Bernard Shaw within the social and cultural life of New York City, and, through the Project Shaw reading series, made history in 2009 as the first company ever to present performances of every one of Shaw's 65 plays (including full-length works, one-acts and sketches). GTG brings together performers, critics, students, academics and the general public with the opportunity to explore and perform theatrical work inspired by the humanitarian and activist values that Shaw championed. All comedies, these plays boldly exhibit the insight, wit, passion and all-encompassing socio-political focus that distinguished Shaw as one of the most inventive and incisive writers of all time.

 

Through performances, symposiums, new play development, and outreach, as well as through our discussion groups and partnerships with schools including SUNY Stony Brook, Regis, the De La Salle Academy, and The Broome Street Academy, GTG has helped spark a renewed interest in Shaw across the country, and a bold interest in theater as activism. Young people are particularly inspired by Shaw’s invocation to challenge the strictures society imposes, to embrace the power of the individual, to make bold personal choices and to take responsibility for these choices. GTG’s new play development lab, Speakers’ Corner, created to support playwrights inspired by Shaw’s ideals, is now in its second cycle. Through monthly prompts and feedback, writers develop work inspired by or in response to a specific Shaw text. Plays developed through Speakers’ Corner will be nurtured in workshops and readings with the expectation that GTG will publish or produce them. GTG encourages all people to rejoice in the possibilities of the future. All of GTG’s programming is designed to inspire lively discussion and peaceful activism with issues related to human rights, the freedom of speech, and individual liberty. This was the purpose behind all of Shaw’s work and why GTG chose him as the guide toward helping create a more tolerant and inclusive world through the exploration of the Arts.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT:

www.gingoldgroup.org