"An inspired script and a magnificent central performance add to the magic of a magical evening. Considerably more than the sum of its parts."
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Elizabeth V. Newman plays a new assistant with determination in her heart and stars in her eyes, as the twists and turns of the plot require."
- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“Ann Moller is a perfectly sexy, wisecracking and vulnerable ghost (and narrator) whose fate is inextricably if predictably bound with the present. Wearing a faded costume that looks like it had come from Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit," Moller handles everything with a sense of fun and the appeal of lost memories.”
- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"Playwright Rinne Groff's poignant and often beguiling drama depicts the complex parallels between love and magic, equating the irrationality of romantic love with the trickery and misdirection of a magician.”
- LA WEEKLY

“Schneider is a charismatic and appealing performer, impressive as both an actor and a magician; he perfectly captures the surface warmth of a man whose inner self is vacant and needy. Newman's scruffy, but innocent, Trilby is touchingly contrasted with Lotun's glamorous, but soulless, Egypt.”
- LA WEEKLY

"Groff sees the manipulations of magic and love as 'a world of astonishment' and Klein's production fulfills that intent with humor and delight."
- A CURTAIN UP REVIEW

"Sleight-of-hand and heart all in one...make for a fun evening of theatre. Try to catch it!" - THE TOLUCAN TIMES

"Haunting intrigue, illusion and disillusion make an entertaining evening at the Complex in Hollywood. And yes, there is magic...Get there a bit early, the performance I saw was sold out and the magic starts while the audience is being seated."
- EYESPYLA.COM

"Talya Klein and company deliver this very particular world on a lot of levels..it takes itself seriously and at the same time hangs on to its precious frothiness...Klein keeps the illusions moving beautifully."
- BACKSTAGE

“Elizabeth V. Newman gives a high-spirited performance as Trilby, his "magic obsessed" new girlfriend, with deceptions of her own.”
- THE TOLUCAN TIMES

“Brett Schneider is the perfect choice for the central role of Great. Not only is he a professional magician who can make sleight of hand and the magician's smarmy manner authentic parts of the role, but he also has a casually charismatic stage presence that blends the inner power of a Robert Mitchum with the sex appeal of a James Dean. By playing within himself -- and delivering his lines with unusual authority and eloquence -- he is able to impart an ambiguous aura of mystery and romance that goes a long way toward enabling the 100-minute drama to cast its spell. Beginning with his riveting opening monologue, Schneider's ability to communicate and make intimate contact with the audience is its own kind of magic.”
-THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“Elizabeth V. Newman as Trilby takes a role that has the potential to be annoying and cloying, yet sidesteps these issues and gives us ultimately a sympathetic and engaging character study.”
-WEHONEWS.COM (West Hollywood News)

“Klein has assembled one of the best-looking casts in recent memory… Newman, who has the largest female part, grows into its nuances as the play progresses.” -A CURTAIN UP REVIEW

These are just some of the great things the press had to say about our production of ORANGE LEMON EGG CANARY.

For full reviews, please visit the play’s website:
www.plays411.com/orange

CLOCKS AND WHISTLES

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/print/98832.html

Then the press quotes:
''THE HISTORY BOYS' ISNT THE ONLY GREAT BRITISH IMPORT THIS SEASON!'
--New York Magazine

'THE CAST'S ENERGY AND BRISK DIRECTION OF TALYA KLEIN PROPEL THE 20 QUICK TAKE SCENES! Meghan Andrews (who was excellent as the shy young bride in the recent 'Trip to Bountiful') didn't flinch from portraying the needy, cruel Anne. Catherine Eaton was wholly believable as Caroline, a tough-talking sculptor and neighbor of Trevor. Samuel Adamson's tonal pitch for these stuck, disappointed people is near perfect!'
--New York Times

'BEST BET! If you like your plays sharp, swift and bitingly funny, get tickets to Clocks and Whistles!'
--New York Magazine

'RIVALS ANYTHING YOU'LL SEE ON BROADWAY OR OFF THIS SEASON! This import strikes chords of dissonance both haunting and raw! Acted fearlessly, Clocks and Whistles is darkly absorbing!'
--Edge New York

'PICK OF THE WEEK! The performers make Adamson's casual dialogue crackle, turning this into a satisfying trip into 21st-century sexual coupling!' --Back Stage

'INSIGHTFUL, AMUSING AND SOMEWHAT DISTURBING! Samuel Adamson's Clocks and Whistles affords us an insighful, amusing and somewhat disturbing look into the private lives of a group of young Londerners of a decade ago! All in all, a credit to George C. Heslin and Origin Theatre Company's 2006 season!'
--Irish Echo

'FUNNY AND HEARTBREAKING! A funny, heartbreaking tale of three young Londoners sorting it out artistically/sexually, informed with a lovely sense of discovery and youthful brio!'
--Gay City News

SHATTERING




Not the New Haven you remember
Anthony Weiss '02 writes and teaches in New York.

Int. library of the Yale Club of New York - Summer

A trim, classical room. The walls are lined with books. On the ceiling, plaster putti frolic in pastoral scenes. A brass plaque commands, "Silence." The sounds of midtown Manhattan traffic drift in from outside.

Alumni sit in rows of straight-backed chairs, balancing glasses of wine and plates of cheese and fruit. Green programs announce the evening's performance: Shattering, an original screenplay.

The actors, led by Elizabeth Newman '02, author of Shattering, enter to polite applause. Newman, elegant in a simple black dress, explains that Shattering is a screenplay, and thus much of what would be shown must instead be described. She, as the narrator, will describe it.
With that, she begins, and the audience is transported, as if by Metro-North train, to . . . Int. Greater New Haven, CT

Artist Julian Pierce awakes to find himself upon the floor of his studio. His hand is bleeding, cut by shards of glass.

Julian is a rising young sculptor. A Yale graduate, he still lives in New Haven -- not the prosaic, restaurant-ridden city Elis know, but an ominous, unsettled place where madness and deception lurk in the shadows. He works in the hermetic squalor of an abandoned warehouse by I-95. With the help of friend and fellow alumnus Fred Grove, Julian sneaks into the Yale-New Haven Hospital morgue to make anatomical sketches for his glass sculptures.

While sketching in the morgue, Julian accidentally discovers the corpse of a beautiful young woman. She inspires a dream, which in turn inspires a new work: Ophelia, a woman drowning. One day, the somewhat livelier Annabelle Stevenson wanders into Julian's studio. She works for the Whitney Museum, and she has come to scout Julian's work for a new show.

Lest anyone mistake Shattering for autobiography, Newman is not waiting for success to wander into her life. In the six months since she graduated from Boston University film school, Newman has written two full-length screenplays (including Shattering) and is setting up her own production company. She is currently looking to find backing for Shattering. She would like to direct the script herself, but she is pragmatic: "Sometimes people make the mistake of clinging too tightly to a script." If need be, she will sell it and move on.

For Julian, alas, success is not so easy. As the green programs warn us: "Jagged is the edge between insight and insanity." A young woman identical to the one in the morgue is found murdered in New Haven, becoming a tabloid sensation. Annabelle reads one of the tabloid stories as she is walking through the tunnel of New Haven's Union Station, and she accuses Julian of inventing his dream. Only it doesn't make sense -- Julian had never seen the papers, didn't know of the murder.

Newman reads the elaborate descriptions with gusto. Her expression brightens and darkens with each nuance. The audience listens, with rapt attention. As the screenplay comes to its final climax, her voice rises, intensifies. There is no dialogue now, only an orgy of imagery.

The girl is before Julian, drowning. She is staring at him. He moves towards her, grabs her . . .

The end of the script: Newman describes, crisply, the final image. The audience is silent for a moment, then breaks into applause. The actors stand, and Newman beams. Friends come forward to congratulate Newman and the actors. The rest of the audience drifts out the door and into the city.