THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY'S DREAM UP FESTIVAL PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF "LET IT COME DOWN," A DRAMA BY EVE LEDERMAN WHERE AND
WHEN: NEW YORK, July 14 -- "Let it Come Down" is a unique hybrid story inspired by deposition transcripts from a malpractice lawsuit. The play portrays the relationship between therapist and patient as a seductive love more powerful and volatile than any romance and unmasks a doctor who attempts to destroy her patient in order to save herself. The play is written by Eve Lederman and directed by Katherine M. Carter, with its world premiere taking place at Theater for the New City's 2015 Dream Up Festival September 8 to 16. Rachel is a vivacious yet distraught young woman exploring her family secrets and fears about children with her maternal therapist Marilyn. But when Marilyn faces questions in a lawsuit for abruptly terminating Rachel’s treatment, she paints her as violent. Is Rachel dangerous as her therapist claims? Or is the doctor hiding her own emotional and ethical violations? The scenes alternate between the doctor’s office and the deposition room, toying with the timeline and challenging the audience to uncover the truth: Marilyn testifies to one version of events and then the clock turns back to the doctor’s office where the facts unfold. Like Mamet’s "Oleanna," the viewers’ allegiance is tugged back and forth as the protagonists’ power struggle unfolds, similarly inciting and polarizing the audience. Within this harrowing legal and psychological ordeal is a treasure trove of deposition dialogue and a complex character, both caring and conniving, to expose. This story shares a tale of betrayal that ignites a heated dialogue about the dynamics of therapy and the blurry line between obsession and love. Playwright Eve Lederman's essays have been featured in The New York Times. Her memoir, "Letters From My Sister: On Life, Love and Hair Removal," was released by Skyhorse Publishing in September 2014. The New York Times described the book as "a warm slice of life on the edge, with an edge." Lederman is also a monologist and has performed at The Players Club, The Bryant Park Reading Room and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, where she was named one of "New York's best emerging Jewish artists." Her storytelling can be heard on Audible.com and on her CD, "Going Public." Director Katherine M. Carter is founding Artistic Director of The Other Mirror and co-founding Artistic Director of The MITTEN Lab. She is a two-time director in the Directors Company's 'Adaptations for the Stage' Workshop, a 2011-2012 Playwrights Horizons Directing Resident, a Drama League Rough Draft Fellow and a current guest director at New York University's Stella Adler and Atlantic Schools. Her directing credits include "Gods & Kings," "Mirror Alchemy," "Going Away," "Madame Bovary," and "Bite the Apple" for The Other Mirror, NY; "Phaedra's Cabaret" for Flux Industries, NY; "Albert Herring" and "La Cenrentola" (for which she won Best Director) forBoston Opera Collaborative, MA; "The Learned Ladies," "Uncommon Women and Others" and "Time and the Conways" for Stella Adler, NYU; "Les Miserables" for Meadow Brook Theatre '13, MI; and "Stories on Five Stories" for Playwrights Horizons, NY. (www.KatherineMCarter.com) The cast includes Jana Robbins, Francile Albright and Kelly Jean Clair. Costume design by Caitlin Cisek, lighting design by Benjamin Weill, and sound design by Beth Lake. The sixth Dream Up Festival (www.dreamupfestival.org) will be presented by Theater for the New City (TNC) from August 30 to September 20, 2015, offering a lineup of wide-ranging and original theatrical visions embracing drama, musicals, improv, aerial and more. This year, owing to growing popularity, the festival has expanded beyond its primary venue. Previously, all productions were presented at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. This year, 19 productions will be presented at TNC and seven will be presented at an outside venue, The Producers Club Theaters at 358 West 44th Street. The festival is dedicated to new works. TNC feels this festival is especially needed now in a time of declining donations to the arts, when grants are not being awarded due to market conditions and arts funding is being cut across the country and abroad. The festival aims to push ideas to the forefront through imaginative presentations so as to challenge audience expectations and make us question our understanding of the way art illuminates the world around us.
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