Rising Phoenix Rep Announces O(N) THE 5:31 10/24

Rising Phoenix Rep continues its Cino Nights series of world premiere plays with Mando Alvarado's (O)N THE 5:31 on October 24th at 7 p.m. at Seventh Street Small Stage (43 East Seventh Street).

O(N) the 5:31 is directed by Taibi Magar and features Jolly Abraham, Sarah BAskin, and Bernardo Cubria. Admission is free, but space is extremely limited. Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by calling 212-946-5198. For more information, visit www.risingphoenixrep.org.

Described as "A bar. A blind date. And a deconstruction of how it all began. (o)n the 5:31 takes a trip into what is remembered and what could have been." It will be directed by Taibi Magar and the cast features Jolly Abraham, Sarah Baskin, and Bernardo Cubria.

Inspired by Joe Cino and his Caffe Cino-one of the original birthplaces of Off-Off-Broadway theatre and early home to such writers as Doric Wilson, Robert Patrick, John Guare, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, and William M. Hoffman-New York Innovative Theater Award winning company Rising Phoenix Rep has commissioned eighteen playwrights to write new, full-length plays for the Seventh Street Small Stage, the intimate back room space at Jimmy's No. 43 in the East Village, where the company has produced critically acclaimed and award winning productions for the past five years.

Rising Phoenix Rep artistic director Daniel Talbott described the series as a place to tap into
the raw, inspired, inventive, and pioneering work of the Caffe Cino, where the love of theatre
and new work was joined with a scrappy, do-it-yourself work ethic. All shows will be rehearsed
for a week and then fully mounted and produced, warts and all, for one night only with free
admission.

Cino Nights are currently scheduled through January 2012 and will celebrate the spirit of indie theatre as a home for new plays and theatre artists as well as hopefully honor what has been
said of the Caffe Cino: "the first studio of theater where playwrights can experiment as painters
and poets have done for a century, free from the tyranny of audience, box-office, church, and
criticism."

 

Mando Alvarado (Playwright) is a writer and an actor. He's currently working on La Maga de
Oz for Theaterworks USA. His play Post No Bills had its Off-Broadway premiere at Rattlestick
Playwrights Theater. His play Splitting Mama was selected to participate at the Black Swan
Lab at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He's had developmental support from INTAR, The
Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Atlantic Theater, The Goodman,
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and The Lark. He was a Hispanic-Playwright-in-Residence at
INTAR and is currently a company playwright for Theater 167. Other credits include the feature
film Cruzando, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Michael Ray Escamilla. He participated
in the Freight Project where he developed his play (o)n the 5:31 which will have a showing
in October as part of Rising Phoenix Rep's Cino Nights at the Seventh Street Small Stage.
(www.cruzandothemovie.com, www.tgtgfilms.com).

Taibi Magar (Director) The Dime Show (co-director, Women's Project & Productions), Hamlet,
Inhale (The Gallery Players), The Wake of Jamey Foster, Kindertransport (NYU Tisch), W.A.C.
Iraq (DUTF), Rum & Vodka (Faux Real), Orson's Shadow (Outrageous Fortune). As assistant,
Joanna Settle's production of Othello (featuring music by Stew), Broadway's Exit The King,
and multiple productions at The Alley Theatre. She has also developed work with Soho Rep,
NYU Goldberg Dramatic Writing Center, INTAR and LAByrinth theatre companies and was
the Festival Coordinator for Suzan-Lori Parks 365Plays/365Days at The Public Theater. A
graduate of University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Otterbein College and Lincoln
Center Director's Lab. The 2008 Directing Fellow for The Public Theater Shakespeare Lab.

Founded in 1999 by Artistic Director Daniel Talbott, Rising Phoenix Repertory began by
producing an ongoing reading series of new plays and has continued to add workshops,
festivals, and highly praised productions of new plays. Recent productions include the
acclaimed, sold-out Off-Broadway runs of Slipping, produced with Piece by Piece Productions
and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Too Much Memory (also with Piece by Piece
Productions) which transferred to the New York Theatre Workshop's Fourth Street Theatre
after winning the FringeNYC award for Outstanding Play in 2008. Other recent productions
include Ceremony, Afterclap, Birthday and Don't Pet the Zookeeper (Seventh Street Small
Stage); 365 Days/365 Plays (Jimmy's No. 43 and The Public Theater); What Happened When
(HERE Arts Center); Fall Forward (part of the Sitelines/River to River festival produced by the
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council); The Telling Trilogy (including The Ride, 2006 NYIT Award
Nominee - Outstanding Original Short Script- Crystal Skillman), Rules of the Universe (Winner,
2007 NYIT Awards for Outstanding Original Short Script - Daniel Reitz and Director - Daniel
Talbott), and Three Sisters (Seventh Street Small Stage at Jimmy's No. 43); Gift by Mark
Schultz and Ponies by Mike Batistick (FringeNYC).