Yesterday, Sunday, Nov. 7, several articles appeared in the New York Times Arts and Leisure section. One was by Ben Brantley on the decline of Broadway and the rise of Off-Broadway. Another article I found interesting was by Scott Vogel about how Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows are exloring the Internet for publicity purposes.

About a year or so ago I was talking to Eli Wallach who was starring in Visiting Mr. Green at the time and it dawned on me that this great Broadway star was in a show Off-Broadway and not on Broadway. Indeed, Broadway is changing. While the Great White Way is becoming the land of theme-park musicals it's Off Broadway that commands our attention for new and interesting plays and musicals.

This week the Miranda Theatre Company begins its 10th Anniversary season with Landlocked, a new comedy by Cusi Cram. Jim Gaylord directs this off beat comedy with performances beginning November 11th.

Landlocked, is a comedy with an absurdist twist. It traces the manic romance of Anna (Helen Wassell), a Swiss-German collage artist, and Pierre-Luigi (Matt Servitto), a Bolivian restaurant manager as they travel through Switzerland, Italy, and finally Greece to find one another. A dentist (Peter Hirsch), a sculptress (Kate Mailer), an underwater archaelogist (Amy Wilson) and an ex-garbage man from Rhode Island (Michael Port) both aid and hinder their journey. In the course of this wild ride the play examines themes of identity, inspiration, longing and, perhaps most importantly, how people contend with and understand what they've lost - in order to find what they actually have.

Cusi Cram returns to the Miranda Theatre where she previously had her sketch revues The Sister Collage and The Sister Collage Returns (co-written and performed with sister Kate Mailer) presented as part of the late-night Moonshine series. Her play My Whole Family Dates Criminals which she co-authored with Maria Mileaf was presented at The Willimastown Theatre Festival and her Euripidames was produced in conjunction with the Women's Project at HERE as part of Watch Space: A New Georges Anthology. Landlocked received its world premiere at South Coast Rep and was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Jim Gaylord was a member of the directing corps at Williamstown Theatre Festival for two seasons. In 1996 he won the prestigious Boris Sagal Directing Fellowship at the Festival. In New York, he has directed The Sisters Collage, Tiny, What She Wrote and Poor Sport. Last season Jim assisted playwright Terrance McNally on his new play Corpus Christi.

Miranda Theatre Company, now in its 10th season, continues to present new work that invokes and inspires hope in the midst of challenging times with the focus of this work dealing with issues of gender, race, injustice and compassion. In addition to the Mainstage productions at Miranda, there are also the Moonshine Series workshops and an annual Winter Reading series.

The complete performance schedule for Landlocked will be Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 3:00 PM, November 11 through December 5. Tickets are $15.00. (TDF vouchers will be accepted.) Box Office for reservations is (212) 268-9829.

See an Off-Broadway show...just for the fun of it! ;)

See you Wednesday!

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