Coming Soon
AFTER THE WALL

Written and directed by Melba LaRose

A project about walls around the globe and throughout time - why we build them, how we've lived with them (or not), what we dream will happen when they fall, and what really happens.

About us: Company
A company of 25 actors, directors and playwrights, representing cultures of Africa, Europe, North/ Central/ South America, and Asia, we work in three areas of programming: developing new works, performing repertory, and mainstage touring. Casting is nontraditional in regard to age, gender, race, ethnicity, size, and more. We perform for adults and children in unconventional spaces, such as dining rooms, gyms and community rooms in senior centers, nursing homes, women's centers, community centers, parks & recreation centers, public libraries. Our productions have also been done on spectacular stages, such as New Perspectives Theatre Company, Shooting Star Theatre, the Producers’ Club, the Players Theatre, Nuyorican Poets Café, H.E.R.E., Saratoga Musical Hall, Camden Opera House, the Wadsworth Atheneum at Hartford Museum, and university stages from Maine to Delaware.

Arriving self-contained at performance sites, we put up a set, not unlike a traveling circus. Performances are interactive and followed by a discussion or workshop. While we load out, company members assist with evaluations, which help us determine if the project 'speaks' to viewers. On a small budget, we serve an audience of approximately 30,000 annually. The company holds a Volunteers for Youth award from the NYC Department of Juvenile Justice.

In 2005, the company created the International CringeFest, an annual festival of original plays and musicals that are irreverent, politically incorrect and satirical, shocking and naughty, taking place at the Grand Theatre of the Producers’ Club in the Broadway theatre district. (See Festivals section for more information.) .


MELBA LaROSE (founder-artistic director) is a veteran actress of avant-garde theatre, film & TV turned playwright-director-actress. She debuted in NY as a campy Jean Harlow in the leading role of GLAMOUR, GLORY & GOLD . Supporting players were famed Warhol stars Jackie Curtis (who also wrote the play) and Candy Darling, directed by Ron Link. They worked together for years to come. For NY Artists Unlimited, she has written, directed, and sometimes appeared in: A BUILDER OF DREAMS (the poetry & life of maternal grandmother Myrtle Evelyn Lawrence, 1893-1963), SONG OF THE SIMPLE TRUTH - EL CANTO DE JULIA DE BURGOS, LITTLE RED - GIRL FROM THE HOOD, EBONY BLACK, WHO'S THERE?, SPOTLIGHT, CITYSCAPES 3, RIME ICE, VOICES OF THE TOWN - A VAUDEVILLE SALUTE! and more. She toured internationally with the Obie Award-winning NY Street Theatre Caravan and assisted on the Actors Studio concert reading at Carnegie Hall of DON JUAN IN HELL, starring Gore Vidal, Susan Sontag, Gay Talese and Norman Mailer. While an actress member of Group Repertory Theatre, L.A. , she began writing under the aegis of Lonny Chapman, Artistic Director. Her work has been under consideration by Jerry London at CBS and Disney/ Touchstone Films. Melba conducted master classes in acting at the Free University of L.A., 18th St. Playhouse, and at Downeast Arts Center . A published poet, she was a founding member of The Commotion - Poets & Co.

Honors & Awards: Who's Who in America , Who's Who in the World, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Executives & Professionals, Fulbright Senior Specialist Roster Candidate. Playwriting grants: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Manhattan Community Arts Fund. Phi Theta Kappa honors graduate and SUNY Distinguished Alumnus Award, Gold Key Honor Society, Best Actress - Town Hall Film Festival. Associations: Dramatists Guild, Drama League, Theatre Resources Unlimited. Guest Actress - Playwriting Units: Actors Studio, NY & L.A.; Group Repertory Theatre; HB Playwrights Foundation, League of Professional Theatre Women.


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