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April 10- April 27, 2025
Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street)
Presented by Theater for the New City
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM
$20 general admission, $15 seniors & students
Buy tickets: www.theaterforthenewcity.net (212) 254-1109
Running time: 2:10 including intermission.
Critics are invited on or after April 11, 2025. Opens April 11.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jhkxWvftJMBfmdTX7
NEW YORK, March 18 -- With authoritarianism rising around the world, "Café Resistance," a new play by Roberto Monticello, directed by Lissa Moira, offers a harrowing and heroic story of the WWII French Resistance intended to highlight the power of defiance in the face of oppression. A drama with period music, it is set in a mythical café/bordello in 1939 Paris in which the staff uses creativity to undermine the Nazi occupation. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., presents the piece April 10 to 27.
Stories of the French Resistance are not just history, they are blueprints for courage in which parallels to our own moment in history are undeniable. Mr. Monticello wrote “Café Resistance” in response to the rise of antisemitism and Holocaust denial he has seen all over the world. Inspired by true events, the play illuminates the ingenuity and bravery of little people in the fight against fascism. Its plot is a mixture of true stories told to Monticello by friends and family who survived World War II in Europe. He hopes it will inspire all who see it to stand up to hate and autocracy today.
In the play, German Armies have marched into Paris and the Occupation has begun. What should Parisians do--collaborate, capitulate, or resist any way they can? The Blue Parrot Cafe's "ladies of the evening," who "perform" in so many ways in floor shows, answer with a resounding "RESIST!" What emerges is a play of heroism, intrigue and romance with instructive themes on moral clarity in dark times, the cost of complacency and the power of solidarity and hope.
The storyline centers around Louise, a dancer who finds herself the cashier/manager of the place when its colorful, avaricious owner, Marguerite, flees to her château as WWII begins. The Blue Parrot is commandeered for the sole use of Nazi officers and and the resourceful women who work there find numerous ways to show their French patriotism. Louise, hiding her Jewish identity, is in constant danger. She has placed her son, Jacques, on a farm with a kindly couple to try and keep him safe. Her lover, a Resistance fighter code named DADA, shows up on the run from Nazi pursuers and Louise must connect him with other Resistance fighters to enable his escape. Meanwhile her dear little boy and the farmers protecting him are forced to abandon the farm. Finding her child becomes her driving reason to go on.
Roberto Monticello has made 28 films in 9 countries and has directed 56 play productions, having written 19 of them. Beside being a playwright and filmmaker, he is a dedicated humanitarian who has spent much of his adult life saving lives all over the world. In the last few years alone, he became a paramedic to serve on ambulances all through Covid and has worked with the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders to bringing food and medicine into Ukraine and Gaza. He rode one of the ambulances that drove the first released hostages out of Gaza. He has lost many colleagues and was wounded in both conflicts, enduring several operations to remove shrapnel in both legs and his back. He has been recognized with UNICEF Relief's Dag Hammarskjold Medal, Best Director at the NY International Independent Film & Video Festival for "The Stand-In" and the Film Humanitarian Award at the Queens International Film Festival for his work in Darfur, Cuba, Serbia, Rwanda and Sri Lanka. As a community activist, he is known as the Mayor of Meatpacking for his work to maintain the unique character of NYC's Meatpacking District, located in the far west area of Greenwich Village. For more info, see: https://robertomonticello.com.
The actors are Marlain Angelides, Robyn Belt, Tristan Cano, Jef Canter, Donovan Counts, Rachel Drummer, Jack Farrell, Matthew James Fitzgerald, Michael A Green, Inma Heredia, Sandra Leclercq, Zachary Harris Martin, Jon McHatton, Samantha Mileski, Susan Mitchell, Ren Ragsdale, Caitlyn Serra Rose, Francoise Traxler, Luka Zylik and Niko Zylik. Stage Manager is Rachel Drummer. Musical Director is Peter Dizozza. Choreographer is Taryn Lynch. Fight choreographer is Jiggers Turner Set design is by Lytza Colon. Lighting designer is Marsh Shugart. Sound design and video projections are by Roy Chang. Onstage accompaniment is by Tristian Cano (as Casimir, the club's pianist).
Lissa Moira, director, is a playwright, screenwriter, director, artist and poet. She is two-time Jerome Foundation grantee and an OOBR Award-winning actress. She co-wrote the feature film “Dead Canaries” (2003) starring Charles Durning and Dan Lauria. She directed "Siren's Heart, Norma Jean and Marilyn in Purgatory," a play she co-wrote with Walt Stepp, which enjoyed a seven-week run at TNC in 2011 and then played 14 months Off-Broadway at the Actors Temple starring Louisa Bradshaw. The following year, she directed "Skybox" by Walt Stepp at TNC. Her direction of "Cocaine Dreams" at the Kraine was described by the NY Post (Chip Deffaa) as "inspired." More recently, she has directed a succession of musicals at TNC: "Who Murdered Love?" a sold-out, critically-praised Dadaist musical comedy that she wrote with Richard West; "Bliss Street," an Indie Rock musical set in New York's decade of punk, glam and glitter rock; "The Boy Who Listened To Paintings,” based on the memoir by visual artist/poet Dean Kostos. and "Woman on a Ledge," about harpist Rita Costanzi. On March 10, she received an Acker Award, which is presented to NYC residents who have made unique and under-recognized cultural contributions to their communities. Ms. Moira writes, "I wish to thank Crystal Field for her unwavering support and her abiding faith in me as a writer and director, and for maintaining TNC as a haven for artistic freedom."
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Critics are invited on or after April 11. Opens April 11.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jhkxWvftJMBfmdTX7