Director: Maurice J. Moran
Playwright: Deirdre Louise MacNamara
Featuring Mickey Abbate, Brian W. Seibert, Michael Edmund, Deirdre MacNamara, Peter Morris, and Kristen Cantwell
ARCHIPELAGO takes place at the Fire Island beach house of a long term couple, sophisticated writer Patrick and his sweet natured peace-loving partner Glenn as they prepare for their traditional birthday weekend celebration. With them are their oldest friends, old hippie Michael and sharp tongue rage-a-(and alco)-holic Harper, all bonded from their days as activists in ACT UP. Throwing a wrench into the weekend is an unexpected rainstorm. Oh,and Harper’s ex arriving uninvited…with his much younger new girlfriend in tow.
As the afternoon progresses, amidst the barbs, memories, stings and arrows, new stabs, old jabs, ARCHIPELAGO asks, do old scars ever heal? Do we want them to? Why do we let these people into our lives? And what would we do without them? As the gets fuzzier, both the vision and the horizon, maybe the only clarity left is love.
DEIRDRE LOUISE MacNAMARA is a Dramatist Guild member and beyond thrilled and grateful to Frank, Melisa and all of HB for this opportunity. HB was the first place she took classes upon arriving in NYC, studying with Laila Robbins and William Hickey. Archipelago is her third play, following Define Happiness and Order Up!, both collections of one acts, and two solo shows Nude Nude Totally Nude and Dreamsicle. She is deeply grateful to her cast, especially director Maurice Moran. This marks their 7th collaboration. As always, all thanks and love go to Michael, the family, Jonathan, and Mom and Dad.
HB Studio is dedicated to training and practice for the theater, and seeks to provide a commerce-free environment for the nurturing and growth of theater artists. In pursuit of this goal, HB offers five one-week Rehearsal Space Residencies each year for the development of creative projects. The HB Rehearsal Space Residency is an opportunity for practicing theater artists to collaborate on experimental projects, develop new work, and share workshop presentations among peers and colleagues, for constructive critical feedback and mutual growth. The Rehearsal Space Residency is an open opportunity; you do not have to be affiliated with HB Studio to apply. However we do ask that our resident artists work with us to engage with our community of students and faculty while in residence at HB. For more information on our HB Residencies. Click here.
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