What is the performance schedule for the show? You only have five chances to see the show:
Sunday, 8/15 @ 10:15PM
Sunday, 8/22 @ 1:45 PM
Tuesday, 8/24 @ 2:00PM
Thursday, 8/26 @ 6:45 PM
Friday, 8/27 @ 9:15 PM
How much are tickets? Only 15 bucks!
How can I buy tickets?
Follow this link (Here) to TICKETWEB. A full calendar and online ticket purchasing are currently available. You may also purchase your tickets at the door.
I love the show. I've seen it and want to tell the world!!
Great! There are two ways to show your love!
VOTE for "Questions": in the Innovative Theatre Awards categories listed: (HERE) VOTE for "Questions": as an Fringe Audience Favorite: (HERE)
...Okay kids. You are now fully armed and ready to go. The fine folks at Coyote REP sure do hope to see you there as we usher in our first trip to the Fringe!!
Questions My Mother Can’t Answer, a moving and funny one woman show written by and starring Andrea Caban, recipient of the 2008 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, will be part of the 14th annual New York International Fringe Festival – presented at New York Theatre Workshop's 4th Street Theater.
SCHEDULE!
SUN 8/15 @ 10:15pm
SUN 8/22 @ 1:45pm
TUE 8/24 @ 2:00pm
THUR 8/26 @ 6:45pm
FRI 8/27 @ 9:15pm
Andrea’s on a mission: she interviews eight “women-of-a-certain-age” including a sexy Moroccan ballroom dancer, a donations-only prostitute, and her Aunt Shirley, about getting pregnant, staying married and finding a flow. As she embarks on a healing journey after a personal tragic event, Andrea looks for guidance from a variety of female role models, only to find that there are no role models…that we are all flawed and that life isn't about avoiding accidents, or tragedy, but how we deal with it.
Produced by Coyote REP Theatre Company www.coyoterep.org, directed by Rachel Eckerling, co-director of this season’s acclaimed The Diary of a Teenage Girl at 3LD Arts & Technology Center and frequent collaborator of Francis Ford Coppola on both theatre and film projects. The creative team for Questions My Mother Can’t Answer will also include Grammy Award-winning sound designer Marcelo Añez and lighting designer Jason Teague.
Coyote REP is proud to announce that Andrea Caban's beautiful new solo endeavor Questions my Mother Can't Answer has been named an official selection for the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival! You might remember that Questions was recently presented as part of our Works-in-Development Series and was a huge hit with our audience.
Questions My Mother Can’t Answer, a moving and funny one woman show written by and starring Andrea Caban, recipient of the 2008 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, will be part of the 14th annual New York International Fringe Festival starting August 13 through August 29 – presented at New York Theatre Workshop's 4th Street Theater.
Andrea’s on a mission: she interviews eight “women-of-a-certain-age” including a sexy Moroccan ballroom dancer, a donations-only prostitute, and her Aunt Shirley, about getting pregnant, staying married and finding a flow. As she embarks on a healing journey after a personal tragic event, Andrea looks for guidance from a variety of female role models, only to find that there are no role models…that we are all flawed and that life isn't about avoiding accidents, or tragedy, but how we deal with it.
Produced by Coyote REP Theatre Company www.coyoterep.org, directed by Rachel Eckerling, co-director of this season’s acclaimed The Diary of a Teenage Girl at 3LD Arts & Technology Center and frequent collaborator of Francis Ford Coppola on both theatre and film projects. The creative team for Questions My Mother Can’t Answer will also include Grammy Award-winning sound designer Marcelo Añez and lighting designer Jason Teague.
312 West 36th Street (at 8th Avenue)
New York, NY10018 ($5 suggested donation)
“Oh, you’re developing a solo show. . .why would you do that?”
A dear friend asked me this question about a year ago when i mentioned that i was in the midst of developing a rhyme for the UNDERground.
“I don’t even go to see one-person shows anymore,” he further explained as i gave my knowing smile.
Frankly, i understand the reluctance to see yet another solo show. i too have had to endure more than my fair share of overindulgent, dry, self-congratulatory one-person shows. Of course, through the mire there are some beautiful, standout gems, but it often seems like you have to wade through much “mire” to get to the “gems”.
And, as a rhyme continues to evolve, it has truly been amazing journey so far shaping this gem.:^)
The idea for this play started when subway fare was only $1.50. The New York Historical Society was running an exhibit about the enslavement system in New Yorkand i went to the exhibit. Being a native New Yorker, i had known vague details about the lives of enslaved Africans in New York, but the general stuff, like how Broadway and Wall Street were built by enslaved Africans during this era in New York’s history and there was an African burial site uncovered several years ago in downtown Manhattan. You know, general stuff. What captivated me about the exhibit (and is so crucial in untangling this nation’s history) were the personal accounts and specific stories that were instrumental to recounting the intricate history. So, in this flood of images and facts and reflection, for some reason the name Violet stood out among the many placards and signs. Violet was (. . . well, to be honest, all i remember of Violet these many subway-fare hikes later,is that she was an enslaved woman in New York City.) But on the subway ride home right after leaving the exhibit i just scribbled on one of the papers i had collected during the tour, “What if Violet saved a teenage girl today?” (i co-founded a non-profit, performing arts-education organization to work with teen girls so they are sort of always on my mind!)
“What if Violet saved a teenage girl today?”
It is from this simple question that a rhyme for the UNDERground began.
When i finally started to find answers to that question (right around the giant fare hike to $2), the piece was a multi-character, multi-actor play. But as the play called for more poetry, dance, original songs, spoken word and rap, it became clear that there was actually one central voice in the play—the voice of the character “chandra”. All of the other characters were, in fact, connected to this core character in a way that necessitated a single actor performing the entire piece. From “chandra’s” central humanity these other (now EIGHTEEN) characters were there to shape, guide and transform her. It has been amazing (and frightening!) to see that these other characters have always been and always will be pieces of the puzzle that compose this woman trying to figure out her journey.
My friend who asked that inciting question at subway fare price $2.25 has RSVPed as a “Maybe” to the Facebook invitation for the special workshop performance on May 17th, as part of Coyote REP’s Works-In-Development Series . (Please note that i did NOT send him that invite :^) So he just may be there. . .
Either way—
Albertine
Sam
Denitra
Jameel
Thomas
Fria
Malik
DaStruggle
Christina
Estrella
Male Voice
Lela
Dr. Barkley
Ernie
SaKeisha
Ray
chandra, and, of course,
Violet
will be there on this stop on the ride of a rhyme for the UNDERground.
Join the trend on Twitter::#arhyme
Originally from New York, chandra thomas is an actor/writer/producer. As an actor, performances include No Child... (2009 Barrymore Award nomination for Outstanding Leading Actress), Coney Island Avenue(NYTW), Reflections of a Heart (Theatre Row). Other theatre performances include contemporary and classical works atClassical Theatre of Harlem (AUDELCO nomination), Public Theatre, Guthrie, Women's Project Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theater, CherryLaneTheatre, P.S. 122, among others. On screen, chandra has most recently performed in co-star roles on The Good Wife and Law & Order: CI as well as a supporting role in the upcoming independent feature Sweet Lorraine. As a writer, her other plays include Standing At..., A Woman/B Woman, LETTERS (co-created), and many poetry/spoken word pieces; she is also currently working on several screenplays, including the feature LoveMatters. chandra is the co-founder of viBe Theater Experience, an award-winning, non-profit, performing-arts education organization empowering teenage girls in New York City. a rhyme for the UNDERground is her first full-length, solo play. Of course there is more info at www.NYchandra.com.
The New Play Development Program is our commitment to nurturing the original work of our company's playwrights. This intensive, ten-month program provides a structured series of workshops culminating in our May Works-in-Development Series, a public presentation of readings.
Sunday May 10th 7pmBruce Mitchell Room
ART/NY
520 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor (between 36th and 37th Streets) New York, NY 10018 ($5 suggested donation)
I got the idea to write "Questions My Mother Can't Answer" (a working title by the way) after one of the performances of my last solo show, "You Got Questions? I Got Answers!" That piece was a documentary theater collage derived from the interviews I conducted with 8 New Yorkers about when they feel the most isolated and when they feel the most connected. A friend of mine brought her mother to the show. Her mom commented to me that I interviewed people of all different races, genders, & ethnicities, but I had no one in my play that represented her generation, the voice of women in their early 60's. I felt a little guilty I hadn't included anyone of that age. And then I felt a little curious.
Then I started finding friendships, lots of friendships, with women around my mom's age. My husband thought it funny that while my peers were going out for drinks until the wee hours, I was making dinner dates with 60-something year old women I met on the subway! I started to wonder what it was these friendships were giving me that perhaps my relationship with my mother did not. So I started asking for interviews. And unlike with my first piece, every women I asked said yes! There was absolutely no shame in their stories...they were pleased to be able to tell me about the moment they found out they were pregnant, about the fall of their first marriage, and a few things they wouldn't tell their own daughters.
So not only wasI gaining the benefit of delving into the lives of these highly fascinating and highly flawed women, they were finding release in the telling of stories, that in some cases, they had never told anyone before. And they had never told anyone before because no one had ever asked.
I tell people when I work in this way, I start from a curiosity and follow my nose until a play presents itself to me. I titled this one before I knew what the heck it was going to be about. So when I interviewed my mom, I was shocked at and grateful for the answers I got. I don't think I'm giving too much away by saying that.
Andrea Caban is an actor, writer, producer, and teacher. She last appeared in Craig Wright's The Pavilion in the role of the narrator and 17+ other roles at Boise Contemporary Theater. Andrea received the 2008 New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for her documentary-based play You Got Questions? I Got Answers! Her play also earned Outstanding Short Script & Outstanding Performance Art Production nominations. Regional and New York credits include productions at The Public Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Long Wharf Theater, New World Stages, HERE Arts Center, GAle GAtes et al, and The Hayworth Theater in LA. BA: University of South Florida. MFA: University of California, Irvine. www.andreacaban.com
The New Play Development Program is our commitment to nurturing the original work of our company's playwrights. This intensive, ten-month program provides a structured series of workshops culminating in our May Works-in-Development Series, a public presentation of readings.
