Seven.11 Convenience Theatre series
After playing to standing room only crowds for five years, Desipina & Company’s Seven.11 Convenience Theatre (2008) is back for its sixth year. This irreverent and provocative series features seven 11-minute plays written by New York City’s most exciting up-and-coming South Asian and Asian Pacific American playwrights. All set in an American convenience store, these pieces entertain while they redefine existing stereotypes of the immigrant store employees while also exploring the diversity of South Asian and Asian Pacific American cultural experiences. Opens June 6, 2008. Previews June 4 & 5, 2008.
Desipina & Company (Desipina) is known for its ground-breaking work in bringing together diverse stories to one stage. Past Seven.11’s have been hailed as “a grand celebration of storytelling, immigrant experiences, and cross-cultural pollination. What we have to learn from one another is just boundless; Desipina & Co. is doing a worthy thing tearing down some of the boundaries that exist between us and letting us laugh and cry together in the dark.” (NYTheatre.com) In past years, Seven.11 plays were nominated and have won the New York Innovative Theatre Awards for Best Original Short Play.
Utilizing the same inventive format with new writers and new stories, this year’s production boasts stories that feature: a personified Slurpee® machine and a small-town girl dreaming of moving to the big city of Cincinnati, a convenience store owner and two of NYPD’s finest who give advice to a love-struck loser, a sister and her run-away brother dealing with their parents’ disappointment, a back room confessional Guru who yearns for his ex, a duo who host the hit reality show “Convenience Store Makeover,” a tribute to the working men, and an underage college student on a quest for his elixir of love – “alcohol.
The seven plays for this year’s production are:
99 Problems by Vishakan Jeyakumar
A Minor Inconvenience Book by Rehana Mirza, Lyrics by Matt Schatz, Music by Naomi Lee
One Dollar Box by Eugene Oh
Scenery by Jon Kern
Selfish by Deen
Soul Saving Sundays by Uday Jhunjhunwala
What Not to Sell by Naveen Bahar Choudhury
Performances of Seven.11 Convenience Theatre run June 4 – “ June 22 (Previews: June 4 & 5; Opening Night June 6) at the Richmond Shepard Theatre (309 East 26th Street, New York, NY). Performances run Wednesday thru Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm, with an additional performance on Tuesday, June 17 at 8pm. All tickets are $18.00. Tickets may be purchased at 212-352-3101, at www.desipina.org or www.desiclub.com.