NEW PALTZ – Spike Heels, opens the spring 2011 main stage season at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Sponsored by the Department of Theatre Arts, the play will be performed in Parker Theatre March 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, at 8 p.m. and March 6, and 13, at 2 p.m. Spike Heels is written by Theresa Rebeck and directed by Paul Kassel.
The story features the raging and racy Georgie, a girl from the Bronx, who gets mixed up with three 20-somethings on the rise and on the make, in Boston. Georgie meets Andrew, the earnest college professor, his friend and salacious lawyer, Edward, and Lydia, the ice princess of Back Bay. The group collides, breaks up, and comes back together in a raucous and raunchy comedy of sexual manners. But what appears to be a straight-forward sex farce is really a Shavian lesson on issues of power and control.
Paul Kassel is the Associate Chair in the Department of Theatre Arts, teaching all levels of acting and play analysis. His book, Acting: An Introduction to the Art and Craft of Playing, was published in April 2006. Kassel is a professional actor, director, and writer. He has worked off, and off-off, Broadway, in regional theaters, and in a number of films, several television shows and industrials. He has written four original plays and several adaptations. His scholarly work includes a book, several articles, and many conference presentations on acting and performance theory. Kassel is currently the managing editor for a new journal, “The Players’ Journal,” by and for actors and teachers. Kassel received his M.F.A. in Performance from the Florida State/Asolo Conservatory of Professional Actor Training. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors’ Guild.
Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced playwright. Past New York productions of her work include Mauritius, The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann, Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House, and View of the Dome. Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre. Her newest work, The Understudy, premiered at the 2008 Williamstown Theatre Festival and ran in New York at the Laura Pels Theater.
All of Rebeck’s past produced plays are published as Theresa Rebeck: Complete Plays, Volumes I, II and III. She has also written Free Fire Zone, a book of comedic essays about writing and show business. She has written for American Theatre Magazine and has had excerpts of her plays published in the Harvard Review. Rebeck’s first novel, Three Girls and Their Brother, was published in 2008, and her second novel, Twelve Rooms With A View, was published in 2010.
In television, Rebeck is the executive producer of Law and Order: SVU. She has written for Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, American Dreamer, Maximum Bob, First Wave, and Third Watch. She has been a writer/producer for Canterbury’s Law, Smith, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. As a producer her feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and the independent features Sunday on the Rocks and Seducing Charlie Barker. Rebeck has been awarded the Mystery Writer’s of America’s Edgar Award, the Writer’s Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody for her work on NYPD Blue. Rebeck has won the National Theatre Conference Award and was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003. Mauritius was originally produced at Boston’s Huntington Theatre, where it received the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play as well as the Eliot Norton Award.
Rebeck is originally from Cincinnati and holds an MFA in Playwriting and Ph.D. in Victorian Melodrama from Brandeis University. She is a board member of the Dramatists Guild, a Contributing Editor to the Harvard Review, an Associate Artist of the Roundabout Theatre Company and has taught at Brandeis and Columbia University.
Spike Heels is not recommended for people under age 17. Tickets can be purchased at the College’s Box Office, located in Parker Theatre, by phone at 845.257.3880, or online at www.newpaltz.edu/theatre. Tickets are $16 general reserved and $14 for seniors, students, SUNY New Paltz faculty and staff. Mention or apply the discount code, EMSPIKE, and get a second ticket for 50% off! This is not valid with any other offer or promotion.
Follow the cast (in character) on Facebook & Twitter – Twitter: GeorgieNPThe, LydiaNPThe, AndrewNPThe, EdwardNPThe. Facebook – GeorgieNP, LydiaNP, AndrewNP, EdwardNP.
For additional information call 845.257.3880.
