FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NY, New York
May, 2003

Contact:
Kerri, 917.567.4693
email: LWJansen22@aol.com

MONO is moving UP!!

“……engaging, promising sample of a new, fresh, lively kind of theatre.” - The New York Post

MONO, the interactive play, currently in its 3rd year is moving UP! to the epicenter of NYC. ANOTHER URBAN RIFF, the ensemble company behind MONO, re-located this April to their own newly-renovated space on 320 W. 37th Street (between 8th and 9th Ave.) where people can continue to catch MONO every THURSDAY, FRIDAY and SATURDAY at 8pm. Reservations & Information: 212-358-3447. Tickets: $15 ($10, Students & Groups of 10 or more). Download Press & Photos @ www.catchmono.com.

What does a “cutting-edge theater” do when the LES becomes quaint and its new neighbor is Moby's tearoom, when all the noise travels downstream, co-opting everything in its wake? Go upstream, where your new neighbors are Gray's Papaya and button makers. MONO is now centrally located - smack in the middle of Times Square, the Port Authority, Madison Square Garden and the Garment Center - in a neighborhood every true New Yorker from Walt Whitman to Herbert Huncke would want to frequent. MONO's move into a newly renovated loft space, with a spectacular bar and staging area; marks the official start of a new theatre company, Another Urban Riff. A.U.R is an ensemble company, brimming with young artists of this generation whose work has been critically acclaimed as “…The New Avant-Garde…the cast of MONO leads a new generation of Cutting Edge Theater.” Together with in-house playwright Steven Tanenbaum, the group will continue to produce original, relevant work; establish a gallery for artists, and provide a setting for after-hours gatherings. Original cast member of MONO, TRICIA MCALPIN, joins other actors KERRI TUCKER, YASU IKEDA and LAWRENCE JANSEN, who have been with MONO for over 2 years, along with SERA DEMIRA, NICK PAGLINO, DONAN WHELAN, ROB O'HARE, KIT PAQUIN, MEGAN ARMITAGE, MAYA MACDONALD, DAI ISHIGURO AND GABRIELA GARCIA.

Written and directed by Steven Tanenbaum, MONO is a genuine cult hit that features a rotating cast of international actors portraying a cross-section of drunks, schemers and losers. These “high, heartbroken and burnt-out” egomaniacs perform in front of, behind & with the audience who serve as patrons, eavesdropping on real-life conflicts of the 13 characters who capture the essence of Manhattan's hip, multi-cultural night life: the NERD in leather pants, his girlfriend the SADO-NANNY, the REHAB DROPOUT, the URBANOLOGIST who cotton swabs you for samples, and a TWO-TIMING FRENCH SOCK PUPPET. Innovative, unorthodox and literally engaging, MONO infiltrates the audience with actors while you're drinking beer and indulging your thirst for voyeurism, encouraging you to join a world where someone may literally fall into your lap. MONO's unique interactive structure has earned accolades from the local/national/international media as “cutting edge…the future of theatre.”

CRITICAL PRAISE FOR “MONO”

“Critics' Pick” from Time Out New York, New York Magazine, Paper Magazine, CitySearch.com, Play by Play, NYTheatre.com, Show Business Weekly, & more.

“…a potent statement about the lonely single hood of many New Yorkers.” - NYTheatre.com
“…every true New Yorker should catch MONO.” - The Village Gazette
“If you're looking for something to do on a weekend and can't decide between taking in some theater or having a few drinks with your friends, opt for both and catch MONO.” - On&Off
“…funny, fresh, hip and literally engaging…” - citysearch.com

STEVEN TANENBAUM (Writer/Director) is an accomplished storyteller, published monologist and playwright. Tanenbaum's new play, YOUR BEST FRIEND, previewed in the winter of 2002, featuring the cast members, Sera Demira, Yasu Ikeda, Lawrence Jansen, Tricia McAlpin, Nick Paglino, Kerri Tucker and Donan Whelan, from MONO, and will premiere later in 2003. His screenplay SUPERBAD is currently in pre-production. The critically acclaimed one-man show Q101, first performed in June 1999, documented his experience as a teacher on Riker's Island in a maxi-maxi security facility and in the prison's AIDS ward. The Village Voice raved, “Tanenbaum's sincerity is thorough and powerful, his simple, good intentions showing through with remarkable clarity.”