Tweed theaterworks

{{Short description|Experimental theater company in Tweed Ontario}}

TweedTheaterworks, also known as TWEED, Tweed Ensemble, and theatretweed, is an experimental theatre company founded in 1983. It is known for its Fractured Classicks series, satirical interpretations of classic American plays and films that employ unique casting choices;{{cite web|last1=Malony|first1=Kevin|title=Tweed|url=https://www.tweedtheater.org/about|website=Tweed TheaterWorks Official Site|accessdate=20 September 2021}} and its critically acclaimed{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/16/theater/theater-review-those-eyes-those-sighs-lypsinka-what-a-dame.html |title=THEATER REVIEW; Those Eyes! Those Sighs! Lypsinka, What a Dame |last=Brantley |first=Ben |date=2000-09-16 |website=The New York Times Theatre Section |accessdate=11 April 2016}} productions featuring performance artist John Kelly, playwrights Bill Russell and Adrienne Kennedy, and drag icons Varla Jean Merman and Lypsinka.{{Cite news|last=Brantley|first=Ben|date=2014-11-13|title=John Epperson Returns, in 'Lypsinka! The Trilogy'|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/theater/john-epperson-returns-in-lypsinka-the-trilogy.html|access-date=2016-03-30|issn=0362-4331}}

Tweed Theaterworks' mission statement is:

Tweed unearths raw, yet sophisticated, socially relevant artists and material and ushers them to the threshold of acceptability (and often beyond) to cast an irreverent mirror on contemporary culture.{{cite web|title=About|url=https://www.tweedtheater.org/about|website=Tweed TheaterWorks Official Site|publisher=Kevin Malony|accessdate=20 September 2021}}

TheaterTweed Inc. was founded in 1983 by Kevin Malony and actress and director Neva Hutchinson. Originally intended as a platform for actors to present adaptations from literature and agent showcases, the company quickly changed focus when Hutchinson moved on and Malony took over as the sole creative director. The original idea behind the use of the word "Tweed" (Theaterworks Emerging in Experimental Directions) was to describe a concept for a production company that wove together different types of live performance. Tweed was one of the first theater companies to embrace performance art, make use of work from that arena, and produce it in off-off-Broadway theaters.

Tweed and Malony rapidly became a part of the thriving early 80s art movement in Manhattan's East Village.{{Cite web|last=Malony|first=Kevin|date=November 2012|title=The Complete History|url=https://www.tweedtheater.org/the-complete-history|website=Tweed TheaterWorks Official Website|publisher=Tweed|accessdate=20 September 2021}} The company presented most of its early productions in the many performance clubs located downtown: Limbo Lounge, 8BC, Snafu, Darinka, Limelight, Cat Club, The Club at La MaMa, and most importantly, The Pyramid Club.

For eleven years (1984-1995), the company produced a curated festival of new works—the Tweed New Works Festival,{{Cite web|title=Tweed Fractured Classicks Presents Summer & Tokes at Dixon Place HOT! Fest|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/Tweed-Fractured-Classicks-Presents-Summer-Tokes-at-Dixon-Place-HOT-Fest-20110728|access-date=October 28, 2021|website=Broadway World: Off-Off-Broadway}}New York Magazine June 4, 1990 p. 97, 99.Hughes, Holly and David Roman. Oh Solo Homo: The New Queer Performance. Grover Press, 1998, 126.{{Cite book|last=Schneider|first=Sara K.|title=Concert Song as Seen: Kinesthetic Aspects of Musical Interpretation|publisher=Pendragon Press|year=1994|isbn=0945193629|pages=90}} which presented the early works of many of today's recognized theater artists. Among these various productions, Malony presented the first incarnation of John Kelly's{{Cite web|title=John Kelly Performance|url=http://johnkellyperformance.org/wp2/|access-date=2021-10-24|website=John Kelly Performance|language=en-US}} Obie-award-winning Pass the Blutwurst, Bitte,{{Cite web|title=John Kelly's Pass the Blutwurst, Bitte to Play La MaMa in December {{!}} TheaterMania|url=https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/john-kellys-pass-the-blutwurst-bitte-to-play-la-ma_31228.html|access-date=2021-10-24|website=www.theatermania.com|language=en-US}} acclaimed writer Edgar Oliver's first theatrical work The Seven Year Vacation, and the performance ensemble Watchface. He was the original producer of Bill Russell's Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, which ran in London's West End, and Tony Winner Lisa Kron's actual first musical, Dykebar, The Musical.

He directed Paved Paradise Redux (John Kelly's homage to Joni Mitchell) at the Abrons Arts Center and on tour (winner, best touring musical 2011, Austin Texas Critics Circle).{{Cite web|title=Paved Paradise Redux {{!}} TheaterMania|url=https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/paved-paradise-redux_19698.html|access-date=2021-10-24|website=www.theatermania.com|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Joni Mitchell - News Item|url=https://jonimitchell.com/news/newsitem.cfm?id=468|access-date=2021-10-24|website=jonimitchell.com}}{{Cite web|date=2014-05-29|title=Paved Paradise Redux (2009)|url=http://johnkellyperformance.org/wp2/performances/paved-paradise-redux/|access-date=2021-10-24|website=John Kelly Performance|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last1=Faires|first1=Robert|date=October 1, 2010|title='Paved Paradise Redux: The Art of Joni Mitchell'|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2010-10-01/paved-paradise-redux-the-art-of-joni-mitchell/|access-date=2021-10-24|website=www.austinchronicle.com|language=en-US}}

Malony's other writing and directing credits during this time include Brenda Bergman's Her Reality{{Cite news|last=Talbot|first=Mary|date=May 31, 1996|title=The Divine Ms. Bergman|page=1202|work=New York Daily News|url=|access-date=}} and Endangered Species: The Brenda Bergman Story;{{Cite web|date=1997-11-17|title=Bodacious Brenda Bergman Belts for Backers, Nov. 17|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/bodacious-brenda-bergman-belts-for-backers-nov-17-com-72177|access-date=2021-11-05|website=Playbill|language=en}} Colleen O'Neill as Dr. Julia Wonder in Make My Dreams Your Reality, among many other Julia Wonder shows;{{Cite web|last=Sierra|first=Gabrielle|title=Dixon Place & Tweed Theaterworks present Dr. Julia Wonder, PhD IMHO|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/Dixon-Place-Tweed-Theaterworks-present-Dr-Julia-Wonder-PhD-IMHO-20110616|access-date=2021-11-05|website=BroadwayWorld.com|language=en}} drag chanteuse Varla Jean Merman's The Christmas Concert at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall;{{Cite journal|date=December 23, 1996|title=Varla Jean Merman — A Christmas benefit for God's Love We Deliver|journal=New York Magazine|pages=185}} Tom Judson's Canned Ham at Dixon Place and on tour;{{Cite web|last=Gans|first=Andrew|date=2010-06-06|title=Judson Details Life as Broadway Actor and Adult Film Star in Canned Ham, Starting June 6|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/judson-details-life-as-broadway-actor-and-adult-film-star-in-canned-ham-starting-june-6-com-168946|access-date=2021-11-05|website=Playbill|language=en}} and Joseph Keckler's Midnight Mass at Ars Nova.{{Cite web|last=Sierra|first=Gabrielle|title=Joe's Pub Presents Joseph Keckler, Midnight Mass 10/15|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Joes-Pub-Presents-Joseph-Keckler-Midnight-Mass-1015-20110928|access-date=2021-11-05|website=BroadwayWorld.com|language=en}}

In 1996, with longtime company members Stephen Pell and Colleen O'Neill, Malony launched the Tweed Fractured Classicks Series, which presented parodied classic plays and movies featuring unusual, comedic, and often cross-gender casting. Over twenty Fractured Classicks productions have been launched since 1996. The Tweed Fractured Classicks Series presented staged readings and full productions of classic American plays and films featuring unique casting choices.{{Cite web|date=2000-02-08|title=Show People|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2000/02/08/show-people/|access-date=2021-11-12|website=The Village Voice}}

Reviewing Tweed Fractured Classick "The Mailman Always Comes Twice" in 2002, Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times called the show was a "ribald parody" of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Of Varla Jean Merman's leading performance as "Nora Papadopolous," Genzlinger wrote, "[she had] the Lana [Turner] look pegged pretty definitively, including the legs." Genzlinger described the show as "simply hilarious—a terrific, if indescribable, bit of staging."{{cite news |title=THEATER IN REVIEW; 'The Mailman Always . . .' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/movies/theater-in-review-the-mailman-always.html |accessdate=7 April 2016 |agency=New York Times |date=15 November 2002}} Tweed Fractured Classicks received Cease and Desist requests for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Blow Out Your Candles, Laura (The Glass Menagerie), Jungle Red (The Women),{{Cite news|date=December 15, 1997|title=The Women Drag Over to Town Hall|page=11|work=New York Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gugCAAAAMBAJ&dq=TWEED+theatre+cease+desist&pg=PA11|access-date=January 18, 2022}} and Whaddya Blind?! (Wait Until Dark), which was cancelled after threats from the author.

Malony's longtime creative partner was dancer and choreographer John O'Malley, co-founder of Neo Labos Dance Theater, who died in 2007 after a long battle with AIDS.{{cite journal|last1=Hendrix|first1=Grady|date=2008|title=Obituaries John O'Malley, 47, a top dancer and choreographer|url=http://thevillager.com/villager_246/johnomalley47.html|journal=The Villager|volume=77|issue=33}} O'Malley choreographed pieces for Tweed such as "Hotel Martinique" and "Atomic Opera."

Tweed continued to thrive into the 2000s. The long illness and ultimate death of O'Malley{{Cite web|title=John O'Malley Obituary (2008) New York Times|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/john-o-malley-obituary?id=29290680|access-date=2021-11-05|website=Legacy.com}} curtailed production activity for several months. Around this time, Tweed began partnering with the Howl Festival to present Fractured Classicks and music series to raise money for [https://www.howlarts.org/archived/howl-help/ Howl Help], a project of [https://actorsfund.org/ The Actors Fund]. Tweed's relationship with Howl Arts has remained active, and benefits supporting Howl Arts are produced regularly—the most recent being Joni Mitchell: A Birthday Tribute at The Cutting Room in New York City.{{Cite web|date=2017-10-30|title=Joni Mitchell The Birthday Concert|url=https://www.howlarts.org/event/joni-mitchell-the-birthday-concert/|access-date=2021-11-04|website=Howl! Arts|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Joni Mitchell Library - Joni Mitchell: the Birthday Concert: JoniMitchell.com, November 7, 2017|url=https://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=3859|access-date=2021-11-04|website=jonimitchell.com}}

Malony has been curating the Tweed's Sundays & 7 series at [https://www.pangeanyc.com/ Pangea]{{Cite web|title=Kevin Malony News|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/news/Kevin-Malony/|access-date=2021-10-24|website=www.broadwayworld.com}}{{Cite web|last=Mosher|first=Stephen|title=BWW Interview: Stephen Shanaghan And Kevin Malony of Pangea Restaurant and Cabaret|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/article/BWW-Interview-Stephen-Shanaghan-And-Kevin-Malony-of-Pangea-Restaurant-and-Cabaret-20210115|access-date=2021-10-23|website=BroadwayWorld.com|language=en}} for five years. Longtime Tweed artist [https://www.mermaidalley.com/home Carol Lipnik] is a frequent performer, and Sundays @ 7 has been the venue where actor/writer David Cale has workshopped his autobiographical musical We Are Only Alive for a Short Amont of Time,{{Cite web|title=David Cale @ Pangea|url=https://www.tweedtheater.org/david-cale-pangea|access-date=2021-10-23|website=Tweed Theaterworks|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Soloski|first=Alexis|date=2019-07-03|title=David Cale Has a New Story to Tell: His Own|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/theater/david-cale-were-only-alive-public-theater.html|access-date=2021-10-23|issn=0362-4331}} which premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theater in Fall 2018.{{Cite web|title=We're Only Alive for A Short Amount of Time {{!}} Goodman Theatre|url=https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Templates/Pages/PlayDetails.aspx?id=8817&epslanguage=en|access-date=2021-10-23|website=www.goodmantheatre.org}} To date, over forty artists have performed in Tweed's Sundays @ 7 series.