Amphibian Productions announces 2009 season

by Shawn Parikh

Three readings and two mainstage shows all in one year.

Amphibian Productions, an integral part of the Fort Worth theater community and a growing presence in New York City, presents some challenging new works for patrons. Not only do they perform two mainstage productions at the Fort Wroth Community Arts Center, but they also have a readings series throughout the year at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

The 2009 "Phibs at the Modern" reading series begin at 7 p.m. on Monday in the auditorium of The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. A $15 contribution is greatly appreciated. Here is the lineup for the staged readings:

• A Room of One’s Own by Patrick Garland, based on the work of Virginia Woolf. On February 9, 2009. Amphibian brings together two powerhouse women to the Fort Worth stage in A Room of One’s Own: writer Virginia Woolf, actress Anne-Lynn Kettles & director Sharon Benge. Room is a very personal account of Woolf’s journey, trials, and ultimate triumphs as a woman seeking to make her voice heard in a man’s world.
• A Buyer’s Market by Tony Bicât. On April 13, 2009. London-based broker Rosie Delaware plans to impress her chauvinist colleagues by selling a waterfront penthouse overlooking the Thames. Her clients are two expatriates of the former Soviet Union traveling under the names PG Woodhouse and Ernest Hemingway. Although the focus shifts from the property deal to the double-dealings involving paid assassins and mysterious boxes, this is not the setup for a common thriller: Bicât’s timely dark comedy confronts Western apathy toward an increasingly volatile Eastern Europe.
• Fully Committed by Becky Mode. On December 7, 2009. Sam Peliczowski is in demand, but not for his acting. Instead, he mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan's number-one restaurant--and everyone wants a piece of him. Through the course of the evening, we meet Sam's father, a likeable guy from South Bend; the temperamental chef; Jean-Claude, the snooty Maitre D'; Naomi Campbell's annoying (but funny) assistant; and several powerful New York types, among many others—all played by Amphibian’s own Carman Lacivita.

And the mainstage season performs at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Check out the lineup:

• Gutenberg! The Musical! by Scott Brown & Anthony King. From July 8 - July 26, 2009. A two-man musical spoof that showcases a pair of aspiring playwrights as they perform a backers’ audition for their new project: A big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. With an unending supply of enthusiasm, Bud and Doug sing all the songs and play all the parts in their crass historical epic, with the hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract - fulfilling their ill-advised dreams.
• Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg. From September 10 - September 20, 2009. The play centers on Walker, his sister Nan, and their childhood friend Pip, who all meet in an unoccupied loft in lower Manhattan in 1995 to divide the legacy of their late fathers, who were partners in a renowned architecture firm. In an effort to bring some peace to their own lives, the three search for clues that might explain what had gone on between their fathers, and the women in their lives, decades before. The story then shifts to that earlier time, with the same three actors portraying members of the previous generation in the same loft, during the fateful 1960 "three days of rain," which gives the play its title.