Eightythree Down

Company: Hard Sparks
Written by: J. Stephen Brantley
Directed by: Daniel Talbott

A gun, a bag of stolen books, and a dangerous idea
It’s New Year’s Eve 1983 and Martin’s plan for a quiet night in his parents’ basement is thrown into chaos when his old friend Dina and her hooligan roommates arrive with a gun, a bag of stolen books, and a dangerous idea.

Horse Trade Theater Group in association with Hard Sparks will present Eightythree Down, written by J. Stephen Brantley (Village Voice Pick of the Year for Distortion Taco; Winner of 2011 Fresh Fruit One-Act Competition for Break) and directed by Daniel Talbott (2007 NYIT Award for Outstanding Direction of Rules of the Universe; Keep Your Baggage With You (at all times) at Theater for the New City). The production will feature Melody Bates*(Caucasian Chalk Circle at La MaMa E.T.C.; Mac Wellman’s Obie Award-winning Jennie Richee), Bryan Kaplan* (Knuckleball at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and Brian Miskell* (Purple Rep’s The Un-Marrying Project; The Stray Dog with Rising Phoenix Rep) with Sound Design by Janie Bullard, Set Design by Eugenia Furneaux-Arends, Lighting Design by Brad Peterson and Costume Design by Tristan Raines. The production will be stage managed by Amanda Michaels.

Eightythree Down was originally developed under the guidance of Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright, Craig Lucas at the 2009 Southampton Writers Conference and It also earned the 2009 Georgia Theatre Conference Award.

"J. Stephen Brantley's Eightythree Down is a marvelous comedy of manners and menace, stylishly imagined in the vein of The Petrified Forest, and Daniel Talbott is just the gender-twisting wunderkind to bring it to life. Can't wait."
Playwright Craig Lucas