Out of the Box Theatre Company Opens 2024-25 Season with Birds of a Feather

Out of the Box Theatre Company (OotB) opens its 2024-25 season with an Actors’ Equity Association–approved showcase production called Birds of a Feather, composed of two one-act plays: Trifles by Susan Glaspell and the world premiere of The Greenhouse by Robert Karmon, November 6–10, 2024. The live, in-person performances will take place at the Bernie Wohl Center, 647 Columbus Avenue (between 91st and 92nd Streets), New York, N.Y. Tickets are $30 and $25 (seniors and students) and can be purchased at TinyUrl.com/ootbBirds.

Birds of a Feather will be performed six times only:

Wednesday, November 6 at 7:30pm

Thursday, November 7 at 7:30pm

Friday, November 8 at 7:30pm

Saturday, November 9 at 3pm and 7:30pm

Sunday, November 10 at 3pm

“Birds of a Feather is a program of two one-act plays written 100 years apart yet strikingly unified in theme,” said David Edwards, artistic director of Out of the Box Theatre and director of the production. “This program continues Out of the Box Theatre’s continuing dedication to classic plays combined with an experimental venture into a world premiere work.”

Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, is a revered early feminist play telling its story with mystery and suspense, while The Greenhouse is a brand-new play by award-winning playwright Robert Karmon, using surreal and comic elements, both depicting difficult issues between men and women.

Trifles begins as the county attorney, the sheriff, Mr. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale enter the Wrights' empty farm house. On prompting from the county attorney, Mr. Hale recounts his visit to the house the previous day, when he found Mrs. Wright behaving strangely and found her husband upstairs with a rope around his neck, dead. Mr. Hale notes that, when he questioned her, Mrs. Wright claimed that she was fast asleep when someone strangled her husband. Often hailed as one of the quintessential feminist plays, Trifles earned Glaspell a Pulitzer Prize and renewed literary recognition.

The Greenhouse by Robert Karmon is receiving its world premiere in this production. It is a surreal, dark comedy about two strangers who meet on a (perhaps) blind date in a restaurant, and the power struggle that ensues.

Each performance will be followed by a talk-back with the director, playwright Robert Karmon, and other artists.

The cast includes Cameron Bowen, Tish Brandt,* Jeff Burchfield,* Steve Quimby,* and Kim Yancey.*

The production is directed by David Edwards and co-produced by Halina Malinowski and Susan Case, with scenic design by Harlan Penn, costume design by Katherine Roberson, lighting design by Stephen Cornelius, and sound design by Zack Dornfeld. Stefania Diana Schramm is the stage manager.

The mission of Out of the Box Theatre Company, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, is to feature working professionals at their peak and in their prime: seasoned actors, directors and designers primarily past 50 years of age, and to present new interpretations of period plays and contemporary classics: works written in the last century and earlier. Out of the Box also distributes free tickets to senior citizen organizations.

Birds of a Feather is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Birds of a Feather is also supported by a grant from Masterwork Foundation.

More information about the company, including previous and future productions, can be found at OutOfTheBoxTheatre.com.

^David Edwards is a member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the theatrical union that unites, empowers, and protects professional Stage Directors and Choreographers throughout the United States.

*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.