Happy New Year!

How do we know it’s happy? Because it’s already filled with brand new plays. That’s right: the next Squeaky Bike Reading Lab is on its way, just 10 days from today.

On January 23rd, you’re invited to an Equity Staged Reading of a brand new play at the beginning of its development process. Come experience innovative new work, and stay for a chat with the playwright and our Resident Dramaturg. Your presence in the audience is incredibly valuable, as it helps our playwright get the feedback he needs to bring his play to the next stage of its development. And you never know—it could become a full-blown Squeaky Bike production in the future!

Here’s what we’ve got in store:

Pinned Butterfly by Adam Esquenazi Douglas
Monday, January 23rd @ 7pm
When the members of BKPRIDE decide to hold the very first Brooklyn Gay Pride March…everything explodes. As marching drums beat in the distance, war brews among lovers, enemies, and hearts.

Directed by Kate Garfield
Featuring: Cesar J. Rosado*, Aimée Cucchiaro*, David Jenkins, Curry Whitmire*, Emily Daly*, and Nicholas Robert Ortiz.

RESERVE NOW
*Appearing courtesy Actors’ Equity Association

The reading will take place at Theater for the New City, Cino Theater, 155 1st Avenue in Manhattan.

Following the reading will be a talkback with refreshments. Please stay and share your thoughts on the play. Our development process depends on you!

$10 suggested donation for refreshments.

Mark your calendars, and tell your friends!

 

Dear Friend, We have great news: two new Squeaky Bike shows are coming to you very soon! Save these dates: January 23rd: Reading Lab 2017, featuring Adam Esquenazi Douglas’s Pinned Butterfly. When the members of BKPRIDE decide to hold the very first Brooklyn Gay Pride March…everything explodes. March 23rd through April 9th: Dead Man’s Dinner. W.M. Akers is back with a gripping, funny, poignant play about three women torn between love and hunger—and Hunger always wins. We continue our residency at our new home—Theater for the New City—and a season that promises to be everything you’ve come to expect from us: bold, timely, and always entertaining. Now all we need is you! To keep the daring and courageous programming coming to you, we’re launching our fundraising campaign for 2017: “There’s No Place Like Home.” Our goal is $5,000 by the end of the season (May 2017), and we’re already off to a strong start. Help us keep the Squeaky Bicycle mission alive! Squeaky Bike’s 2017 is packed with new relationships, new endeavors, and a whole lot of the innovative theatre we’ve been bringing you for over six years. Check out what’s coming in the next year, and how you can be a part of it. DONATE NOW We hope you’ll join us as we settle into our new home and make some great theater! We can’t wait to share it with you. Kathryn McConnell and Brandi Varnell Co-producers, Squeaky Bicycle Productions

Timmy Condon* and Alisa Murray* in The Unconventional Convention Copyright © 2016 Squeaky Bicycle Productions, All rights reserved.

We’re just 6 days from showtime for The Unconventional Convention! Have you got your tickets yet? You have just 4 chances to see it, and at $15 each, it’s a steal! As the esteemed W.M. Akers once said: “Plays without audiences are, arguably, just people shouting at each other in a room.” So be sure to buy your tickets before it’s too late!

BUY TICKETS

Need more incentive to buy those tickets? The Unconventional Convention brings you a slate of 7 hilarious and insightful pieces featuring artists you’re sure to recognize from days of Squeaky Bike past. Check out what we have in store!

Gimme an L by W.M. Akers
After a rotten first date, Gilbert and Lora fight for a reason to take each other to bed.

Help Me If You Can by Myron Klopman
Two brothers devise a small scale money laundering scheme to pay their mother’s expenses: a fake psychotherapy office in a sketchy New York City storefront. It’s the perfect front – until Debbie walks in, seeking help.

Lumbricus Terrestris by Emily Daly
Two worms, one playground, and many hearts: Lumbricus Terrestris is a love story of two earthworms and the forces (like big kids) that come between them.

Really Absolutely Devastating by Robert Zander Norman
The Emerald Ash Borer has killed hundreds of millions of Ash trees since it arrived in North America, and it looks literally impossible to stop. It’s tough to comprehend true hopelessness, but this bug is forcing us to try.

Pretend by Dana Leslie Goldstein
Eight-year-old Kitty and Lauren play a game of pretend and discover that sometimes even make believe can’t change reality.

Artichoke Hearts by Dylan Lamb
A lonely pair stumbles uncertainly toward the conclusion of their first date.

A Beautiful Circle of Love and Acceptance by J. Boyett
Some families have a weekly game night. Phil’s had something…different.

Check our website to learn more about our artists hard at work!

See you at the show!
Kathryn McConnell and Brandi Varnell
Co-producers, Squeaky Bicycle Productions

Dylan Lamb, Alisa Murray, Nathan Brisby*, and Leajato Robinson* in Ten Ways on a Gun
Photo Credit: Joshua Sterns Photography

There’s been a lot of work going on behind the scenes at Squeaky Bike, and we can’t wait to share it with you! Our next production is a bit different (dare we say unconventional?) than our usual sort, and we are excited to announce that you can mark your calendars for:

Theater for the New City and Squeaky Bicycle Productions Present:

The Unconventional Convention
Short Plays with Tons to Say
Buy tickets now

Featuring The Velodrome Company
With plays by: W.M. Akers, Dylan Lamb, J. Boyett, Emily Daly, Dana Leslie Goldstein, Myron Klopman, and Robert Zander Norman.

October 13-15 at 8pm,October 16 at 3pm
155 First Avenue, New York, NY

Since 2015, our Velodrome Company has been meeting monthly, creating themed showcases for a members-only audience. These showcases are a place where artists can test things out among their peers before sharing it with an audience. Now our Velodrome Company is ready to share the first fruits of our labor with you, the world! When you come to our inaugural Velodrome production, The Unconventional Convention, we know you’ll be as thrilled to be taking part in this new approach to creating theater as we are to be presenting it.

Here’s what this Velodrome Company is all about:
The Velodrome is a collaborative program that serves as a training ground for actors, playwrights, and directors. All members of this artistic community are encouraged to work against type in a new arena, and fearlessly hone their craft and spur each other on to new artistic heights. This process has created some very interesting work, and has allowed our team of spirited artists to go where no artists have gone before.

Tickets are available here. We hope you’ll join us for some great, thought-provoking, boundary-pushing theatre in October, courtesy of our talented Velodrome artists, and our new friends at TNC! We can’t wait to see you!

Ladies and gentlemen, we are so excited to announce that Squeaky Bicycle has been selected as a Company in Residence at Theater for the New City! We’re thrilled to be able to present our seventh season in such an innovative and welcoming home, and are excited to be able to share this experience with all of you.

During the season we’ve got some real gems coming at you:

• A brand new world premiere by Resident Playwright W.M. Akers
• Another Reading Lab, our playground for writers to test new plays in front of a live audience as they are developing them.
• And coming up in October- we’ll present Unconventional Convention: Short plays with tons to say. This will be our first ever public presentation of work developed in our new Velodrome Company (more info on that coming soon)

Like Squeaky Bike, TNC produces only new work: all premieres, and they stay with a playwright over the course of several works, supporting them as they grow. TNC’s Resident Theater Program produces 20-30 new plays per year, and has an impressive list of successes under its belt, including major award winners and off-Broadway transfers. Learn more about the program here.

We’re grateful for this partnership and for the consistently incredible work hosted by TNC. It’s going to be an excellent year!

Oh boy, do we have exciting news for you: the next Squeaky Bike Reading Lab is coming, 10 days from today!

On January 30 and 31, you’re invited to Equity Staged Readings of two fantastic new plays at the beginning of their development process. Come experience innovative new work, and stay for a chat with the playwright and our Resident Dramaturg. Your presence in the audience is incredibly valuable, as it helps our playwrights get the feedback they need to bring their plays to the next stage of their development. And you never know – one or both of them may become a full-blown Squeaky Bike production in the coming year!

Here’s what we’ve got in store:

Or Current Resident by Joan Bigwood
Saturday, January 30 @ 7pm
When Teddy Finch moves home from Folsom Prison, his multi-generational family has a lot of explaining to do.

Directed by Brandi Varnell
Featuring: Curry Whitmire*, Neal Mayer*, Robyn Michele Frank, Betty Hudson*, Mary Sheridan*, and Annalisa Loeffler*.
Reserve your seat(s) now!

Dead Man’s Dinner by Squeaky Bicycle Resident Playwright W.M. Akers
Sunday, January 31 @ 7pm
After ten years of siege, three women are trapped in the middle of the most dangerous war zone in the world: the Upper West Side. In a frigid rent-stabilized apartment, Olympia and her daughter Petra have spent years surviving any way they can. When Petra falls in love with Jackie, an injured soldier, their food supplies are stretched to the limit. As death creeps closer, each woman will be torn between love and hunger—and hunger always wins.

Directed by Kathryn McConnell
Featuring: Annalisa Loeffler*, Rachel Drayke*, Kate Garfield*, and Michael Menta
Reserve your seat(s) now!

*Appearing courtesy Actors’ Equity Association

Both readings take place at Theater for the New City, Cino Theater, 155 1st Avenue in Manhattan.

Following each reading will be a talkback with refreshments. Please stay and share your thoughts on the plays. Our development process depends on you!

$10 suggested donation for refreshments.

Mark your calendars, and tell your friends!

SQUEAKY BICYCLE PRODUCTIONS

FALL READING LAB 2014:

Talkback with Playwright Eva Adderley to follow.

…But wait, there’s more!

TEN WAYS ON A GUN

Mary Roach wrote about it in her bestseller Packing for Mars. Chris Hadfield posts about it on YouTube. Sandra Bullock was even nominated for an Oscar for it. Space, kids is a dangerous place. Especially when you’re in love.

Introducing our new production, Tales of Love & Lasers! W.M. Akers has crafted a exploration of the, we’ll say ‘unique,’ hiccups that come along with interstellar pitter-patters — whether you’re fighting a lonely heart aboard a stranded colony ship, or dueling bad guys with your bestie. Tales of Love & Lasers features some of the most badass space chicks you’ll find this side of the Milky Way and reminds us that in space, no one can hear you say ‘I love you.’

More info on where to find tickets is coming, but in the meantime, help us on our quest to 10,000! We have HUGE (working on an appropriate space pun for this…) plans for Squeaky Bike and need your help to make it happen. Donations through Fractured Atlas are tax-deductible and help us do things like pay our designers, rent air-conditioned spaces for summer shows, develop plays with emerging playwrights, and so much more!

Q: What would you hear if you tossed a marshmallow treat out a spaceship’s airlock?
A: Not a peep.