HISTORY
Lightning Strikes was founded in the spring of 1990 by three actors
in a Hell's Kitchen studio apartment. Twelve years later, Lightning
Strikes has become one of the most powerful and evocative theatre
companys in New York City and has recently begun to achieve national
exposure both on stage and screen.
The company's first season was an ambitious one – Lanford
Wilson, Christopher Durang, and Mark Medoff's works were on the
menu. The company quickly grew in size to more than a dozen actors
and the seasons to follow began to concentrate on New York premiere's
of plays by Woody Allen, Arthur Kopit, Tom Stoppard, Vaclav Havel,
and Alan Ayckbourne. All respected writers whose work was not always
commercially suited for the million dollar budget requirements of
the Broadway stage.
In 1996 we won the coveted OOBR (Off-Off Broadway Review) award
for the first New York remounting of Stephen Dietz's "God's
Country". Taking us into the dark heart of the white supremacist
movement in America, the play recounts the true story of the rise
and fall of the neo-Nazi group "The Order". We reinforced
their chilling story with a gallery full of graphics and propaganda
still published today on the Internet. Reviewers reactions ranged
from "makes an indelible impression on anyone" to "the
ensemble who produced this work do the nation a service by painting
a truer picture of the lunatic fringe than audiences are used to
seeing -- or care to look at...."
In 1998 Lightning Strikes won yet another OOBR award for the first
New York remounting of Timberlake Wertenbaker's "Our Country's
Good". It was described by reviewers as: "infused with
poignancy, lyricism, and robust humor," "some of the most
compelling theater and exceptionally high production standards to
be seen," "a total ensemble which takes on a life of it's
own in this vibrant production," and "an artistic tour-de-force."
This production allowed Lightning Strikes to move to yet another
level -–- with the sold-out hit of the 3rd annual New York
International Fringe Festival. Lightning Strikes is thrilled to
have produced the New York premiere of "Crazyface" by
internationally acclaimed writer Clive Barker. Reviewers raved about
Lightning Strikes as "...ridiculously talented...you can't
believe that only 13 actors made so many characters come to life"
and "...this production of Crazyface proves Lightning Strikes
Theatre Company is a force to be reckoned with." And of the
production "...it was completely successful as an evening of
exquisitely wrought theatre...."
The hardest challenge Lightning Strikes faces as a company is to
constantly outdo ourselves. The summer of 2000 marked another milestone
when the company, in alliance with Playboy Enterprises, produced
"The Playboy Stories: Forty-Five Years of Fiction in the Flesh".
This unprecedented evening involved a series of adaptations from
the anthology "The Playboy Stories: The Best of Forty Years
of Short Fiction." In a mass collaboration of art and artists,
LIGHTNING STRIKES presented Jack Kerouac's "Good Blonde,"
Jay McInerney's "How It Ended," Roald Dahl's "A Fine
Son," T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Modern Love," and Richard
Matheson's "Flourish of Strumpets" for the first time
ever on any stage.
Also in the Summer of 2000, we celebrated 10 years as an company
in New York City with the help of Mr. Christopher Durang. Our first
production, "Baby with the Bathwater", launched us on
our decade-long adventure. Through a special arrangement with the
author, Lightning Strikes produced a collection of Mr. Durang's
one-acts, some never before put in front of a live audience. We
were rewarded with "...one of the best ensembles to enliven
a New York stage in recent seasons." (Adrienne Onofri -- oobr)
In 2001 we found ourselves performing yet another original, OOBR-Award
winning play, "In the Parlance", by our own Richard Harland
Smith. We returned to the NYC Fringe Festival with a run of Lightning
Strikes' funny woman, Barbara Herel's "A 95% Chance They'll
Wind Up Like Larvae" and left audiences screaming for more.
And, in the fall of 2001, we discovered that we could bring laughter
and aid to our city in her darkest hour by holding Two Night's of
Comedy with all proceeds going directly to the Uniformed Firefighter's
Association (U.F.A.) Widows and Children's Fund.
April 2002 brought our first annual (and HUGELY entertaining) "Lightning
Ball" benefit as well as the long-anticipated, and smashingly
successful comedy, "Single Bullet Theory" ,by our own
Mike Bencivenga , to the stage for it's world-premiere. If you missed
it, don't worry, we have a feeling it'll be back in a much bigger
venue- wait and see! And here we are toward the end of the year,
with a film, 13TH CHILD, starring Cliff Robertson and Robert Guillaume
as well as a gaggle of Lightning Strikers out in movie houses. We
eagerly await the release of Mike Bencivenga's film, HAPPY HOUR,
starring Anthony LaPaglia and Eric Stoltz and a few of us - of course!
The screamingly funny short films , JOKESdotCOM, are being shot
and produced as we speak with our fab new Board of Director member,
Joseph Moran at the helm. Shows...well we've got 3 in the works...
Stick around. There's a lot of action- on both stage and screen-
coming your way. Lightning Strikes knows that we'd be nowhere without
you, our loyal and supportive fans. So, thank you!
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