About
Official Press Release
“When an animal loves someone, it’s forever.”
Working Artists Theatre Project presents the world premiere of THE GOLDEN AURORA, written by acclaimed playwright Steven Fechter, as part of the 12th Annual New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC. Performances will be held at The Bleecker Street Theater (45 Bleecker St. between Broadway & Lafayette; Subway: 6 to Bleecker; B/D/F/V to Broadway-Lafayette). The cast includes Susan Hyon, *Nancy McDoniel, *Sharon O’Connell, *Patrick Melville, *Mary Rasmussen, *David L. Townsend.
Show dates and times: Saturday, August 16, Noon; Sunday, August 17, 7:00pm; Wednesday, August 20, 3:00pm; Thursday, August 21, 5:00pm; Saturday, August 23, 9:45pm.
The Golden Aurora is a modern fable about an unusual love affair. When Ned, a veterinarian’s helper, falls in love with a rare and beautiful dog, his small Midwestern town is turned upside down. Rejected and betrayed by people closest to him, Ned becomes an outcast. In this haunting tale, we learn that when love runs most deeply, there is no knowing where the human ends and the animal begins.
Playwright Steven Fechter’s credits include The Mentee (Workshop Theatre Company); The Last Cigarette (Lounge Theater, Los Angeles), which received a Critic’s Choice by both the LA Weekly and BackStage-West in 2006; and The Commission, which premiered at FringeNYC in 2007 and will receive a production in Germany later this fall. After a successful run at Raw Space, his play The Woodsman was turned into a lauded film of the same name starring Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Benjamin Bratt, Mos Def and Eve. Richard Schickel of Time called it “one of the year’s best ten films.”
Director Ari Laura Kreith’s 2007 production of Double Vision sold out at the New York International Fringe Festival and was extended as part of the Fringe NYC Encore Series.
*THE GOLDEN AURORA is an Equity-approved showcase.
The estimated running time is 100 minutes.
Inspiration for THE GOLDEN AURORA
Playwright Steven Fechter was thinking about love – its meaning and its many problems – when the story about a man and a dog came to him. It seemed more like a dare than an invitation. That story became the play The Golden Aurora. On the surface the play is an unusual love story that explores the nature of unrequited love. But Fechter transforms the setting of a rural Midwestern town, with its odd assortment of characters, into a taboo world of myth and fable, animals and gods, rich with life and death stakes. Fechter felt that only by venturing deeply into the, beauty, danger, mythology, and power of love could he reawaken our imagination of love’s possibilities.
THE GOLDEN AURORA is many things: it’s a dark and redemptive fable about love; it’s an indictment of bigotry and intolerance; and it’s an examination of love – how we know it when we find it, how it can be twisted, abused, or misunderstood, how it can wound us, and how it can make us whole. The questions the play asks are both timeless and timely.
Working Artist Theatre Project
Working Artists Theatre Project is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization comprised by a unique collective of Broadway-affiliated theatre artists with a passion for the development of new work. WAT Project is dedicated to producing adventurous and innovative theatre, facilitating artistic growth, and developing relationships within the New York theatre community.
Please visit: WATProject.com
