Set in a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, home to one of the last 35 millimeter film projectors in the state, The Flick follows the hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking stories of three mismatched employees. As they pick up trash, bitch about their bosses, and critique the films that play at their ill-attended cineplex, the trio’s own funny and fraught dramas play out in the empty aisles. But unlike the films that flicker from the projection booth, these dramas have real-world consequences. With Baker’s finely-tuned ear for dialogue and her astute comic eye, The Flick is a laughter-filled cry for connection and authenticity.
Shows featuring Isaac Lamb
The Bylines: Meant to Be
The Bylines have spent years performing in clubs, music venues, and at festivals. They know how to write good songs and put on entertaining shows. But this show is different. “We’re getting a little more personal…a little more intimate, a little more theatrical…..this is something you will sit up in your seat for, a story you will get caught up in. We’re partnering with Third Rail Repertory Theatre, a company that knows us and believes in what we do.”
Written by Reece Marshburn and Marianna Thielen
The show will start at 7:30 at the Imago and run for about 90 minutes with an “after party” to follow each performance. This will be an opportunity for the audience to make requests and each night surprise guests, including members of Third Rail, will show up to perform with Marianna and Reece. (Amy Beth Frankel tap dancing?? You’ll have to come to find out….) The Imago Theatre is an intimate space that seats up to 200 people. Beer, wine and snacks will be available in the lobby. It is located in the heart of SE Portland with myriad places to dine or enjoy preshow cocktails.
Sponsored by Portland Piano Company
Sorry / Regular Singing
Staged Readings of the Final Installments of the Apple Family Plays
ONE SHOW: $20.00
BOTH SHOWS: $35.00
BOTH SHOWS AND DINNER WITH THE CAST: $100.00
To purchase tickets please call 503.235.1101 or email boxoffice@thirdrailrep.org.
BOTH SHOWS: $35.00
BOTH SHOWS AND DINNER WITH THE CAST: $100.00
To purchase tickets please call 503.235.1101 or email boxoffice@thirdrailrep.org.
We conclude our presentation of Richard Nelson’s play cycle with staged readings of the final two installments of the Apple Family cycle. Featuring company members Karen Trumbo, Maureen Porter, Rebecca Lingafelter, Bruce Burkhartsmeier, Mike O’Connell and Isaac Lamb, this is an event not to be missed for any Third Rail followers, or newcomers eager to engage with the company.
For a truly intimate and insightful experience, JOIN THE APPLE FAMILY CAST FOR DINNER BETWEEN PERFORMANCES. Good food, good wine, and great conversation. Discuss the plays, the characters, theatre, or whatever strikes your fancy. (Proceeds from the dinner will support Third Rail and the presentation of these readings). $100 includes dinner, wine, and priority seating for both readings. Jump on this! Space is limited.
Sorry
The play transpires during the early morning of the 2012 presidential election, but the race for commander-in-chief is not the main item on the Apples’ minds. Siblings Richard, Barbara, Marian, and Jane have gathered in upstate Rhinebeck to take their mentally failing Uncle Benjamin, once a famous actor, to an eldercare facility. In addition, each member of the family has his or her own dilemma. Lawyer Richard, who once worked in state government, has just returned from an extended business trip to England and is dissatisfied with his career in private practice. Marian is coming to terms with her daughter’s suicide, while Jane wrestles with her next writing project and her relationship with her boyfriend Tim, a character in the previous plays who is in Chicago on an acting job. Barbara has the most pressing problem. She is closest to Uncle Benjamin-she shares her Rhinebeck home with him and Marian-and his advancing senility is causing him to behave in sexually inappropriate ways toward her.
Regular Singing
Is Uncle Benjamin still alive? Are Marian and Adam back together? Has Richard gone over to the dark side and become a Republican? And is everyone agreed that this country has gone to hell in the past 50 years? “Regular Singing,” the fourth and final play, takes place on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination (Nov. 22, 2013), so the topic of death hangs in the air. But in the end, the scribe leaves the Apples the way he found them – very much alive and bearing witness to the times we live in.
The Aliens
In April, Third Rail returns to the CoHo Theatre, the site of our very first production, for Annie Baker’s Obie-winning play, THE ALIENS. KJ and Jasper hold court on the back patio of the local coffee shop, trying out a new song. Enter Evan Shelmerdine, the nervous new barista, tasked with getting rid of them. Will he succeed or unwittingly become KJ and Jasper’s newest project? THE ALIENS is a surprising, charming, and gentle meditation on friendship, loss, and a generation of young Americans trying to find their place in the world.
That Hopey Changey Thing
It’s Election Day, 2010 and what begins as a simple visit by the Apple siblings to their uncle transforms into an examination of 21st Century American politics. Chekhovian in spirit, HOPEY CHANGEY is the first play in a planned four-play cycle that annually reunites the Apple Family during events of national importance. In an exciting and ambitious project, Third Rail is delighted to be the only company in the country (besides the Public Theatre in New York) to present a new play in this series every year for the next four seasons, each featuring the same cast of Third Rail actors!
Midsummer (a play with songs)
Noises Off
SOLDOUT
Sweet and Sad
Part 2 of the Apple Family Plays
Belleville
Abby and Zack are newlyweds subletting an apartment in the Belleville area of Paris. She’s a yoga instructor and he’s a physician with Doctor Without Borders. Their life is idyllic, if not especially noteworthy. That is until Abby walks in on Zack with his pants literally around his ankles.
As she starts pulling at little threads having to do with how Zack spends his day, BELLEVILLE builds toward a climax that asks if we can ever truly know another person. This sexy, funny, scary, and tense pseudo-thriller from one of America’s hottest new playwrights will unnerve as quickly as it entertains.
OPB’s State of Wonder
Pair your experience at Belleville with a meal at The Bent Brick
Ticket holders to Belleville will receive a special offer at the fantastic restaurant, The Bent Brick (NW 16th and Marshall). Let your server know you are going to see or have seen Belleville at Third Rail and receive a 10% discount on your meal!
The Bent Brick hours:
Tuesday-Sunday 5-9pm
Happy Hour:
Tuesday- Saturday 5-6 pm
Sunday 5-9pm
The Mystery of Irma Vep
Last year Third Rail made a splash at the holidays with our record-setting production of NOISES OFF, which many consider the funniest play written in the past 25 years. This year we’re at it again with perhaps the funniest American play of the past 25 years: Charles Ludlam’s quick change romp, THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP.
Two actors play all the roles in this hilarious send up of Victorian melodrama, farce, 50’s horror movies, Wuthering Heights, and Hitchcock’s Rebecca. With elaborate quick changes performed in mere seconds, wildly absurd characters, and an absolute distaste for anything serious, IRMA VEP should be the perfect gut-busting escape from all that holiday noise!
GRAB A BITE AT NEL CENTRO BEFORE THE SHOW!
Ticket holders to Irma Vep will receive a special coupon to the fabulous restaurant nel centro (located just a quick walk from the Winningstad). You’ll receive $10 off when you order two or more entrees in the main dining room the night of the performance. (Your coupon will come with your ticket order.) Thanks nel centro!
