NEUROfest: Press

The First Ever Theatre Festival Dedicated To Neurological Conditions
January 5th – 29th, 2006

New York, NY (November, 2005) Untitled Theater Company #61, Artistic Director Edward Einhorn and Producing Director David Einhorn, are proud to present the first theatre festival dedicated to neurological conditions in NEUROfest at Theater 5 (311 West 43rd Street, 5th floor). The Festival (performances, seminars, panels and more) runs from Thursday, January 5th thru Sunday, January 29th. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at 212-352-3101 or by going to www.theatermania.com

NEUROfest was partly inspired by the work of famed neurologist and author Oliver Sacks (“The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat”, “Awakenings”, et al), a writer well regarded for his exploration of the creative revelations made through neurology. Science has long since been a bedfellow to the arts, and NEUROfest will combine the two in a festival of over 20 plays, seminars and readings about neurological conditions, ranging from aphasia to savantism to autism to Tourette's. Many of the conditions have been popularized by Oliver Sacks' work. Others are lesser known, but all show the human mind both hampered and augmented by its neurological state.

Untitled Theater Company #61 knows how to put on a festival. They produced the Ionesco Festival two years ago where they managed to mount every single Eugene Ionesco play. Last year they were met with equal acclaim for their 24/7 festival where plays were written, rehearsed and performed in a day, every day for a week. Other works, all directed by Edward Einhorn. Are Fairy Tales of the Absurd, Lysistrata, Rhinoceros, The Dance, Sweeney Agonistes, The Bald Soprano, Eddie Goes to Poetry City, My Head Was a Sledgehammer and Brimstone & Treacle.

The line-up for the festival thus far (there will be a more comprehensive calendar released soon):

CJD
Written and Directed by James Jordan
The Boondogglers
Condition dealt with: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (Mad Cow)

IMPOSTORS
by Justin Warner
Directed by Ari Laura Kreith
Buffalo Bridge Productions
Condition dealt with: Capgras syndrome.

STRANGERS and LINGUISH
Written and directed by Edward Einhorn
Untitled Theater Co. #61
Conditions dealt with: Amnesia (Korsakov's Syndrome) and Aphasia

SYNDROME
by Kirk Wood Bromley
Performed and directed by Timothy McCown Reynolds
Inverse Theater Company
Condition dealt with: Tourette’s.

TABULA RASA
Words by Robert Lawson, Music by Henry Akona
Directed by Henry Akona
Music Direction by Ekaterina Stanislavskaya
High Fidelity Theater
Condition dealt with: Autism

WELCOME TO TOURETTAVILLE!
by Jonathan Ospa, June Rachelson-Ospa, and Daniel Neiden
Music by Jody Gray, Doug Katsaros and Daniel Neiden
Condition dealt with: Tourette's Syndrome

NEUROshorts
(NEUROshorts is one entire evening)

THE BOY WHO WANTED TO BE A ROBOT
by Edward Einhorn
Directed by and Performed by Barry Weil
Evolve Theater Company
Condition dealt with: Autism

VESTIBULAR
by: Kelly R. Haydon
Directed by: Jolie Tong
Theater Company: Monkey Business Productions
Length: 20 minutes
Condition dealt with: Meniere's disease

THE TASTE OF BLUE
by Alexandra Edwards
Directed by Julia Martin
Conditions dealt with: Synesthesia, Eidetic memory

DOCTORS JANE AND ALEXANDER
by Edward Einhorn
Directed by Ian Hill
GeminiCollisionWorks
Condition dealt with: Dementia

Plus:
For One Night Only
Cincinnati
by Don Nigro
Directed by John Clancy
Theater Company: Clancy Productions