Second Stage Theatre’s remount of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Between Riverside and Crazy, starring Stephen McKinley Henderson (Walter “Pops” Washington), Victor Almanzar (Oswaldo), Elizabeth Canavan (Detective O’Connor), Rosal Colón (Lulu), Liza Colón-Zayas (Church Lady), Michael Rispoli (Lieutenant Caro) and Ron Cephas Jones (Junior), under the masterful direction of Austin Pendleton, opened to rave reviews on February 11, and will continue performances through March 22nd. Click here to read the reviews.
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Michael Rispoli, Liza Colón-Zayas, Rosal Colón, and Ron Cephas Jones; photo by Carol Rosegg.
City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the Landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed – and the Church won’t leave him alone. For ex-cop and recent widower Walter “Pops” Washington and his recently paroled son Junior, the struggle to hold on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests, and a final ultimatum in this dark comedy. For Pops and Junior, it seems the Old Days are dead and gone – after a lifetime living Between Riverside and Crazy.
Stephen McKinley Henderson and Rosal Colón. ©2015, Carol Rosegg
Recently featured on New York Times Theater Critic Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014 List:
“Between Riverside and Crazy: The triumphant return of Stephen Adly Guirgis, who startled Broadway in 2011 by snatching a Tony nomination for best play for a work with an unprintable title. This gleefully agnostic account of the things we do for real estate (at least when you’re poor and in unlikely possession of prime Manhattan property) blithely crossed the lines between good and bad, comedy and tragedy, faith and skepticism without missing a step. Austin Pendleton directed a wonderful cast led by Stephen McKinley Henderson.”
Stephen McKinley Henderson and Ron Cephas Jones. ©2015, Carol Rosegg
What the critics are saying:
“A rich new play deliciously mounted! It is a dizzying and exciting place to be!”
The New York Times
“This is the kind of rich, dynamic theater you almost never see anymore—fresh, savage and original.”
“Like a stick of dynamite, it shines a laser light on the shadowy aspects of being a black cop, fighting the system, and never giving up or giving in.”
NY Observer
“A quintessentially New York play brought to roaring life. A love/hate song to this impossible town and its outlandish citizenry.”
Variety
“Tender, Gritty, Shocking”
NY Daily News
“Filled with biting humor and wonder.”
USA Today
Stephen McKinley Henderson and Liza Colón-Zayas. Photo by Kevin Thomas Garcia
Between Riverside and Crazy features scenic design by Walt Spangler; costume design byAlexis Forte; lighting design by Keith Parham; and sound design and original music by Ryan Rumery.
Tickets are $75 (orchestra), $60 (Balcony), $67.50 (Senior), $125 premium*, $55 (subscription). Rush tickets are available one hour prior to curtain to full time high school or college students. $30 Under 30 tickets available in advance for patrons ages 30 and under. One valid ID required for each ticket purchased, based on availability. For tickets: call the box office at 212-246-4422 or 2ST.com. *A limited number of Premium Seats are available. Please call the box office at 212-246-4422 to reserve.
2014 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright recipient Stephen Adly Guirgis at the 2014 Steinberg Playwright Awards hosted by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust on November 17, 2014 in New York City. Photo by Lia Chang
STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS (Playwright) is a member and former co-artistic director of LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States. They include Our Lady of 121st Street (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations), Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Barrymore Award, Olivier Nomination for London’s Best New Play), In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings (2007 LA Drama Critics Best Play, Best Writing Award), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (10 best Time Magazine & Entertainment Weekly), and The Little Flower of East Orange (with Ellen Burstyn & Michael Shannon). All five plays were directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and were originally produced by LAByrinth. His most recent play, The Motherf***er with the Hat (6 Tony nominations, including Best Play), was directed by Anna D. Shapiro and marked his third consecutive world premiere co-production with The Public Theater and LAByrinth. In London, his plays have premiered at The Donmar Warehouse, The Almeida (dir: Rupert Goold), The Hampstead (Robert Delamere), and at The Arts Theater in the West End. Other plays include Den of Thieves (Labyrinth, HERE, HAI, Black Dahlia) and Dominica The Fat Ugly Ho (dir: Adam Rapp) for the 2006 E.S.T. Marathon. He is currently collaborating with Academy Award nominated director Baz Luhrmann on a Netflix Series The Get Down, a 13-episode drama about the birth of hip-hop in the 1970s, which will air in 2016. He has received the Yale Wyndham-Campbell Prize, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Whiting Award, a TCG fellowship and the prestigious 2014 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. He is also a New Dramatists Alumnae and a member of MCC’s Playwright’s Coalition, The Ojai Playwrights Festival, New River Dramatists, and Labyrinth Theater Company. As an actor, he has appeared in theater, film and television, including roles in Kenneth Lonergan’s film Margaret, Todd Solondz’s Palindromes, Brett C Leonard’s Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman opposite Michael Keaton. A former violence prevention specialist and H.I.V. educator, he lives in New York City.
Austin Pendleton
AUSTIN PENDLETON (Director) returns to Second Stage Theatre where he staged the critically acclaimed production of Spoils of War. He has been most recently represented as a director by his productions in New York, of Gidion’s Knot (by Johnna Adams) at 59E59; Seagull69 (adapted from The Sea Gull) at Mississippi Mud; Ivanov, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya (all at CSC); and Look Homeward, Angel for Mother of Invention, among many other productions. Other credits include: in Chicago, works at Steppenwolf (where he is a member of the Ensemble) most recently by Tribes; in London at the National Theatre by Detroit by Lisa D’Amour; and in Little Rock by A Loss of Roses by William Inge, at Arkansas Rep. He is also an actor (Broadway, off- and off-off-Broadway, regional theatre, and many movies and TV appearances), playwright (his plays include Orson’s Shadow, Uncle Bob, and Booth), and (at HB Studio in New York) teacher of acting.
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Ron Cephas Jones. ©2015, Carol Rosegg
Stephen McKinley Henderson and Elizabeth Canavan. ©2015, Carol Rosegg.
Ron Cephas Jones and Rosal Colón. ©2015, Carol Rosegg
Ron Cephas Jones, Liza Colón-Zayas, Elizabeth Canavan, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Rosal Colón, Michael Rispoli and Victor Almanzar in the Second Stage Theatre green room on January 21, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang
Check out playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton on Theater Talk, co-hosted by Michael Riedel of the New York Post and producer Susan Haskins.
The trio discusses their collaboration on Guirgis’ new play, Between Riverside and Crazy at the Second Stage Theatre, about the off beat world of an aging police officer whose career was cut short in a shooting. In a freewheeling conversation, they also talk about the inspirations for their successful careers, as well as the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who got his first break from Pendleton and later was Guirgis’ mentor and collaborator.
The program is also available online at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org, and via iTunes podcasts.
Related articles
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Starring Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones; Opens February 11
Production Photos: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Second Stage Theatre
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
talkingbroadway.com: Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, and Liza Colón-Zayas in Between Riverside and Crazy
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Extends through March 22
Second Stage Theatre Presents Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Starring Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones; Opens February 11
Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
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Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the 2013 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman, and made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.
Other Articles by Lia Chang:
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Crafting a Career
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