[Capdist-announce] Area Premier of Pacino Favorite, "Chinese Coffee", April 17-26

[Charles Treadwell]

For Immediate Release: 3/17/08
Contact: Ed McMullen
(518) 522-7273
 
Area premier of Pacino favorite, Chinese Coffee
D & M Productions will present the Capital Region premier of Ira Lewis’ Chinese Coffee at ZuZu's Wonderful Life Café on April 17,18,19, 24, 25 and 26. 
 

Chinese Coffee is one of Al Pacino’s favorite plays. He has performed this two-character piece a number of times in different stage productions since the early 1990s. In 2000, he made a film of the play that co-starred the late Jerry Orbach. This film is part of Pacino’s four-disk DVD collection called Pacino: An Actor’s Vision, released in 2007. 
 

Founded by veteran actor Ed McMullen, D&M Productions is a small, migratory theater company committed to bringing easy-to-stage, actor-driven pieces to the Capital Region. The company focuses on plays that have not been done previously in this area.
 

Since the 1990s, D&M has presented area premiers of Faith Healer and Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel, Wrecks by Neil LaBute, and a world premiere in New York City of Bruised Reeds, written by John Lynley, a Toronto playwright. Faith Healer was performed five times over the past 12 years at different locations, including Steamer Ten Theatre in Albany in 1998 and at Saratoga’s famed Caffe Lena in 2007.
 

Chinese Coffee centers on two long-time friends, Harry Levine (Victor Batorsky) and Jake Manheim (McMullen). Levine, a high-strung, struggling author, wants Jake’s feedback on the manuscript for his new book, which is based on the two men and their respective worlds. Jake, a down-on-his luck photographer and intellectual cynic, is something of a mentor to Harry’s literary aspirations. 
 

Initially, Jake denies he’s read it, but as the play unfolds, he admits that he has and denounces the piece as the ultimate betrayal of their friendship, forcing Harry to question everything he stands for. 
 

In the course of the play, the characters volley back and forth on a host of issues before the final conflict is denuded: Harry’s right to succeed versus Jake’s sense of being used to further Harry’s quest. Playwright Ira Lewis’ writing flows forth like a dynamic cross between Woody Allen and David Mamet at their best.
 

McMullen has also directed productions of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Faith Healer. In his 22-year involvement in theater, he has performed with Schenectady and Albany Civic, Curtain Call, Columbia Civic, Theatre Voices, RPI Players, Masque Theater, and several others. Favorite roles are: Frank Hardy (Faith Healer); Ed Carr (Wrecks); Thomas Becket (Murder in the Cathedral); Valmont (Les Liasions Dangereuses); and Roy Cohn (Angels in America, Parts One and Two). Moreover, McMullen has taught acting for adults for the past four years in various Continuing Education programs. 
 

Batorsky, a director and actor for over 27 years, has worked with McMullen twice before. He directed him in American Buffalo for the Classic Theater Guild in 2006 and last summer the two co-starred at Caffe Lena in The Quarrel, about two Holocaust survivors who meet unexpectedly in Montreal after the war to confront and resolve a long festering schism that tore their friendship asunder 20 years ago. Batorsky has worked with many theater companies, including Capitol Repertory, Russell Sage, The Glove Theater, and Steamer Ten. Most recently, he played Prospero in Schenectady Civic’s The Tempest, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Classic Theater Guild, and Henry II in The Lion in Winter for The Spotlight Players. He also directed Macbeth for The RPI Players. In addition to his on-stage work, Batorsky is a poet and playwright. 
 

ZuZu’s Wonderful Life Caffe is located at 299-301 Hamilton Street in Albany. Performance times are April 17, 18, 24 and 25 at 8 pm. April 19 and 26 at 3 pm. Admission is $15. For additional information, call (518) 522-7273.

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