Welcome to the first installment of Present Tense Propaganda, a bi-annual newsletter that keeps you up to date and informed with what's happening in and out of the Present Tense. Last year we brought you the outrageous and potent MONSTER that performed at the HERE Arts Center. This year our second production will open in the Fall or early Winter of 2005. We are just beginning our adventure that will span 18 months from conception to production and invite you to be as much a part of PTTP as you can. You can always see what we're doing by logging onto our website at http://www.pttp.net

To be or not to be that is the question!: Our question last year was "What is your Monster?" The question we are asking this time around is "What is enough?" The next step will be to unearth the myth we will use as the spine of project opening in late fall/early winter 2005.

How to contact PTTP: Email: info@pttp.net Main phone: 212 340 1819
Mailing: 583 Meeker Ave., 3L Brooklyn, NY 11222 Website: www.pttp.net

	Present Tense Propaganda	Spring 2004
Welcome to the first installment of Present Tense Propaganda, a bi-annual newsletter that keeps you up to date and informed with what's happening in and out of the Present Tense. Last year we brought you the outrageous and potent MONSTER that performed at the HERE Arts Center. This year our second production will open in the Fall or early Winter of 2005. We are just beginning our adventure that will span 18 months from conception to production and invite you to be as much a part of PTTP as you can. You can always see what we're doing by logging onto our website at http://www.pttp.net
Mission: Present Tense Theater Project is a collection of theater artists gathered to process and re-present the stories of culture, relationships, and politics which we see unfolding around us. PTTP aims to provide a safe environment in which to reflect on the current socio-political landscape by developing new and relevant works of theater that explore contradicting attitudes and perspectives. We reinforce the need for our participants to pursue independent careers and the strength that experience lends to its own process and aesthetic. Our mission is to use the collaborative ensemble model in order to push the boundaries of traditional theater and text development.
About: Present Tense Theater Project met in November of 2002 inside a small apartment in Brooklyn, NY. This collection of theatre artists gathered in order to retell the stories they saw unfolding everyday around them. As an ensemble they began to collect legends and myths, historical anecdotes, current events and personal memoirs from around the world. Over the course of the following year they assembled this collection into a thematic web that would carry a single narrative.	Who is PTTP? Ryan Baker Jodi Beznoska (Executive Producer) Liz Blocker (Grant Writing Asst) Julie Christeas Mark Cirnigliaro Rachel diCerboTim Doyle Nicole duFresne (Dir. of Dev.) Nick Jaeger Lindsay Joy Sarah Krainan Emily Lefren-Brown (Events Dir.) Charles Linshaw Amanda J. Mantovani Colleen McKnight Matthew Militello Melissa Mizell Dani Snyder Matthew Trumbull Jessica Trimble (Producing Dir) Patrick Zeller (Artistic Director)	PTTP would also like to welcome, with open arms, the following people whom we've invited to join us on our voyage beginning April 10th:Eric Gratton, Celia Madeoy, Carol Danowitcz, Chris Dolman, Chris Loftus, Teddy Coluca, Kerry Huang, Niea Knight, Wendy Abraham, Marc Weitz, Anni Bruno, Keith Lapatowski, Jamey O'Toole, Jen Davis, Kate Donnelley, Elias Christeas, Stephanie Dorian, Dave Darien, Debbie Slavias, Charles Rubie, Laura Napoli, Annie Henk, Carol Scudder-Danilowicz, Debbie Morgan, Dave Welty, Carl Colfield, Patricia Gregor
Happenings: On April 10th the first of 6 PTTP workshops commenced in Brooklyn, NY. We began to discover more about our question "What is Enough?" Then on May 15th and 16th our first out-of-city retreat is planned to take place in CT. Check out our online auction at http://www.pttp.net where you can make bids on lots of wonderful items that have been donated by wonderful people in and around New York City. The auction commenced on April 10th. Love Machine, our Valentines Fundraiser at Nevada Smiths, was a total success. We would like to thank our live musicians Leah Siegel, Jacob Jiles, Kiersten Gray, and stand up comic Drew Aronicus. The website (www.pttp.net) has been constructed and designed by Roger Brown, and we thank him so MUCH! Please take time to peruse the links and pass it on to your friends.	Welcome Cynthia Croot and Michele Travis to PTTP! Cynthia will be our daring director while Michele is our fearless dramaturg who will lead us through our next 15-month journey. More about these fine females:Cynthia Croot is a director and writer who earned her MFA in Directing from Columbia University. New York credits include work at the Guggenheim Museum, the Connelly Theatre, New York's Town Hall, Symphony Space, and the Joseph Papp Public Theatre. National and international credits include radio and theatre productions in Baltimore,MD, Chicago,IL, Johannesburg,	South Africa, and Klagenfurt, Austria. She has been a guest artist at Columbia University, The East Harlem School at Exodus House, Bucknell University, and NYU, and has taught Viewpoints at several institutions, including the El Rayo Misterioso Experimenta in Rosario, Argentina, Perseverance Theatre in Juneau Alaska, and Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Based in New York City, she is a member of the Kazbah Project and Artistic Director of Tinderbox Theatre Group. Michele Travis has directed new plays, and participated in new work development projects, at HERE, Vital Theatre, New Georges, Signature Theatre Company, Word of Mouth, and Expanded Arts, and is pleased to have worked with a number of playwrights including Jenny Lyn Bader, Anthony Clarvoe, Cory Hinkle, Seth Kramer, Robin Rice Lichtig and Rebecca Sharp. She is a Lincoln Center Directors Lab member, New Georges affiliate, and the administrative assistant at The Shubert Foundation. She has earned an MFA inDirecting from Brooklyn College and a BFA in Drama from Syracuse University.
To be or not to be that is the question!: Our question last year was "What is your Monster?" The question we are asking this time around is "What is enough?" The next step will be to unearth the myth we will use as the spine of project opening in late fall/early winter 2005.
Inside the Present Tense - The Ensemble: Here's what's happening with PTTP Ensemble members: Nick Jaeger was seen this February at theatreflective's GAWK II festival, performing with Banana, Bag & Bodice in The Young War, and with Anonymous Ensemble in The Very Best Valentine's Special. Nick will be collaborating with Anonymous Ensemble and Eamonn Farrell to create the next installment of The Best, their multimedia, rock n' roll, reality event, which will be produced by Dixon Place and the Not-for-Broadway Festival in May, with other venues to follow. Nick also works in off-Broadway theater as a scenic carpenter. Recent credits include Mabou Mines Dollhouse, Playwright's Horizon's I am My Own Wife and Small Tragedies, and work with the New York Theatre Workshop, throughout their 2003-04 season. Julie Christeas is writing a play called Domestic Order. She is also developing a group of young artists to work together in the creation of short films with original scripts. Patrick Zeller just finished filming an independent film called Walk His Trail produced by Jungle Films (Bearingfruitentertainment.com) The true story of 5 missionaries killed by a tribe in Ecuador. He also did a documentary last Fall for the American Experience series called They Made America produced by WGBH in Boston that airs October 2004. Matt Trumbull is currently at work on his first semi-autobiographical play, Graveyard Audit, about working front desk in the wee hours at a dive motel in Minnesota. Nicole duFresne's play Matter was produced by Woman Alone Theatre and directed by Liz Blocker for One Arm Red in December 2003. She is currently writing two plays, Fanatics Anonymous and The Last Animal I Killed. Also she studied acting with Karen Kolhaas at the Atlantic Theater School in early 2004, grant writing for PTTP, managing Woman Alone Theatre and MondoMono a group that meets once a month to work on monologues, cold readings and play readings (if your interested in joining email Nicole at nicole@nicoledufresne.com.) *NicoleduFresne.com* Liz Blocker will be performing as "The Bitch" in the play God In A Girl a multimedia musical featuring 10 new songs by Gina Young opening May 6th at the WOW Cage Theater. For more info go to www.godinagirl.com. Liz also directed *Matter* by Nicole duFresne for Woman Alone Theatre in December 03. Jodi Beznoska is currently at the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison getting her MA in Business (May 2004). The program is through the Bolz Center for Arts Administration. Jessica Trimble recently relocated from Los Angeles where she was working as a producer and director for Red Bansiter Theater Company. She currently works as the admissions and events coordinator for the OWN charter school in Astoria. Charles Linshaw has been busy auditioning for MFA Graduate Programs and will be attending the School of the Arts at Columbia University in the Fall. He has been working for WGBH/PBS most recently doing voiceover work for a Frontline documentary, *The Invasion of Iraq, and on-camera work for an American Experience documentary, They Made America. Lindsay Joy's play Life ,Love and a 7-11* is being produced at the Boston Theatre Marathon at the Boston Playwrights Theatre on April 18th.
How to contact PTTP: Email: info@pttp.net Main phone: 212 340 1819 Mailing: 583 Meeker Ave., 3L Brooklyn, NY 11222 Website: www.pttp.net
PTTP is a contracted artist of The Field. The Field is a not for Profit, tax-exempt, 501c(3) organization serving the New York City performing arts community. Contributions made to The Field and earmarked for the Present Tense Theater Project are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information about The Field contact: The Field, 161 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10013, (212) 691-6969, fax: (212) 255-2053, www.thefield.org, email: info@thefield.org. A copy of the The Field's latest annual report may be obtained, upon request, from The Field or from the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. To make a tax-deductible donation to PTTP, please make your check payable to The Field, write Present Tense Theater Project in the memo line, and mail to: Jodi Beznoska, Executive ProducerPresent Tense Theater Project1341 South Street, Apt. 11Madison, WI 53715 You can also make a donation on http://www.pttp.net (these donations are not tax deductible)