Famed Hollywood film director Joel Schumacher makes his New York theater directing debut.
November 9 – December 20 @ The Flea Theater
The Flea Theater presents the New York premiere of Jennifer Haley’s NEIGHBORHOOD 3: REQUISITION OF DOOM, directed by Joel Schumacher and featuring members of The Bats, the Flea’s resident acting company. Previews start November 9, with opening night slated for Monday, November 16. Says Artistic Director Niegel Smith, “Jennifer Haley’s insightful play exposes the chasms within a community consumed by violent video games. It’s particularly exciting that The Bats will be guided in this production by the singular vision of Joel Schumacher.”
In a quiet cul-de-sac where the Neighborhood Association regulates everything from lawn height to garden gnomes, no one can control the growing addiction to a new online game. Using a GPS map, the game allows teenagers to battle zombies in their own neighborhood. But as the line between the game and reality blurs, everyone must ask themselves: which team are you on?
NEIGHBORHOOD 3: REQUISITION OF DOOM premiered at the Humana Festival in Louisville. The production features The Bats: Justin Ahdoot (The Mysteries), Sydney Blaxill (Student Body, The Nomad), Alexandra Curran (Student Body), Eric Folks (JOB, Just Cause), Adam Alexander Hamilton (Student Body), Alex Haynes (The Mysteries), Adelind Horan (The Old Masters), Lindsley Howard (The Mysteries), Kerry Ipema (Restoration Comedy), Olivia Jampol (Cutthroats), Connor Johnston, Hank Lin (Sarah Flood in Salem Mass), Madeline Mahoney, Cristina Pitter (Nectarine EP), and Brendan Sokler. The creative team includes Simon Harding (scenic design), Brian Aldous (lighting design), Jessica Pabst (costume design), Janie Bullard (sound design), Grace Interlichia (assistant costume design), John McKenna (assistant sound design), J. David Brimmer (fight choreography), David Monteagudo (assistant director), Zach Golden (assistant to the director), Abbey Bay (production stage manager), and Kaila Hill (assistant stage manager).
JENNIFER HALEY (Playwright) is a playwright whose work delves into ethics in virtual reality and the impact of technology on our human relationships, identity, and desire. She won the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Los Angeles Ovation Award and Drama Critics Circle Award for her play, The Nether, which premiered at Center Theatre Group and was subsequently produced at The Royal Court Theatre with Headlong in London. Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom premiered at the Actors Theatre of Louisville 2008 Humana Festival, and They Call Her Froggy was produced in development with Center Theatre Group and American Conservatory Theater. Jennifer’s work has been developed at The Banff Centre, the Sundance Theatre Lab, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Lark Play Development Center, Ojai Playwrights Conference, PlayPenn, Page 73, and the MacDowell Colony. She is a member of New Dramatists in New York City and lives in Los Angeles, where she founded the Playwrights Union.
JOEL SCHUMACHER (Director) is renowned for his versatility, style and ability to move seamlessly between film genres with equal popular success and critical acclaim. He began his film career as a costume designer for such legendary directors as Woody Allen (Sleeper, Interiors) and Herbert Ross (The Last of Sheila), before making his own name as a screenwriter with Sparkle and Car Wash. After cutting his teeth directing two television movies, Joel made his feature film directorial debut on The Incredible Shrinking Woman in 1981. His career soon took off with such iconic fare as St. Elmo’s Fireand The Lost Boys, followed by other successes – Cousins, Flatliners, Dying Young, and Falling Down. He would go on to direct film versions of two best selling novels by John Grisham (The Client and A Time to Kill) as well as two installments of the blockbuster Batman film series, Batman Forever (at the time, the #1 box office opening of all time, with Jim Carrey as ‘The Riddler’) and Batman & Robin.
As his career entered the 21st century, Joel brought audiences the films 8MM, Flawless (which he also wrote), Tigerland, Phone Booth, Bad Company, Veronica Guerin, The Number 23, and Trespass. In 2004 he adapted Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical, The Phantom of the Opera, for the screen. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy. Twelve, based on the groundbreaking novel by Nick McDonell, was honored as the closing night presentation of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Since then, Joel returned to television, directing two episodes of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey and executive produced by David Fincher. Most recently, Joel acted as Executive Producer on Do Not Disturb: Hotel Horrors, a true-crime series for Investigation Discovery.
THE BATS are the resident acting company members of The Flea Theater. Each year over a thousand actors audition for a place in this unique company. The Bats perform in extended runs of challenging classic and new plays. The Bats have recently appeared in premieres by A.R. Gurney, Will Eno, Adam Rapp, Beau Willimon, Mac Wellman, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Bradshaw, Itamar Moses, Sheila Callaghan, Julian Sheppard, Ken Urban, Tommy Smith, Jonathan Reynolds, Trista Baldwin, Laurel Haines, Qui Nguyen, Sean Graney, and Amy Freed.
THE FLEA THEATER, under Artistic Director Niegel Smith and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading off-off-Broadway companies. Winner of a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement, Obie Awards and an Otto for political theater, The Flea has presented over 100 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include premieres by Steven Banks, Thomas Bradshaw, Kim Davies, Bathsheba Doran, Will Eno, Karen Finley, Amy Freed, Sean Graney, A.R. Gurney, Hamish Linklater, Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio, Itamar Moses, Anne Nelson, Qui Nguyen, Adam Rapp, Jonathan Reynolds, Roger Rosenblatt, Elizabeth Swedos, Mac Wellman, and Brian Watkins. Successes include Drama Desk nominated She Kills Monsters, These Seven Sicknesses, Restoration Comedy, The Mysteries and eight World Premieres by A.R. Gurney including the WSJ Best New Play of 2013, Family Furniture.
NEIGHBORHOOD 3: REQUISITION OF DOOM runs November 9 – December 20, 2015, Wednesday-Monday at 7PM and Saturdays and Sundays at 3PM during previews. Tickets are $15 - $75 with the lowest priced tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis, and VIP tickets available for $105. The production includes graphic violence. The Flea is located at 41 White Street between Church and Broadway, three blocks south of Canal, close to the A/C/E, N/R/Q, 6, J/M/Z and 1 subway lines. Tickets are $15-$35-$55-$75 and are available by calling 212-352-3101 or online at www.theflea.org.