Rhinbecca, NY
Conceived and Directed by John Kurzynowski
After Alfred Hitchcock and Eugene Ionesco
Presented 4 — 19 March 2016 at The Brick (NYC)
At the intersection of suspense and the absurd lies Rhinbecca, NY. Population: 367. Not including the mayor. Which makes 368. You may have noticed the mayor’s house. Up on the hill. You can always point to it. You can see it from miles away. The mayor's head is a bald dome with a half skirt of white hair. He's blue collar in the community, top of the food chain. And he is missing.
Enter Don. Don is a stranger from out. He may or may not remember who he is or how he's arrived in town. And his sudden appearance may or may not be directly related to the mystery of the missing mayor. But his absurdly suspenseful quest to uncover the truth hidden beneath this theatrical facade, loosely inspired by the greatest works of playwright Eugene Ionesco and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, may very well leave him irreversibly transformed.
Created and Produced by Theater Reconstruction Ensemble
Additional Text by Alexander Kveton
Performers: Harlan Alford, Nathaniel Basch-Gould, Sam Corbin, Emily Marro, Anastasia Olowin, Jon Riddleberger, Lauren Swan-Potras
Designers: Adrianna Brannon, Jonathan Cottle, Alex Hawthorn, Marika Kent, Joseph Wolfslau
Producer: Reed Whitney
Photos: Suzi Sadler
Videos: ZANNI Productions
“The windmills of logic turned on all levels, from juxtaposing styles of speech, to varying tempo and patterns of movement, to upending notions of linear narrative. Director John Kurynowski, who also conceived the show, wrote in his program note that he wanted ‘to create a show that could walk the very fine line between suspense and the absurd.’ In a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it kind of way, Rhinbecca, NY is a magnificent tightrope walk between the two.”
New York Theatre Review
Enter Don. Don is a stranger from out. He may or may not remember who he is or how he's arrived in town. And his sudden appearance may or may not be directly related to the mystery of the missing mayor. But his absurdly suspenseful quest to uncover the truth hidden beneath this theatrical facade, loosely inspired by the greatest works of playwright Eugene Ionesco and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, may very well leave him irreversibly transformed.
Created and Produced by Theater Reconstruction Ensemble
Additional Text by Alexander Kveton
Performers: Harlan Alford, Nathaniel Basch-Gould, Sam Corbin, Emily Marro, Anastasia Olowin, Jon Riddleberger, Lauren Swan-Potras
Designers: Adrianna Brannon, Jonathan Cottle, Alex Hawthorn, Marika Kent, Joseph Wolfslau
Producer: Reed Whitney
Photos: Suzi Sadler
Videos: ZANNI Productions
“The windmills of logic turned on all levels, from juxtaposing styles of speech, to varying tempo and patterns of movement, to upending notions of linear narrative. Director John Kurynowski, who also conceived the show, wrote in his program note that he wanted ‘to create a show that could walk the very fine line between suspense and the absurd.’ In a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it kind of way, Rhinbecca, NY is a magnificent tightrope walk between the two.”
Culturebot
“Rhinbecca, NY is a play deeply concerned with terror and fear, and how human beings manifest terror and fear. The world Don stumbles into is full of existential dread. The more the people smile, the worse it gets. Every dance break (there are a few) is fun but also pulsates with some sort of primal violence. Or maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s all in our heads. Rhinbecca, NY is too shrewd to make that decision for us.”New York Theatre Review