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FIRST LOOK AT JOSEPH ASSADOURIAN IN THE BULLPEN, BEGINNING TOMORROW AT THE PLAYROOM THEATER
Broadway World
June 11 2014
June 11
by BWW News Desk
Actor/playwright Joseph Assadourian, like Charles Dutton and Lead
Belly before him, discovered his theatrical voice while serving time
behind bars. His new one-man play, The Bullpen, which he wrote and
stars in, will begin an open-ended Off-Broadway engagement at The
Playroom Theater (151 West 46th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue)
on Thursday, June 12th. Richard Hoehler directs this black comedy,
which features Assadourian in 18 different roles. Opening night is
set Sunday June 22nd. Check out a first look below!
In The Bullpen, a man is arrested, arraigned and put on trial for
a crime he claims he did not commit. Consequently two systems of
jurisprudence judge him - one a jury of his peers in the courtroom
and the other: the fascinating and hilarious denizens of the bullpen
in which he is being held. Mr. Assadourian mercurially transforms
from character to character and from court to court.
Joseph Assadourian was released from prison in 2013 after serving
12 years for attempted murder. Two years before his release, he
reluctantly became one of two-dozen inmates who joined a theatre
workshop at Otisville Correctional Institution in upstate New York.
Actor/director Richard Hoehler, a volunteer at the institution, used
acting techniques to guide inmates through the rehabilitation process.
Joseph, who had never before even seen a play, quickly discovered
his special skills and, with Hoehler's guidance, began creating an
8-minute scene that incorporated characters he had met during his
incarceration. The Bullpen evolved from that short sketch into a
full-length production, which was developed at Otisville Correction
Facility; upon his release from prison, Assadourian performed the
completed, full-length at the Fortune Academy (The Castle) - a
residence in NYC for formerly incarcerated men and women. Producer
Eric Krebs saw the show there and realized it needed to be seen by
a wider audience.
Assadourian received the 1st Place PEN Prison Writing Award for
his play, Heaven and a 2nd Place PEN Award for Joey Shakespeare,
co-written with Brandon Cochrane, which was featured at the New Work
Now reading series at The Public Theater and subsequently presented
by The Collective Theatre in Miami. He is also the author of a
full-length play, Deliberation, a modern recounting of the Armenian
Holocaust. As an actor, Joe has appeared in Race by David Mamet,
Tuff Love (including works by Sam Shepard and John Patrick Shanley)
and Inside Out, an original theatre piece co-written with the inmates
at Otisville Correctional Institution.
Performances will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings
at 8PM and Sunday at 3PM. Special Matinees Friday June 20th at
4PM and Saturday June 21st at 3PM. Tickets, which are $20, are
available online at www.StepInTheBullpen.com or by calling toll-free
866-811-4111. Performances take place at The Playroom Theater at 151
West 46th Street (between Broadway and 6th Avenue).
http://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Photo-Flash-First-Look-at-Joseph-Assadourian-in-THE-BULLPEN-Beginning-Tomorrow-at-The-Playroom-Theater-20140611#
Broadway World
June 11 2014
June 11
by BWW News Desk
Actor/playwright Joseph Assadourian, like Charles Dutton and Lead
Belly before him, discovered his theatrical voice while serving time
behind bars. His new one-man play, The Bullpen, which he wrote and
stars in, will begin an open-ended Off-Broadway engagement at The
Playroom Theater (151 West 46th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue)
on Thursday, June 12th. Richard Hoehler directs this black comedy,
which features Assadourian in 18 different roles. Opening night is
set Sunday June 22nd. Check out a first look below!
In The Bullpen, a man is arrested, arraigned and put on trial for
a crime he claims he did not commit. Consequently two systems of
jurisprudence judge him - one a jury of his peers in the courtroom
and the other: the fascinating and hilarious denizens of the bullpen
in which he is being held. Mr. Assadourian mercurially transforms
from character to character and from court to court.
Joseph Assadourian was released from prison in 2013 after serving
12 years for attempted murder. Two years before his release, he
reluctantly became one of two-dozen inmates who joined a theatre
workshop at Otisville Correctional Institution in upstate New York.
Actor/director Richard Hoehler, a volunteer at the institution, used
acting techniques to guide inmates through the rehabilitation process.
Joseph, who had never before even seen a play, quickly discovered
his special skills and, with Hoehler's guidance, began creating an
8-minute scene that incorporated characters he had met during his
incarceration. The Bullpen evolved from that short sketch into a
full-length production, which was developed at Otisville Correction
Facility; upon his release from prison, Assadourian performed the
completed, full-length at the Fortune Academy (The Castle) - a
residence in NYC for formerly incarcerated men and women. Producer
Eric Krebs saw the show there and realized it needed to be seen by
a wider audience.
Assadourian received the 1st Place PEN Prison Writing Award for
his play, Heaven and a 2nd Place PEN Award for Joey Shakespeare,
co-written with Brandon Cochrane, which was featured at the New Work
Now reading series at The Public Theater and subsequently presented
by The Collective Theatre in Miami. He is also the author of a
full-length play, Deliberation, a modern recounting of the Armenian
Holocaust. As an actor, Joe has appeared in Race by David Mamet,
Tuff Love (including works by Sam Shepard and John Patrick Shanley)
and Inside Out, an original theatre piece co-written with the inmates
at Otisville Correctional Institution.
Performances will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings
at 8PM and Sunday at 3PM. Special Matinees Friday June 20th at
4PM and Saturday June 21st at 3PM. Tickets, which are $20, are
available online at www.StepInTheBullpen.com or by calling toll-free
866-811-4111. Performances take place at The Playroom Theater at 151
West 46th Street (between Broadway and 6th Avenue).
http://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Photo-Flash-First-Look-at-Joseph-Assadourian-in-THE-BULLPEN-Beginning-Tomorrow-at-The-Playroom-Theater-20140611#