Autobahn (play)

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Autobahn is a play written by Neil LaBute in 2003. It consists of seven short vignettes—each one involving just two people, and each one taking place entirely in the front seat of a car.

Neil N. LaBute is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, In the Company of Men (1997), which won awards from the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle. He wrote and directed the films Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), Possession (2002), The Shape of Things (2003), The Wicker Man (2006), Some Velvet Morning (2013), and Dirty Weekend (2015). He directed the films Nurse Betty (2000), Lakeview Terrace (2008), and the American adaptation of Death at a Funeral (2010). LaBute created the TV series Billy & Billie, writing and directing all of the episodes and is also creator of the TV series Van Helsing. He also directed several episodes for shows such as Hell on Wheels and Billions.

Contents

Productions

Autobahn originally consisted of five one-act plays when it premiered as a benefit in March 2004 at the Manhattan Class Company. The cast included Kevin Bacon, Kieran Culkin, Brian Dennehy, Peter Dinklage, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Meloni, Amanda Peet, Susan Sarandon, Kyra Sedgwick, and Paul Rudd. [1] The original five short plays were titled Bench Seat, Long Division, Road Trip, Autobahn, and Merge. [2] Two more segments titled All Apologies and Funny were added to later productions. [3]

MCC Theater non-profit organisation in the USA

MCC Theater is an Off-Broadway theater company located in New York City, founded in 1986 by artistic directors Robert LuPone and Bernard Telsey along with six graduates of the New York University drama department, including Jana Herzen, now president of Harlem-based Motema Music.

Kevin Bacon American actor

Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American actor and musician. His films include musical-drama film Footloose (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller JFK (1991), the legal drama A Few Good Men (1992), the historical docudrama Apollo 13 (1995), and the mystery drama Mystic River (2003). Bacon is also known for taking on darker roles such as that of a sadistic guard in Sleepers (1996) and troubled former child abuser in a critically acclaimed performance in The Woodsman (2004). He is equally prolific on television, having starred in the Fox drama series The Following (2013–2015). For the HBO original film Taking Chance (2009), Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, also receiving a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion pictures industry.

Kieran Culkin American actor

Kieran Kyle Culkin is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, acting alongside his older brother Macaulay in the Home Alone franchise (1990–1992) His breakout role in Igby Goes Down (2002) received critical acclaim and he was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe Award, as well as winning a Critics' Choice Movie Award and Satellite Award. He is also well known for his role as Wallace Wells in the hit cult film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Autobahn was presented in April 2008 at the Re-bar theatre in Seattle, Washington. [4]

Get Loweded is a variety show, sketch comedy, cabaret, life experience, multi-media art presentation and, according to Seattle's alternative press, "alcohol soaked freakshow." The show takes place at a Seattle, Washington venue called Re-bar. Through random hookups with strangers, culinary challenges, burlesque, live music, surreal story arcs(they spent 9 months set in the post-apocalyptic future), free drinks and interactive humor, they focus on presenting a unique take on the standard variety show format. Get Loweded focuses on celebrating nightlife and lifestyle

A production in 2009 by Theatre Jezebel at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow starred Sally Reid, Candida Benson, Alison Peebles, Johnny Austin, and Angela Darcy. [5] The Guardian called it "A masterclass in acting ... each dazzling performance seems to outshine the last" [6]

Tron Theatre theatre in Glasgow, Scotland

The Tron Theatre is located at the corner of Trongate and Chisholm Street, in the Merchant City area of Glasgow, Scotland.

Glasgow City and council area in Scotland

Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, and the third most populous city in the United Kingdom, as of the 2017 estimated city population of 621,020. Historically part of Lanarkshire, the city now forms the Glasgow City council area, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland; the local authority is Glasgow City Council. Glasgow is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as "Glaswegians" or "Weegies". It is the fourth most visited city in the UK. Glasgow is also known for the Glasgow patter, a distinct dialect of the Scots language that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city.

Sally Reid is a Scottish stage, radio and television actress who trained at Langside College, Glasgow and with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the Second City Training Center in Chicago.

Autobahn had its North Carolina regional premiere in August 2009 at the Carolina Actors Studio Theatre in Charlotte. [7]

Carolina Actors Studio Theatre

Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST) was an independent non-profit theatre company located at 2424 North Davidson Street in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1992 by Charlotte acting instructor Ed Gilweit as an actor's teaching school. In 2000 Gilweit's company partnered with a video and stage production company run by Michael Simmons called Victory Pictures, Inc., and then with the fledgling theatre group Another Roadside Performance Company run by Robert Lee Simmons, Michael Simmons' son. Through this series of mergers, Gilweit and the Simmons' became the founders of the Carolina Actors Studio Theatre. After Gilweit's death in 2002, Michael Simmons became the Managing Artistic Director.

A recent production of "Autobahn" was put on by Underground Productions at the Schonell Theatre in Brisbane in 2013. [8]

Schonell Theatre theatre and cinema in Brisbane, Australia

The Schonell Cinema & Live Theatre is a venue for theatre, special events and cinema screenings in Brisbane, Australia. It consists of Theatre One: a 420-seat, single auditorium theatre capable of hosting musical performances, plays and lectures and Cinema 2, a 175-seat cinema suitable for exclusive screenings, presentations and small performances.

Brisbane capital city of Queensland, Australia

Brisbane is the capital of and the most populated city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of 2.5 million, and the South East Queensland region, centred on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3.5 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the historic European settlement and is situated inside a peninsula of the Brisbane River, about 15 kilometres from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range, sprawling across several of Australia's most populous local government areas (LGAs)—most centrally the City of Brisbane, which is by far the most populous LGA in the nation. The demonym of Brisbane is "Brisbanite".

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References

  1. ↑ Hernandez, Ernio and Allen, Morgan. "MCC Rides the Fast Lane w/ 'Autobahn' playbill.com, March 9, 2004
  2. ↑ TheaterMania: Starry Benefit Reading of LaBute's Autobahn Set for March 8, by Matthew Murray, February 27, 2004
  3. ↑ Village Theatre Guild Productions: Autobahn, October 2011 Archived October 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine .
  4. ↑ Autobahn: Neil LaBute sure knows what drives relationships [ permanent dead link ], The Seattle Times, April 22, 2008
  5. ↑ OnstageScotland: Autobahn at Theatre Jezebel
  6. ↑ Autobahn review by Mark Fisher, The Guardian, November 11, 2009
  7. ↑ Pizzato, Mark (August 10, 2007) “Review of Autobahn by Neil LaBute, Carolina Actors Studio Theatre”, ARTS à la Mode
  8. ↑ Lamb, Rebecca Elise. "Review" Aussie Theatre.com, October 7, 2013
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