MARKO THE PRINCE
June 20th at Barrow Group Theater
** starring Tony Award winner Trezana Beverley**
"Ms. Bach's highly naturalistic dialogue is transparent, quickly drawing one into the drama's vortex ... a cogent and moving play" -- The New York Times (on Name Day)
"Playwright Bach quickly involves the audience, adeptly setting up a modern tragedy as searing as some of Arthur Miller's early work... a masterpiece" -- Variety (on Name Day)
"touching drama ... uncommon emotional intelligence" -- The New York Times (on Chekhov and Maria)
Obie Award winning Immigrants' Theatre Project in collaboration with John Stark Productions presents the New York Premiere of Jovanka Bach’s MARKO THE PRINCE. The play is part of The Balkan Trilogy, three plays by Bach about Yugoslavians and Serbian-Americans during the rise and fall of Yugoslavia under Tito and the Communists. The trilogy was nominated for a PEN West Award. Directed by Marcy Arlin, previews begin June 20 at Barrow Group Theater with opening set for Thursday, June 26.
MARKO THE PRINCE is set in Sabor, a village on the border of Bosnia and Serbia, at the start the 90s Balkan War. Michael, a first-generation American, returns to Sabor to bury his mother in the village of her birth. Michael’s plans are derailed when he discovers smoldering religious and ethnic resentments surrounding the ownership of Sabor’s tiny village cemetery. Gossip, innuendo, passion, and politics cause uneasy alliances and dangerous conflict.
The multicultural production stars Trezana Beverley (Tony Award winner, For Colored Girls...) with Jelena Stupljanin, Tony Naumovski, Lanna Joffrey, Aaron Lohr (Bare: A Pop Opera, Radiant Baby), Christo Christov, Josh Clayton, Matthew Schmidt, Herman Petras, and Paul Barry with sets by Art Rotch, lighting by Lucas Krech, costumes by Carol Brys, sound by Elizabeth Rhodes. Additional staff includes production manager Karen Oughtred, assistant director Taras Berezowsky, stage manager Kelly Sharr, musical director Nikos Brisco, and fight coordinator Ryan Bartruff.
Jovanka Bach’s plays include Chekhov and Maria, O'Neill's Ghosts, Sylvie and A Matter of the Heart (two O'Neill Playwrights Conference semifinalists), Mercy Warren's Tea (Best Play winner from the American Radio Theatre), and The Balkan Trilogy (Name Day, A Thousand Souls, and Marko the Prince). Ms. Bach, a second-generation immigrant from Montenegro, passed away in January 2006 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Immigrants’ Theatre Project, Inc. (ITP) was founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Marcy Arlin to present traditional and experimental plays by and about immigrants. In 2003, ITP received the 2003 Obie Grant for Innovative Theatre and for promoting multicultural theatre and creating national interest in immigrant theatre. ITP has presented the premieres of over 250 plays include Change by Sung Rno, Happy Valley by Aurorae Khoo (winner of Kennedy Center 2000 Fund for New American Plays), and Czech Plays in Translation at The Public Theater. They also co-curated Dis-Location & Re-Discovery with the New Group and produced A Taste of Freedom which ran for 30 weeks on Ellis Island. For more info visit www.immigrantstheat.org.
MARKO THE PRINCE runs June 20 - July 13, Wednesday -Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm & 7:30pm. (Please note: there is no 7:30pm show on July 13 and no performances July 4.) The Barrow Group Theatre is located at 312 West 36th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenue -- accessible from the A,C,E trains at 34th Street). Tickets are $20, available at 212-352-3101 or Theatermania.com.