SITE-SPECIFIC “BACK & FORTH” TO PLAY CENTRAL PARK’S EAST MEADOW

Press Contact:

Michael Jorgensen
michael@jorgensenpr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

PLAY BALL!

WORLD PREMIERE SITE-SPECIFIC PRODUCTION

“BACK & FORTH”

TO PLAY CENTRAL PARK’S EAST MEADOW

FEATURING TWO ACTORS AND A GAME OF CATCH

AUDIENCES TO LISTEN IN ON HEADPHONES FROM ANY VANTAGE POINT

PERFORMANCES BEGIN OCTOBER 7
OPENING NIGHT SET FOR OCTOBER 10

ARTWORK & HEADSHOTS AVAILABLE HERE


New York, NY (September 30, 2021) – Super Secret Arts is proud to present the world premiere site-specific production Back & Forth, a new play written by Richard Hollman, which will be performed in Central Park’s East Meadow, hidden among your everyday park-goes. Featuring two actors, two gloves, a baseball, and an audience equipped with headphones to observe and eavesdrop at their leisure, Back & Forth will play its game of catch over three weekends this fall, beginning Thursday, October 7, with an official Opening Night on Sunday, October 10.

It’s just a conversation until you catch on. Back & Forth is the story of two old friends reuniting for the first time since a forced period of extended social isolation (yes, that period of social isolation) and discovering that despite having felt basically immobile for the past 18 months, quite a lot has changed.

Audience members will receive an email 24 hours before their performance telling them where to enter the park and how to recognize the house manager, who will advise them on how to tune in to the show and where they may want to sit, though ultimately the audience will decide how they want to observe this particular game of catch.

“I've had the basic idea for this play for years. I'm a former baseball player and I love watching even the simple act of two people playing catch. On a surface level, it's exciting to me as the basis for a play because you can't act it, you just have to do it, and there's bound to be an uncontrollable variation from performance to performance. Even professional baseball players would have difficulty replicating the exact same game of catch twice. And while it's essentially repetitious, there are stakes, namely those that exist between the two players personally,” said playwright Richard Hollman.

Hollman continued, “Additionally, I've been interested in the idea of physical distance as emotional distance for a long time. New York City is a place where so many people cross into our visual field daily. There's a forced intimacy with those near you and a fading into the background of those far away. But every individual of course has a complicated and intricate inner life. I'm obsessed with what's happening with the people in apartments across the street and people across a field in Central Park. And now, after having had to be physically far from those we love because of the pandemic, what happens when we come back together? How have we changed? Can physical distance coupled with the emotional intimacy of hearing someone right in your ears help us empathize with strangers across a field? We use technology to communicate with others from afar but what about a chance to use it to hear a conversation we're not part of?”

Directed by Katie Young, the cast of Back & Fourth features Richard Hollman and Chris Roberti. The Production Stage Manager is Helen Thornton.

The show will play the following schedule: Thursday, October 7 – Sunday, October 10, at 5:30pm; Thursday, October 14 – Sunday, October 17, at 5:30pm; and Thursday, October 21 – Sunday, October 24 at 5:00pm.

For tickets, priced at $25, and more information, please visit SuperSecretArts.com.


BIOGRAPHIES

RICHARD HOLLMAN (Playwright, Marty) is an actor, writer, musician, activist, and teacher living in New York City. Theater credits include plays at the Cherry Lane, Playwrights Horizons, La MaMa Etc., the Lucille Lortel, Under the Radar at the Public Theater, and Williamstown Theater Festival with Baby Wants Candy. TV: “Law and Order”, “As The World Turns”, “All My Children”, and “Guiding Light”. Rich has composed music for the toy company, Thinkativity, and has scored numerous live theater pieces. Additionally, Rich starred in, co-wrote, co-produced and wrote songs for the feature film, Songs for a Sloth, which is being distributed by Gravitas Ventures. Rich has also served on the faculty of New School University and the Buckley School, has led improv workshops at West Point Academy, ConEdison, and ClarkMcdowell among others. He was a TEDx speaker in 2017 and is the founder of the charity, Care Packages for the Homeless. www.richhollman.com

CHRIS ROBERTI (Drew) is an artist living in Brooklyn with his wife and two children. His acting credits include “High Maintenance”, “Broad City”, and IFC's “Sport Court”. His work has premiered at Sundance and TriBeCa. He's especially proud of his series "Humane Society". And every December he mounts a complete live reading/performance of A Christmas Carol from inside his Christmas tree.

KATIE YOUNG (Director) is a New York based director & stage manager. Most recently she directed the world-premiere sold out run of Paradise Lost & Found by Tirosh Schneider (Isle of Shoals Productions) and served as the Associate Director for Waterwell’s The Courtroom. She was nominated for Best Director in the New York Theater Festival with the world premiere of Loyalty by Rob Ackerman (Without A Net Productions). Her all-female production of Julius Caesar (Pocket Universe) was met with critical acclaim and a sold out run at Access Theater. She is a founding company member of The Coop, and a member of the 2019 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. As a stage manager: B’way/Tour: The King and I, Hamilton, School of Rock, Something Rotten!, Amazing Grace, Once. Off-B’way/Regional: The Coop, LCT3, The Shed, Waterwell, Playwrights Horizons, WP Theater, BEDLAM, The Pearl, Rattlestick, and RENT. @KYoung253 www.KatieYoungTheater.com

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