Domnica Rădulescu's World Premiere of the Iconoclastic ”The Town with Very Nice People”

We are thrilled to present on our studio stage the world premiere of "The Town with Very Nice People", a hilarious, unforgiving exposé of middle-class hypocrisy, written by acclaimed Romanian-American playwright, author and academic, Domnica Rădulescu.

The workshop production, directed by award-winning director Ana Mărgineanu and starring volcanic Tjaša Ferme in the leading role, takes an iconoclastic look at militant feminism, immigration in America and romantic relationships against the backdrop of quasi-closed academic communities, inviting the audience to follow the main character, the rebellious Roxana, in her journey through different places, all resembling a perfect town, a perfect house and a perfect society, where in fact no real person can actually fit.

Funding for the workshop production is also provided by Washington and Lee University.

Due to the immersive nature of the production, the seats are limited to 40 per performance. 

THE TOWN WITH VERY NICE PEOPLE

October 19 & 20, 7 PM

Romanian Cultural Institute New York, 200 East 38th Street 

Written by: Domnica Rădulescu

Director: Ana Mărgineanu

Performers: Tjaša Ferme, Arianne Banda, Juan Cardenas, Allison Fletcher, Sam Hoffman

Music Composer: Yoonmi Lee

Music Director: Ok Kyun Kang

Stage Producer: Rachel Tamarin

Stage Management: Samantha Knox

Lighting Design: John Silberger

Running time: 90 minutes

Language: English

Domnica Rădulescu is a Romanian born American writer and Distinguished Service Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Washington and Lee University. She is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, Train to Trieste (Knopf, 2008 & 2009), Black Sea Twilight (Transworld, 2011 & 2012) and Country of Red Azaleas (Hachette, 2016), and of award-winning plays. Train to Trieste has been published in thirteen languages and is the winner of the 2009 Library of Virginia Fiction Award. Domnica Rădulescu also published fourteen non-fiction books, edited and co-edited collections on topics ranging from the tragic heroine in Western literature to feminist comedy, to studies of exile literature and three collections of original plays. Her play "The Town with Very Nice People" was a runner up for the 2013 Jane Chambers Playwriting Award and the production of her play "Exile is my Home" in 2016 at The Theater for the New City was nominated for the New York Innovative Theater Award and received the HOLA Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast. She is the recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Faculty Award from the Council of Higher Education for Virginia and has been twice a Fulbright scholar. Her recent memoir Dream in a Suitcase (Austin Macauley 2022) received a Honorable Mention from The New York Book Festival. She is the founding director of the National Symposium of Theater in Academe.

Ana Mărgineau is a theater director who works both nationally and internationally. She graduated from The National University of Theater and Film of Bucharest, Romania. She is the co-founder of PopUp Theatrics, a partnership creating immersive theatrical events around the world and in collaboration with international theater artists. She is a past resident of Women's Project Theater, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center and an alumnus of The Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Ana Mărgineanu’s work has been presented and/or developed at the 3LD Art & Technology Center,  Working Theater, Urban Stages, NYTW, The Lark, Ensemble Studio Theater, The Secret Theatre and in numerous theaters and festivals in Europe, most notably: New Plays from Europe Wiesbaden, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, National Theater Festival Bucharest, Sibiu International Theater Festival. Called "one of the reigning queens of New York's highly intimate, one-shot-only, conceptual-based theater" by the NYC critic Randy Gener, Ana Mărgineanu is known for close cooperation with the local communities who are audiences for her work, highly metaphoric visual style, and ability to draw raw, visceral performances from her actors.

Tjaša Ferme is the Founder and Artistic Director of Transforma Theatre Inc., dedicated to creating interactive theater experiences at the nexus of science, consciousness and ritual. She is the creator of The Female Role Model Project blending interactive theater with neuroscience produced on Off-Broadway at the premier Art and Tech Center 3-Legged Dog, in New York in November 2018. They were also featured at the Ammerman Biennial of Arts and Technology 2018. She is the creator of a short film Ophelia’s Flip (Cannes Film Festival, 2012), a farce hit, "Cocktales-Confessions of a Nymphomaniac" (The Cell, Abingdon Theatre, Art Basel Miami), an interactive solo show, "Wild Child in the City", and a new play, "My Marlene. Wild Child In The City", which premiered in NYC (TheaterLab), filled houses on European Tours and received an Audience Choice Award at 46th TSD-Week of Slovenian Drama. "Wild Child" won a grant from Trust for Mutual Understanding for a tour at ITI-UNESCO MonoAkt festival in Kosovo, winning a Special Jury Prize, and "Northern Meetings" in Siberia. Tjaša Ferme is a Slovenian National Film Award and Stane Sever classical stage award recipient.