WORKING MAN'S CLOTHES PRODUCTIONS
PRESENTS
IN ASSOCIATION WITH horseTRADE THEATER

MANY WORLDS
by William Borden
Directed By Isaac Byrne


The Red Room
85 East 4th St.
btwn 2nd and 3rd Aves

SmartTix

Tickets:
$15
February 1st thru 24th
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
@ 8pm

" The dialogue in this play is fantastic... The cast is rock solid... the production, while bare bones, is spot-on ... I highly recommend this show... What more can you ask for when going to the theatre?"

Richard Hinojosa
Pick of the Week
nytheatre.com

“strikingly entertaining…gripping while never heavy-handed…a cast of exceptional actors…Working Man's Clothes has mounted another must-see show.”

Doug Strassler
Pick of the Week

The world premier of ‘Many Worlds', William Borden's hypnotizing, heartfelt and inspiring play about life as it is seldom seen. Realities collide and relationships are redefined in one woman's journey to understand love, mortality and the nature of the Universe. Isaac Byrne, 2005 New York Innovative Theatre award recipient for best director and Artistic Director of Working Man's Clothes is set to direct.

Maggie (Ellen David*) is confronted with her past, present and future as she moves from reality to reality in her exploration of philosophy, nature, love and the lines that bleed between. Axel and Maggie have been having an affair for so long it seems like a marriage, and all the motel rooms are beginning to look alike. Today, however, Maggie has to decide whether to reveal a serious truth, as Axel, in his self-obsessed way, ponders the "Many Worlds" theory of quantum physics. He considers the idea that in each moment, with each decision we make, Another World begins and continues simultaneously with the one we inhabit. As the conversation continues several possible "other worlds" open up, some even involving Maggie's husband, Skip. As they are sucked in and out of these different worlds, it becomes harder and harder for the couple to re-connect, and harder for Maggie to reveal the truth about herself, a truth that will drastically alter their routine of an affair, and change their lives forever. Reminding us that life has unimaginable possibilities...but only one ending.

 

Isaac Byrne (Director) Isaac Byrne, Artistic Director of Working Man's Clothes has been acting professionally in regional theaters since he was 13, and directing since he was 19.  Graduated Magma Cum Laude from Schreiner University in Kerrville , Texas , Isaac is proud to be finally following his dream of getting a New York theatre company off the ground as Co-Founder of Working Man's Clothes Productions. He was the recipient of the 2005 Best director award from The New York Innovative Theatre Awards for his production of To Nineveh.

 

William Borden (Playwright), a novelist, poet, and essayist. His poems have appeared in over 100 magazines and anthologies. His plays have won over 80 national playwriting competitions and have had over 280 productions. He has been Artist in Residence at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Red Wing, MN, and Artist in Residence at The Ucross Foundation, Ucross , WY . A Core Playwright Alumnus at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis , he is Playwright in Residence with Listening Winds Theatre and was Fiction Editor of The North Dakota Quarterly 1986-2002. He has a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley . He is Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at The University of North Dakota.

 

Assistant Director / Producer Amanda Hamilton
Production Director Will Neuman
Lighting and Set Design by Jake Platt
costume design by David Thompson.

Ellen David most recently won the New York Innovative Theatre Award of 2005 for Best Actress in a Featured Role. Many Worlds also stars the 2005 New York Innovative Theatre Award recipient for Best Ensemble Acting Gregory Porter Miller and the winner for Best Actor in a Featured Role Greg Horton.

Cast:

Ellen David (Maggie)

the proud recipient of the 2006 Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for Working Man's Clothes production of "To Nineveh" by Bekah Brunstetter, as well as Outstanding Ensemble. After studying at Guildhall in London , she moved to Israel where she appeared on Israel National Television, toured with the English Theater of Tel Aviv, portrayed “Pilate's Wife” in Norman Jewison's film, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and dubbed numerous international movies. Back in New York , she was a founding member of the sketch comedy group, Rubber Feet. Regionally, she performed at the Cleveland Play House and the Hanna Theater . At The School House Theater she played “ Geneva ” in Lanford Wilson's “Redwood Curtain” and the fabulous “Bunny” in Albert Innaurato's “Gemini”. She had the title role in Clifford Odet's “The Country Girl” at Fleetwood Stage, where she also performed “Love Letters”. She recently participated in staged readings of “The Substance Of Fire” with Richard Dreyfuss and Matthew Arkin and “Pecking Order” by Demetra P. Kareman. She joined Charles Grodin and an excellent group of actors for the "Invisible Symposium", the kickoff of the 2006 European Dream Festival. She can be seen on an episode of Law&Order, “Kid Pro Quo”. Currently she is acting in various independent films, recording Talking Books, and working in the commercial and voiceover markets. She is on the board of directors of JBI International where she has recorded numerous talking books for the blind and visually impaired. She is also a long standing volunteer for SAG's “Book Pals” program, where she reads stories weekly to children in an inner city school.

Greg Horton (Skip)

is delighted to be appearing with Working Man's Clothes for the first time. He most recently appeared in the Ensemble for Prospect Theater Co.'s new musical The Flood. Other recent roles include: Max, Lend Me a Tenor, Shadowland Theatre, (Ellenville, NY); Ko-Ko, The Singapore Mikado, Theater Ten Ten, (2006 IT Award, Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role); The Boss, Side Show, Gallery Players; Scrooge, A Christmas Carol, Theatreworks/USA; The Lord Chancellor, Iolanthe, Theater Ten Ten (2004 OOBR Award); The Chairman, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Gallery Players, (2004 OOBR Award); Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent, The Wings Theatre, (and another 2004 OOBR Award). Greg spent 1998-2000 steamboatin' on America's rivers as an Entertainer and Assistant Cruise Director aboard the paddlewheel steamers American Queen and Mississippi Queen of the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. line. As always, for Roxann.

 

Gregory Porter Miller (Axel)

Greg is thrilled to once again don Working Man's Clothes after last year's award winning production of To Nineveh, for which he received a New York IT nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role and shared as a recipient of the Outstanding Ensemble award. New York Off-Broadway Credits include Roman Nights (Daryl Roth 2) and Race (The Classic Stage Company). Off-off Broadway projects include K, X, Y and Z (24-Hour Plays/New York Fringe), Ice, Rock and Dust (Manhattan Theatre Source), Ultralight (La MaMa), Sunday Drive (24-Hour Plays) Icarus and Aria (Todo con Nada) and Leaving (New York Fringe). Other Stage Credits include Twelfth Night, Getting Out, A View From the Bridge, The Voice of the Prairie, Ghost on Fire, The Trial of God, Rhinoceros and many others. Film Credits include The Jackal, Swimming, Utilities, Air Boss, and My Stepson My Lover. Television Credits include As the World Turns, Ed and Law & Order: SVU. Greg holds a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . He has studied at the British American Drama Academy and The Actors Center. Greg Miller is a member of AEA, SAG and AFTRA .

All actors appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association / Actors Equity showcase approval pending

Crew:

David Thompson
(Costume / Art Director)

David B. Thompson holds a MFA in Costume Design and Technology from Virginia Tech. A Visual Stylist at Saks Fifth Avenue by day, David's designs have been seen by NY audiences at The Lookingglass Theatre's production of Measure for Measure, and The Laramie Project and As You Like It for the Gallery Players, as well as on numerous fashionistas around the city.

Will Neuman
( Production Manager)

is from College Station , Texas and is and English student at NYU. Recently, he directed a staged reading of Double Hernia for WMC'S Development Series as well as Arms for WMC's 2nd Annual More For Your Money Festival, and has been a constant source of technical assistance since the origin of the company.

Jake Platt
(Production Designer)

is a student at Marymount Manhattan College . Previously, in Pittsburgh he worked as an Assistant Lighting Designer and master Electrician on a number of projects including the Lake Erie Ballet's production of The Nutcracker and this past summer's Three Rivers Arts Festival. last fall at the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts he worked withh many of the more than one dozen theatre companies making their American debuts including the New York Times critically acclaimed Theatre Titanick.

Amanda “Maggie” Hamilton
(Assistant Director)

began performing and working in theater at the age of 12 and by the age of 22 had some 72 shows to her credit in all capacities of the theater from performing and directing to stage management, lighting design, stage design, costuming and assistant directing. She studied theater at select colleges in the South East and is now a student at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her acting credits include; Sadie in Men Eat Mars Bars While Touching Their Penis, Annelle in Steel Magnolias, Alais in Lion in Winter, Titania in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Sibyl Chase in Private Lives, Olive in Neil Simon's Female Version of The Odd Couple, Joanne in Vanities, Carla in Kennedy's Children, Henry in The Club and numerous others.

 

Working Man's Clothes is about putting our nose to the grindstone and producing quality theatre. We believe in combining the theatre arts with the spirit of American entrepreneurship. There are many extremely talented people in this city with no place to showcase their talents. We are here to give them that place. With no political or social agenda, we create opportunities for new playwrights, directors, designers, and actors to roll up their sleeves, dig in, and get to work producing quality theatre. We believe that theatre can and will survive by combining community support, building reciprocal relationships with other artists, an unwavering commitment to excellence, and determination.