What's On

LEMKIN'S HOUSE
Directed by Jean Randich; performances begin February 3

Post-performance Talkback participants to include Former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power and others.
 
"A tremendously adult piece of theatre" – The Scotsman

LEMKIN'S HOUSE – a thought-provoking drama about the horrors of genocide – written by Catherine Filloux (EYES OF THE HEART) will be given its US premiere at the 78th Street Theatre Lab (236 West 78th Street) from February 3 to February 26, 2006.  
 
LEMKIN'S HOUSE is set in the afterlife of Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-American lawyer whose family died in the Holocaust and who invented the word "genocide."?He dedicated his life to fighting to have genocide declared an?international crime.?Lemkin is bombarded by people bursting into his home with complaints of more recent genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia.?Lemkin must recognize that even his law is not enough to change the world. He weighs his ethical accomplishments against his guilt for deserting his own doomed family?ultimately seeking not only justice but also forgiveness. In LEMKIN'S HOUSE, it's the dead who are haunted by the living.
 
Directed by Jean Randich – LEMKIN'S HOUSE features a cast that includes: John Daggett, Christopher McHale, Christopher Edwards, Constance Winston, and Laura Flanagan; and a design team as follows: Sue Rees (Set Design); Matthew Adelson (Lighting Design); Robert Murphy (Sound Design); Camille Assaf (Costume Design).
 
Catherine Filloux's recent plays include: THE BEAUTY INSIDE; EYES OF THE HEART (NAATCO); SILENCE OF GOD; MARY AND MYRA; ARTHUR’S WAR; PHOTOGRAPHS FROM S-21; ESCUELA DEL MUNDO. Filloux's other plays have been produced in New York and around the U.S. Opera libretto: THE FLOATING BOX: A Story in Chinatown; (Composer Jason Kao Hwang; selected as a Critics Choice by Opera News, 2005; CD New World Records); Commission from Cambodian Living Arts for opera libretto WHERE ELEPHANTS WEEP with Cambodian composer Him Sophy (2006).? Awards: The Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays' Roger L. Stevens award, Eric Kocher Playwrights Award (National Playwrights Conference, O'Neill Theater Center); Callaway Award (New Dramatists), Fulbright Senior Specialist (Cambodia & Morocco).
 
Jean Randich has been directing new work and re-imagining the classics for the past fifteen years. Some of her recent productions include: THE UNKNOWN (NY Festival of Music Theatre, 2005); COMMEDIA DELL SMARTASS (New Georges); ANTIGONE (NAATCO); SILENCE OF GOD (CATF); SERIOUS MONEY (Yale Rep); THE FLOATING BOX (Asia Society); DRAWN TO DEATH (St. Ann's); GIRL UNDER GRAIN (Winner: Best Production Drama, NY International Fringe Festival, 2000); and others.
 
78th Street Theatre Lab was established in 1978 to provide artists with a supportive workplace to create and develop unique, thought-provoking theatre. Under Artistic Director Eric Nightengale and General Manager Ruth Nightengale, previous works of the 78th Street Theatre Lab include the highly successful THE CHINESE ART OF PLACEMENT, INSIDE A BIGGER BOX, THIN WALLS, and the acclaimed Dawn Powell festival PERMANENT VISITOR. Last year's season included Trish Harnetiaux's acclaimed STRAIGHT ON ‘TIL MORNING and Paul Allman's KENNETH – WHAT IS THE FREQUENCY?
 
Scheduled February 3 through February 26, performances of LEMKIN'S HOUSE run at 78th Street Theatre Lab (236 West 78th Street), Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm, with an added performance on Wednesday, February 22 at 8:00pm. Tickets are $15 and can be reserved by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com <http://www.smarttix.com> <http://www.smarttix.com>