La MaMa E.T.C.
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
36th Season   74A East Fourth Street ~ New York, NY 10003 ~ Box Office (212) 475-7710
Jonathan Slaff, Press Representative ~ (212) 260-2473
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Bar patrons take a ride into the unknown in "Convertible"
East Village women's bar is setting for a dark musical comedy about danger, courage and the unexpected.
June 18 to 28, La MaMa E.T.C. (First Floor Theatre), 74A East Fourth Street
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm; Sundays at 3:30 pm and 8:00 pm
$12/tdf
(212) 475-7710

NEW YORK, May 29 -- "Convertible," an experimental musical by Elizabeth West Versalie (story, book and lyrics) and Peter Dizozza (music), is a dark comedy about stepping into the unexpected. A violent terrorist takes eight people of mixed races and sexual persuasions hostage in an East Village lesbian bar. How each hostage worms his or her way through the situation is a commentary on how the fluidity of modern life makes us continually re-establish ourselves, racially, sexually and emotionally. Tyr Throne directs.

Penny, a shy and unassuming woman, takes a big chance and steps into "Convertible," a fictitious street corner saloon and women's bar in the East Village. She is picked up by Lucy, a prominant TV newscaster who's a sort of lesbian version of Leslie Stahl. A black married man named Herc unwittingly stumbles into the bar and doesn't leave because he wants to confront Lucy over a racially-charged police story. They all encounter a White Supremacist man named Shell, a terrorist who is going to blow up Trump Towers. Shell's also got an obsession with lesbian women. He intends to hold the bar patrons hostage so that Lucy will give him air time to state his cause in public. The ensuing comedy/drama is both an escape act (for the patrons) and a statement on how you can freely invent yourself so long as your love for humanity is present.

Entrapped with the patrons is the house band (a pianist and two singers), who fulfill an interesting structural role in the play. In author Versalie's concept, the actors stay in character and sometimes act without words while the band sings. Their songs are character self-studies, drawing musical style from the personal quests of the bar patrons. The play is staged so that the audience will feel more like onlookers in the bar than playgoers behind a fourth wall.

"Convertible" was mounted in workshop at La MaMa's La Galleria in June, 1997. Playwrite/lyricist Elizabeth West Verslaie had two other plays presented by La Galleria, "Cardboard Windows" and "Nothing Personal." She is a former General Manager of CSC Rep and Assistant General Manager of the Lucille Lortel Theatre and Promenade Theatre and has worked in production for USA Network and NBC.

Versalie had collaborated with composer Peter Dizozza on "Nothing Personal" and with director Throne on "Cardboard Windows." Dizozza's La Galleria shows include "Prepare to Meet Your Maker, "The Peace Mission" Witchfidners" and "Storm Cloud," many of which were directed by Throne. With Throne and Debra Wakefield he produces multi-media extravaganzas heralding the Dawn of the Age of Romantic Enlightenment (DARE Shows). He is a graduate of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

Director Tyr Throne directed and acted in Versalie's "Cardboard Windows" and Dizozza's "Storm Cloud" and "Prepare to Meet Your Maker." As a director, choreographer, actor, dancer, writer or producer, he has received 34 award and commissions. His dance theatre company, The Tribe, has been funded by the NEA and NYSCA and has been assisted in its international touring by the U.S. State Department and the White House's Office of Special Presidential Messages.

Lighting for "Convertible" is designed by Herrick Goldman who is Resident Lighting Designer for Irondale Ensemble. His other credits include American Jewish Theatre's "Coconuts."

The characters in the saloon are played by Cody Smolik, Kate Lunsford, Cezar Williams, J.R. Robinson, Pamela Lehman and Case Murphy. The bar's band is played by

Peter Dizozza (who accompanies live on piano), Lisa Dery and Michael A. Ballos.

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CRITICS ARE INVITED on or after June 18.