Bold new comedy reunites playwright/director team who won 5 NYIT Awards in 2016.
February 2 - 18 at The Brick
“There is no American writer more thoughtful – in an explosive and surreally comic kind of way – than Brian Parks.” – The Scotsman
“Fanned flames of inspiration” – The New York Times on Americana Absurdum
“A refreshingly mischievous, inventive author” – The Times of London
Gemini CollisionWorks presents the world premiere of ENTERPRISE by Brian Parks. The production reunites playwright Parks with director Ian W. Hill, whose production of The Golfer received five 2016 New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Previews begin Thursday, February 2, at the Brick Theater with opening night slated for Sunday, February 5.
With their large company suddenly on the brink of collapse, four panicking businesspeople make a desperate overnight effort to save it – and their futures. Emergency proposals, email hacking, an animal sacrifice, a radical theory about the Ottoman Empire – will any of it work? ENTERPRISE is a fast-paced, surreal comedy by the author of Americana Absurdum (Fringe First, Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and last year’s The Golfer (winner of five NYIT Awards).
ENTERPRISE stars Fred Backus (Innovative Theatre Awards for both Outstanding Performance in a Lead Role and Outstanding Ensemble; Outstanding Performance Award at FringeNYC), Adam Files (Sick City Blues at The Connelly), Derrick Peterson (Warm Enough for Swimming at SoHo Playhouse), and Alyssa Simon (2009 Person of the Year at nytheatre.com), with additional casting to be announced. The production team includes Berit Johnson (set), Ian W. Hill (lighting), and Kaitlyn Day (costumes).
Brian Parks’s other produced plays include Americana Absurdum, The House, The Golfer, Goner, The Invitation, Imperial Fizz, American Poodle (Splayfoot), Suspicious Package, and Out of the Way. His work has been staged in New York City and several cities across the U.S., as well as internationally in London, Edinburgh, Ireland, Adelaide, Heidelberg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Oberzeiring, Austria. Americana Absurdum won the Best Writing Award at the New York International Fringe Festival and a Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; it was also mounted at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory theater.
Ian W. Hill has been part of Indie Theater in NYC since 1989, creating theater as Gemini CollisionWorks since 1997, and working in collaboration with Berit Johnson since 2000 — including their landmark productions of Even the Jungle (slight return), Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, and the noir fantasia World Gone Wrong. Besides original plays and collages, GCW has produced works by Richard Foreman, Mac Wellman, Clive Barker, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Vaclav Havel, Eugene Ionesco, Shakespeare, John Whiting, Trav S.D., Marc Spitz, Julia Lee Barclay, Jeff Goode, and Dean Haspiel, among others, and is known for its creative use of text, light, sound, music, and projections. The Gemini Collisionworks 2016 production of The Golfer won five Innovative Theatre Awards (Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Lead Actor, Outstanding Featured Actor, Outstanding Innovative Design, Outstanding Costume Design) and earned two additional nominations (Outstanding Sound Design, Outstanding Original Music).
ENTERPRISE runs February 2-5 at 8 pm; February 9-11 at 8 pm, February 12 at 4 pm, February 13 at 8 pm; February 16-18 at 8 pm. The Brick is located at 579 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, between Union and Lorimer, close to the G and L subway lines, as well as the B24, B48, and Q59 buses. Running time is approximately 70 minutes. Tickets are $18, available at bricktheater.com or at 866-811-4111.