UNDER St Marks



Horse Trade presents

by Clay McLeod Chapman
performed by Hanna Cheek

Click here to buy tickets to The Pumpkin Pie Show via smarttix.com

Commencement

Oct 15- 31st, 2009
Thurs- Sat @ 8pm

Special HALLOWEEN Show Followed by the FRIGID Drawing on Closing Night!


Click here to buy tickets to The Pumpkin Pie Show via smarttix.com

A literary fist in the face. Part monologue, part boxing match -- THE PUMPKIN PIE SHOW is a rigorous storytelling session packed with enough intensity to feel like a rock concert rather than a bedtime tale

.

Now entering its second decade of critically acclaimed performances, this season’s edition of The Pumpkin Pie Show explores the bond formed between three women in the wake of a high school tragedy.

"(Hanna Cheek) is an actor of rare gifts, and someday Hollywood will steal her, so you have to snatch at every chance to see her onstage."
Helen Shaw, Time Out New York (CRITICS PICK)

"...a new generation of theater artists reared on a diet of vampires, zombies and charming serial killers. Call this movement the Theater of Blood, after the Vincent Price movie about a Shakespearean actor who kills critics, after torturing them with a hammy monologue. (It still gives me chills.) At the forefront is Clay McLeod Chapman, whose “Pumpkin Pie Show” (running at Under St. Marks) channels the spirit of H. P. Lovecraft."
Jason Zinoman, "A Creepy Threesome," NY Times 

“Brace yourself for a sobering show with viscous silences that are uncomfortable and thought-provoking. This is an all-ages production and will appeal to teens as much as parents, so take your children, even if they sulk. The message matters, and Cheek, as the messenger, delivers it beautifully.”
Edmonton Journal (Five Stars)

“Another a cocktail of powerful emotion. Cheek’s powerful, gripping performance... will leaving you wringing your hands in helpless empathy for each woman’s pain.”
SEE Magazine

“Cheek nails every word and gesture with a grand intensity, fulfilling a script vulnerable enough to otherwise be mishandled in somebody else's hands.”
Vue Weekly

“Sharply written, the women depicted in Commencement break from the stereotypes the mass media too often proffers up during such tragedies and each one’s story resonates thanks to Cheek’s gifted and powerful performance. Weighty, thought provoking and no frills, this is a can’t-miss show.”
Metro News


"Mr. Chapman uses the macabre to explore the humanity of his characters and reveal an almost spiritual side to the horrific... in these stories, set in a banal, melancholy, lonely landscape, the unknown can also seem sublime."
The New York Times (2008)

“Like a collection of David Sedaris short stories, these are imaginative, slightly surreal tales that will stay with you for years.”
Canadian Broadcasting Center (FOUR STARS) (2008)

“Chapman... has crafted his language with care and wit, and it's an uncomfortable pleasure to witness his characters come to life.”
Edmonton Journal (FOUR STARS) (2008)

“Clay McLeod Chapman and Hanna Cheek make kicking your theatrical ass seem easy...”
Fringe Famous (2008)

“The energy in this show is so intense, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or worry that Chapman would leap into the crowd and start throwing chairs.”
See Magazine (FOUR STARS) (2008)

“Cheek plays the audience like a familiar violin -- she emanates seductive and destructive vibes, confronting spectators with an enthralling, dangerous gaze.”
-Greenwich Village Gazette (2003)

“Chapman [is] the literary descendent of Edgar Allen Poe...”
Time Out New York (2003)

The Cast



HANNA CHEEK* has been a part of The Pumpkin Pie Show since 2002, performing in: Junta High (PS122), Cardiac Shadow (PS122),  Saint Hanna...the patron saint of the PPS (The Kraine Theatre),  Ringside Seats (Belt Theatre),  Rise Perverts Rise, Big Top, and The Birds and the Bees (Red Room, respectively).   She and playwright Chapman also teamed up in 2008 in the wildly acclaimed Hostage Song at the Kraine theatre in NY.  Hanna is a member of the drama desk nominated Waterwell theatre company with whom she has devised and performed in #9 (59e59 theatres), The/King/Operetta (Barrow St. Theatre), Marco Millions…based on lies (Theatre Row), The Persians…a comedy about war with five songs (Perry Street Theatre), Sweetness & Light (Alternate Stages), & Chill & Serve (Ground Floor Theatre). Other NYC Credits: The Amulet (78th Street Lab), First You're Born  (Playwrights Horizons), & Broken Boughs (Blue Heron Arts Center).  TV credits include: Titus, MTV's Undressed, & The West Wing

Clay McLeod Chapman is part of the downtown super group that created the critically acclaimed Hostage Song and the creator of the rigorous storytelling session THE PUMPKIN PIE SHOW. He is the author of rest area, a collection of short stories, and miss corpus, a novel, both published by Hyperion books. He teaches writing at The Actors Studio MFA Program at Pace University.

* Appearing Courtesy of Actors Equity Association
Hanna Cheek