More Information About The Gimmick

Description

<p>Directed by Simon Levy, The Gimmick is set for a limited engagement at The Fountain Theatre.</p> <p>The heroine of Orlandersmith’s play is Alexis, a painfully awkward, bookish girl in 1970’s Harlem.  Ignored by her alcoholic mother and taunted by peers as “fat doofus,” Alexis has two lights in her life: the library where she writes in her journal and is encouraged by the librarian to read James Baldwin; and her friend Jimmy, a budding artist. Together, they come of age on the tough turf that is New York’s Harlem.</p> <p>“Ms. Orlandersmith is wholly original…riveting,” exclaimed the New York Times, while the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote: “The Gimmick has a big heart and an uplifting story to tell.  If the example of James Baldwin can reach across the decades to inspire a teen, so might Orlandersmith’s tale of compassion and hope.”  </p> <p>The design team includes:  Simon Levy & Scott Tuomey, set design; Kathi O’Donohue, lighting design; David B. Marling, sound design.</p> <p>Dael Orlandersmith was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Drama Desk Award nominee for Yellowman (Manhattan Theatre Club), which also swept all of the major Los Angeles theatre awards last year for Best Production.  She won an Obie Award for writing and starring in Beauty’s Daughter (American Place Theatre). Film credits include Hal Hartley’s Amateur and Get Well Soon with Courtney Cox. The Gimmick was commissioned by New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre and went on to great acclaim at the Long Wharf Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and the recent Galway Theatre Festival.  Her newest play is Raw Boys.</p> <p>Simon Levy most recently adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby for the stage. The play’s World Premiere (July, 2006) inaugurated the Wurtele Thrust Stage at the Guthrie Theatre’s brand new riverfront complex; it goes to Seattle Rep next for a November 2nd opening.  Levy’s stage adaptation of Eliot Weinberger’s galvanizing article, What I Heard About Iraq, just won the prestigious Fringe First Award at this year’s Edinburgh Theatre Festival, and received a world-wide reading on March 20, 2006 (the Iraq invasion’s third anniversary), following an acclaimed, extended run at the Fountain Theatre where it premiered on 9/11/05; it will be produced by BBC 4 Radio next March. He has directed many award-winning Fountain Theatre productions, including Master Class (2004 Ovation Award, Best Production), Daisy in the Dreamtime, Going To St. Ives, Summer and Smoke (Ovation Award), The Last Tycoon and Orpheus Descending.  His stage adaptation of Tender Is The Night won the PEN USA Literary Award for Drama.  </p>