Every day is opening night.

WATERWELL’S “THE COURTROOM” TO PLAY THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE AND SYMPHONY SPACE IN SPECIAL ONE-NIGHT ENGAGEMENTS

Press Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Michael Jorgensen
rick@omdkc.com / michael@omdkc.com
212-695-7400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

NEW YORK TIMES’ BEST THEATER OF 2019
WATERWELL’S
“THE COURTROOM”
TO PLAY THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE AND SYMPHONY SPACE
IN SPECIAL ONE-NIGHT ENGAGEMENTS

TRANSCRIPTS ARRANGED BY ARIAN MOAYED
DIRECTED BY LEE SUNDAY EVANS

THE RE-ENACTMENT OF DEPORTATION PROCEEDINGS
IS PLAYING MONTHLY PERFORMANCES
BETWEEN NOW AND THE 2020 ELECTION

New York, NY (January 15, 2020) – Waterwell today announced the next performances of The Courtroom, its re-enactment of deportation proceedings that is playing a series of special, one-night engagements in civic venues following a sold-out run in 2019.

First, The Courtroom will perform a special presentation by the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street), on Wednesday, February 12 at 7:00pm. Tickets, which are subsidized through the support of the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation, are $11 and are available at lortel.org.

This will be followed by a special one-night engagement at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway) in the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre on Monday, March 9 at 7:00pm. Tickets are available at symphonyspace.org.

With text arranged from real court transcripts by Waterwell co-founder and Tony Award® nominee Arian Moayed, and featuring direction by Waterwell Artistic Director and Obie Award® winner Lee Sunday Evans, The Courtroom is an intimate encounter with our nation’s immigration court system. The production is featured in The New York Times’ Best Theater of 2019 list.

The Courtroom is a re-enactment of deportation proceedings. In 2004, an immigrant from the Philippines who was married to a U.S. Citizen came to this country on a K3 Visa. After inadvertently registering to vote at the DMV in Bloomington, IL, receiving a voter registration card in the mail, and voting, her removal proceeding was set in motion. It began in Immigration Court and her case was eventually heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. The Courtroom is performed entirely verbatim from the court transcripts.

The Courtroom features a rotating cast throughout the year, with past performers including Kathleen Chalfant, Ruthie Ann Miles, Stephanie J. Block, Brian d’Arcy James, and J. Smith-Cameron. The complete cast for the upcoming performances will be announced soon.

The performance of The Courtroom presented by The Lucille Lortel Theatre is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The Lucille Lortel Theatre would like to thank Speaker Johnson’s generous Cultural Immigrant Initiative allocation in support of this program.

ABOUT WATERWELL

Waterwell (Lee Sunday Evans, Artistic Director; Adam J. Frank, Managing Director; Heather Lanza, Director of Education; Arian Moayed, co-founder and Board Chair) is a civic-minded theater and education company creating and teaching contemporary performance that grapples with the pressing social, economic and political questions of our time. The company’s most recent production, The Courtroom, which The New York Times named “Best of Theater 2019,” is a verbatim re-enactment of deportation proceedings performed in active legal spaces around New York City, including the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. Each Memorial Day weekend, Waterwell produces Fleet Week Follies, a festival of food and family activities for active duty and veteran members of the military and their families. Waterwell’s education program, the Waterwell Drama Program, has been in residence at the Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS) since 2010, where it delivers top-quality, year-round, in-school theater training to over 200 NYC public school students.

ABOUT THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE FOUNDATION

Lucille Lortel was known as the Queen of Off-Broadway. The Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation continues her mission of sustaining and advancing Off-Broadway theater by enhancing the public’s awareness and appreciation of Off-Broadway through production, preservation and promotion; encouraging the continued growth of Off-Broadway through fostering new artists and new works; developing and implementing new technologies; increasing access to or improving the theatre-going experience; creating, improving and increasing theatrical infrastructure and capacity building; fostering excellence and diversity in the theatre; and faithfully preserving the rich history and supporting the continued prosperity of Off-Broadway. The Foundation has several major programs, including the Lucille Lortel Awards, Internet Off-Broadway Data Base (IOBDB.com), Non-Profit Theatre Strategic and Management Services, “Live at the Lortel” podcast, Youth Playwriting Fellowship, and Subsidized Theatre Space. For a listing of all the Foundation’s programs, previous Lortel Award nominees and recipients, information on the Lucille Lortel Theatre and Playwrights’ Sidewalk, and much more, please visit www.lortel.org.

ABOUT SYMPHONY SPACE

Symphony Space is a multi-disciplinary performing arts center where bold programming, presented in a uniquely warm and welcoming environment, forges indelible relationships between artists and audiences.

Symphony Space’s fundamental mission is to connect art, ideas, and community through their programs and their commitment to literacy and education through the arts. Known for an array of ground-breaking programs, including the immersive Wall to Wall concerts, the Selected Shorts literature-in-performance series, and their innovative Global Arts education program, Symphony Space presents a full slate of original, affordable (and free) programming within New York City and in communities throughout the country through tours, public radio broadcasts, and podcasts. On their stages and in the classrooms they serve, Symphony Space fosters access to the arts through all the disciplines.

Symphony Space was founded in the belief that the arts bring people together, transcend barriers, and celebrate both our similarities and differences. Through adventurous and impactful performances, commissions, and conversations, Symphony Space continues to invigorate these guiding principles, harnessing the power of the arts to engage, inspire, and build community.

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www.waterwell.org

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