The Death of Griffin Hunter
To make a reservation send an email to contact@inversetheater.org with the night you'd like to come and the number in your party. Consider your reservation confirmed unless you hear from us. On the day of the show, you may make a reservation by calling 646-552-4754.
The Death of Griffin Hunter
A play noir by Kirk Wood Bromley
Directed by Howard Thoresen
Sets by Jane Stein
Lights by Jeff Nash
Costumes by Karen Flood
Production Mgt. by Ruthie Conde
Stage Mgt. by Casey McLain
Directed by Howard Thoresen
Sets by Jane Stein
Lights by Jeff Nash
Costumes by Karen Flood
Production Mgt. by Ruthie Conde
Stage Mgt. by Casey McLain
8 pm, Wednesdays - Saturdays, January 10 - February 3, 2007
Tickets $18
At The Brick Theater, 575 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg, NYC
For directions, click here.
"Kirk's writing is some of the most crafted, interesting stuff in the New York theater.”- Robert Lopez, Tony-Award winning composer of Avenue Q.
"Kirk's writing is some of the most crafted, interesting stuff in the New York theater.”- Robert Lopez, Tony-Award winning composer of Avenue Q.
“Kirk Bromley is one of the most intrepid, visionary playwrights working in New York today.” – Greg Kotis, Tony-Award winning writer of Urinetown.
Inverse Theater Company will present The Death of Griffin Hunter, a revival of the seminal production (1998) of the play by Kirk Wood Bromley, starting on January 10, 2007, and running Wednesday – Saturday nights at 8 pm until February 3, 2007. Of the original production, nytheatre.com said, “anyone who cares about the state of contemporary theater should see this play.”
The Death of Griffin Hunter is the story of Griffin Hunter, the Secretary of Disarmament for the United Nations. When Hunter flies to San Francisco to sign a disarmament treaty with 90 nations, he is quickly embroiled into the crypto-psychotic grip of Vaad Sirat, an international weapons cartel that will stop at nothing to seduce Hunter to destroy himself and his vision for a better world. This thrilling “play noir” not only features 30 sensational characters, an Iranian Tazi’ya play-within-the-play, and intricate and compelling plot twists, but it is a timely meditation on the complexities of peacemaking in a world where war means profit.
Inverse Theater Company will present The Death of Griffin Hunter, a revival of the seminal production (1998) of the play by Kirk Wood Bromley, starting on January 10, 2007, and running Wednesday – Saturday nights at 8 pm until February 3, 2007. Of the original production, nytheatre.com said, “anyone who cares about the state of contemporary theater should see this play.”
The Death of Griffin Hunter is the story of Griffin Hunter, the Secretary of Disarmament for the United Nations. When Hunter flies to San Francisco to sign a disarmament treaty with 90 nations, he is quickly embroiled into the crypto-psychotic grip of Vaad Sirat, an international weapons cartel that will stop at nothing to seduce Hunter to destroy himself and his vision for a better world. This thrilling “play noir” not only features 30 sensational characters, an Iranian Tazi’ya play-within-the-play, and intricate and compelling plot twists, but it is a timely meditation on the complexities of peacemaking in a world where war means profit.
Inverse Theater was voted “Best Downtown Theater Company” by The New York Press in 2001. It was the winner, along with Ellen Stewart of La Mama and Basil Twist of Mabou Mines, of the first annual New York Innovate Theater Awards for Continued Achievement in Off-Off-Broadway. Of its production of Three Dollar Bill, the New York Times said, “Very impressive! A nonstop parade of puns, tweaked aphorisms, and linguistic gymnastics…a barrage of jokes that hit more than they miss.” And of its production of Midnight Brainwash Revival, Time-Out NY said, “An overflowing smorgasbord of verbiage and imagination.”
Kirk Wood Bromley is a NYC-based playwright, actor, theater writer, musician and Artistic Director of Inverse Theater Company. His plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, London, San Francisco, Cleveland and various college campuses around the country. Bromley was the recipient of the 2001 Berrilla Kerr Foundation Playwrights Award and his plays won two Fringe Awards – Excellence in Playwrighting (The American Revolution, 2002) and Excellence in Music and Lyrics (Lost, 2003).
Set designer Jane Stein has worked on many Broadway shows including Lenny, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Chicago, The Magic Show, Equus, and Bette Midler’s Clams on the Half Shell Review. Costume designer Karen Flood did the original costumes for Urinetown. And lighting designer Jeff Nash has worked with artists as diverse and renowned as Ellen Stewart, Frank Corsaro, Stuart Sherman, Natsu Nakajima, Sin Cha Hong, John Vaccaro, Robert Wilson, and Gian Carlo Menotti.
Kirk Wood Bromley is a NYC-based playwright, actor, theater writer, musician and Artistic Director of Inverse Theater Company. His plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, London, San Francisco, Cleveland and various college campuses around the country. Bromley was the recipient of the 2001 Berrilla Kerr Foundation Playwrights Award and his plays won two Fringe Awards – Excellence in Playwrighting (The American Revolution, 2002) and Excellence in Music and Lyrics (Lost, 2003).
Set designer Jane Stein has worked on many Broadway shows including Lenny, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Chicago, The Magic Show, Equus, and Bette Midler’s Clams on the Half Shell Review. Costume designer Karen Flood did the original costumes for Urinetown. And lighting designer Jeff Nash has worked with artists as diverse and renowned as Ellen Stewart, Frank Corsaro, Stuart Sherman, Natsu Nakajima, Sin Cha Hong, John Vaccaro, Robert Wilson, and Gian Carlo Menotti.
The cast of The Death of Griffin Hunter includes Al Benditt, Christopher Borg*, Eva Van Dok*, Josh Hartung, Robert Laine, David Lamb*, Catherine McNelis*, Randall Middleton, David Nash, Hettienne Park, Joe Pindelski, Timothy McCown Reynolds*, Jessica Chandlee Smith*, and Chris Thorn*.
* - Appearing courtesy Actors Equity Assoc.
To make a reservation send an email to contact@inversetheater.org with the night you'd like to come and the number in your party. Consider your reservation confirmed unless you hear from us. On the day of the show, you may make a reservation by calling 646-552-4754.
A bit about our aesthetic philosophy...
Inverse does the inverse of current theater. We present poetic plays in as many places as possible. With an aesthetic philosophy that emphasizes the actor-text-audience relationship over giant sets, complex lights, and other technical distractions, every Inverse play is produced as a moveable, active, intense event that can happen anywhere, anytime, in any way. Inverse is poetry in action.
Inverse is sick of standard staging, boring characters, and realistic sets. Inverse is all about imagination.
Inverse loves theater that is in the round, in the face, in the heart.
Inverse loves the party in and around the play.
Songs are great.
A musical score, noise effects, music throughout (echoes, sound effects made by actors, musicians, etc.) are great.
Scene announcements and narrational additions are great.
Actors’ bodies used to sculpt scenes, images, objects are great.
Odd movement, imaginative staging are great.
Extreme characters are great.
Rhythm is vital.
Functional set items are it.
Many layers of storytelling is the way to go (shadow, masks, puppets, narrator, meta-narrative, comment, mockery, symbols, references, dumb-shows, etc.)
Intimacy with the audience is first and foremost. Nothing must interrupt it.
Gag stunts or the real thing. No fake realism.
An imaginative, not a realistic, world.
Color, cloth, funny/big/artistic props are coolest.Absolute exuberance, pace, and momentum are essential.
Alternative lighting is awesome – lamps, clip lights, xmas lights, flashlights, torches, spots, candles, etc.
We love the audience.
The play must have momentum.
We look to the great, long tradition of stage acting, not the great, brief tradition of film acting.
Because these are verse plays, they are subject to some of the same concerns that a piece of symphonic music is subject to: pace, cues, volume, annunciation, pitch, and tone. These vocal elements, which occur both within the individual actor and between actors, will see much attention in the course of a rehearsal and performance. While the specifics for each show, scene, and moment will differ greatly, it can be said generally that the pace should be energetic and clippy, the cues immediate, the volume tuned to the back row, the annunciation absolutely clear and taking precedence over any other vocal technique, the pitch shall be appealing and appropriate, and the tone suited to the intention. The actor should expect to be receiving notes on these issues throughout the entire production and should in all cases adapt to those notes.
Intimacy between the audience and the actors is of foremost importance. Anything that breaks this intimacy is completely unacceptable.
We play the phrase for meaning, not the word for effect, though the effect of the word helps the phrase achieve its meaning.
We make characters, not realistic portrayals.
We act on the words.
Each character is as smart as its words.
We stage to evoke the imagination, not to accommodate the action.
Nothing we do is related to film acting. We are theater actors.
We pursue the magic surrealism of actors, text, story, and innovative low impact stylish simple set/prop/light elements.
Whenever possible, have an actor do something that a set or prop element could do.
We use simplicity to our advantage.
We tell the story first and with every tool at our disposal.
Something surprising must be happening all the time.
The play is not sacred.
