The NNPN Rolling World Premiere of RELATIVITY by Mark St. Germain Rolls Through Iowa City
Washington, D.C. - National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates the initial success of the Rolling World Premiere (RWP) of Relativity by Mark St. Germain as Riverside Theatre (Iowa City, IA, presents its RWP production through April 30. The Roll kicked off at NNPN Core Member Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL,), who originally commissioned the play, and will continue at Associate Members Northlight Theatre (Skokie, IL, May 11-June 18, 2017) and Taproot Theatre Company (Seattle, WA, September 20-October 21, 2017).
Highlights from press coverage of Riverside Theatre and Florida Studio Theatre’s productions include:
“The theater’s intimate setting is perfect for this glimpse into the private world of one of the greatest minds the world has known. It’s a play built on “what-ifs” and “if onlys” — those corrosive dramas that unfold in our minds during sleepless nights and can eat away at our souls… It’s a tour de force creation for both actors.”
Diana Nollen, The Gazette
“There may well be at least one thing, but perhaps a lot, to learn in seeing Relativity…a play good for repeat attendance.”
Marie J. Kilker, TotalTheater.com
“In only 80 minutes (with no intermission), St. Germain and his cast pack a lot of intellectual and emotional punch.”
Kay Kipling, Sarasota Magazine
“These are weighty issues for an 80-minute play without intermission, but St. Germain builds on them with both seriousness and a good amount of humor to make them relatable…”
Jay Handelman, Herald-Tribune
NNPN provides production support to the playwright and the partnering theaters, including assistance with the creation and the contracting of the premiere agreement, collaborative interactions between the theaters, and funds for the playwright's residency in each city to further develop the play.
ABOUT RELATIVITY
In 1902, Albert Einstein's daughter was born. In 1904 she disappeared and Einstein never spoke nor wrote of her again. What happened? With playfulness and intensity, Relativity imagines one theory that bridges the Einsteins: the beloved public figure to the perplexing private man and the father to the lost child.
ABOUT MARK ST. GERMAIN
Mark has written the plays Freud’s Last Session (Off-Broadway Alliance Best Play), Becoming Dr. Ruth, Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award), Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap, Best of Enemies, Forgiving Typhoid Mary (Time Magazine’s “Year’s Ten Best”), Ears on a Beatle, The God Committee, and Dancing Lessons.
Mark co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard’s Warner Brothers film, Duma. He directed and co-produced the documentary, My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story. My Dog features Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave and Glenn Close among many others. Television credits include Writer and Creative Consultant for The Cosby Show, and Dick Wolf’s Lifestories and Crime and Punishment.
With Randy Courts, he has written the internationally produced musical The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, winner of an AT&T “New Plays for the Nineties” award and Jack’s Holiday at Playwrights Horizons. His musical, Stand by Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story was created for Nashville’s Ryman Theater and has toured nationally. He co-wrote the libretto for Charles Strouse’s American Tragedy.
Mark wrote the children’s book Three Cups, illustrated by April Willy, published by Thomas Crown. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, where he was given the Joe A. Callaway Award, a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer’s Guild East and an Associate Artist of the Barrington Stage Company. He was awarded the “New Voices in American Theatre” award at the William Inge Theatre Festival. He is represented by Susan Gurman of the Gurman Agency.
ABOUT RIVERSIDE THEATRE
Riverside Theatre is a professional theatre in Iowa City, IA that connects artists and audiences through intimate, engaging, and provocative productions from the classics to new works, and provides an artistic home for regional theatre professionals. Founded 1981, we’re currently in our 35th season. We believe the shared experience of live theatre is magical and important. Community members, artists and collaborators are our life blood. From September through April we produce a full season of work at our theatre on Gilbert Street. In June and July, we produce a summer season centered around the classics. riversidetheatre.org
ABOUT FLORIDA STUDIO THEATRE
Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is Sarasota’s contemporary theatre, located in the heart of downtown. It has been in operation in Sarasota since 1973. The Florida Studio Theatre campus is a village of theatres – the historic Keating and Gompertz Theatres, the Parisian-style Goldstein and John C. Court Cabarets, and Bowne's Lab Theatre. Near the Sarasota bayfront, FST brings an energy and vitality to the downtown area. Each theatre is small in size and large in impact – providing an intimate and engaging setting for high-quality, professional performances. Hip and historical, entertaining and challenging, we are the theatre where the street meets the elite, where everyone is welcome to come and engage in the art of theatre. floridastudiotheatre.org