The Female Terrorist Project * Cleansed * I 
KANT * Nibbler * The Absence of Weather * Sense of an Ending * The Jesus Side * Or Polaroids * The Antioch Rules
The Female Terrorist Project
By Ken Urban
The hardest question a person can be asked is, What do you want?
In an America where bombings and kidnappings are daily occurrences and civil liberties a thing of the past, Amelia documents the lives of famous female terrorists, from a homegrown anti-abortion assassin to a Palestinian hijacker. After a visit by an agent from the Office of Homeland Security, Amelia finds herself drawn into a world more frightening than she could possibly have imagined.
The script is published in New York Theatre Review and you can purchase it at Amazon.com
Reading:
The Clurman, Theatre Row, NYC
August 29, 2005
Directed by Adam Fitzgerald
With Kelli Fox, Luz Lor, Kelly McAndrew, Lori Prince, Najla Said, Richard Toth and Alison Weller. Stage Directions: Simotra Houston
Co-presented with kef productions
Production:
The Chocolate Factory, 5-49 49th Avenue, Long Island City, NY
October – November 2004
Directed by Laramie Dennis
With Alison Weller, Travis York, Mariana Newhard, Zina Camblin, Lael Logan, Nicole Godino, David Andrew McMahon, Molly Powell and Kate Benson
Lighting: Beth Turomsha
Set: David Newell
Costumes: Maggie Dick
Sound: David Bucci and Ken Urban
Stage Manager: Jenny Lazar
“[Director Laramie] Dennis is aided by a strong cast.” – David Cote, Time Out
“Urban's The Female Terrorist Project is a substantial achievement.” – Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
“This is one of the best discussions of gender dynamics I have seen, presently clearly, thoughtfully, and with humanity. To anyone concerned with the state of the world, I highly recommend a night at the Project.” – Marlon Hurt, offoffonline.com
Workshops:
American Living Room and Imagine Festival, HERE Arts Center, 145 6th Avenue, NYC
August 27 and 28, 2004
Directed by Lear deBessonet
With Ani Bluhm, Gillian Chadsey, Maha Chehlaoui, Carrie Keranen, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper and Nate Schenkkan
Lighting: Beth Turomsha
Sound: Mark Huang
Stage Manager: Jenny Lazar
Co-production with Stillpoint Productions
whyWish Studios in DUMBO, 33 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY
January 26, 2004
Created by Ken Urban and Lear deBessonet
With Kate Benson, Gillian Chadsey, Maha Chehlaoui, Danyon Davis, Kristen Gass and Nate Schenkkan
Cleansed
By Sarah Kane
I love you now. I'm with you now. I'll do my best, moment to moment, not to betray you. Now. That's it. No more. Don't make me lie to you.
In a university for society's undesirables, a group of inmates try to save themselves through love.
Workshop:
Ohio Theatre, 66 Wooster Street, NYC
February 2004
Directed and Designed by Ken Urban
With Pun Bandhu, Scott Blumenthal, Kelly Hutchinson, Carrie Keranen, Trey Lyford, Richard Toth and Victor Villar-Hauser
Stage Manager: Jenny Lazar
Co-production with Soho Think Tank
I just realized I'm suspicious of happiness. I'm afraid of happiness.
Four women who call the Garden State home are lost, stifled by sex, drugs, dead-end jobs and unfinished dissertations. In a play that weaves together four stories, and features a talking stuffed cat and the ideas of philosopher Immanuel Kant, the women search for happiness and instead stumble upon the sublime.
Production:
The Linhart Theater, 440 Lafayette, NYC
Directed by Dylan McCullough
September – October 2006
With Kate Benson, Steven Boyer, Kate Downing, Edelen McWilliams and Frances Mercanti-Anthony
Lighting: Thom Weaver
Set: Lee Savage
Costumes: Emily Rebholz
Sound: Elizabeth Rhodes
Stage Manager: Alexandra Cohen-Spiegler
Assistant Stage Manager: Jason Weixelman
“KANT is a nimble, knowing one-act with an admirable script.” – Anita Gates, The New York Times
“Four stars for KANT! Ken Urban and Dylan McCullough are a smart match.” -- Kerri Allen, Time Out
“KANT is a splendidly adroit play. The result is surprisingly meaningful.” -- Sam Thielman, Backstage
“An exemplary production. Credit a strong cast, excellent production values, and a simpatico director who lets this funny and scary piece speak for itself on the stage.” – Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
Reading:
The Greenwich Street Theatre, 547 Greenwich Street, NYC
April 5, 2004
Directed by Laramie Dennis
With Kate Benson, Colleen Werthmann, Susan Louise O'Connor, Maria Striar and Travis York
I believe believing is a waste of fucking time.
In the summer of 1992, a few months before Clinton's election, a group of South Jersey teenagers come to terms with their sexuality, face adulthood, and have their lives changed by a mysterious visitor. A dark comedy about that moment in one's youth when everything and nothing seems possible.
Reading:
The Flea, 41 White Street, NYC
February 9, 2003
Directed by Blake Lawrence
With Scott Ebersold, Ani Bluhm, Jeffrey Landman and others
The Absence of Weather
By Ken Urban
This is a Crusade, There is still an Us and a Them, A Right and a Wrong, A Good and an Evil, There must be, Or else it's all been for naught.
James Forrestal, President Truman's Secretary of Defense, is committed to an institution after he attempts suicide. The architect of cold-war hysteria now fears that Russians have not only infiltrated the highest ranks of the U.S. government, but are hiding in the bushes outside his home. A young man joins Forrestal in his hospital room, but this mysterious figure may bring about an untimely end for the first Secretary of Defense.
Winner of the 2004 Moving Arts Playwright Award
Reading:
Soho Think Tank R&D Space, 64 Wooster Street, NYC
April 19, 2004
With Richard Toth, Scott Blumenthal, Alfredo Narciso, Kate Benson, Andrew Breving and Ruth Darcy
Sense of an Ending
By Ken Urban
I'm the kind of asshole who goes around asking, Why do good things happen to bad people?
An American journalist travels to Rwanda to interview two nuns who stand accused of crimes against humanity for their part in the 1994 genocide. Before decisions of innocence and guilt can be decided, Charles must learn what the Tutsi survivors know.
First begun as part of the 2002-2003 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab
Reading:
Epiphany Theatre, 154 Christopher Street, NYC
November 10, 2003
Directed by Linsay Firman
With Travis York, Okwui Okpokwasili, April Matthis, Ato Essandoh, Julian Rozzell Jr., Jeffrey Nauman, Charlotte Colavin, Matthew Hammond and Kelly Miller
You've been a naughty boy and you will be punished.
Haunted by memories of molestation, Alexander is encouraged by his therapist Mary to seek out the perpetrator. More than a bad touch bubbles to the surface when son confronts would-be father Frank. A twisted comedy about love and mass murder.
Production:
Stage '03 Festival, Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal Street, NYC
May 2003
Directed and Designed by Ken Urban
With Ani Bluhm, Ryan Rumage and Matthew Hammond
Music: Xiu Xiu
Assistant Director: Karen Forgione
Stage Manager: Suzette Porte
Or Polaroids (Version 2.1)
By Ken Urban
See, the picture tells the story. Not really the story, a story. It can tell lots of stories, really.
Haunted by political executions, performance art and porno, a group of insomniacs discover that justice and sleep come only at a price. A meditation on violence for five or more speakers inspired by first-hand accounts of the Rwandan genocide as well as cases of insomnia following the World Trade Center disaster.
Production:
HERE Arts Center, 145 6th Avenue, NYC
November 2002
Directed by Ken Urban
With Ani Bluhm, Andrew Breving, Kristin Stewart Chase, Maggie Cino and Travis York
Visuals: Sarah Conaway
Music: Xiu Xiu
Lighting: Daniel Ordower and Anne McMills
Sound: Ken Urban
Stage Manager: Karen Forgione
“Prepare to be confused, disturbed and unsettled. Polaroids is an important milestone in Urban's development as a playwright.” – Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
The Antioch Rules
By Peter Morris
At a college in Vermont, the student body performs a social experiment that takes equality to a new extreme.
Workshop:
The Chocolate Factory, 5-49 49th Avenue, Long Island City, NY
November 2004
Directed by Jonathan Spector
With Bard Goodrich, April Matthis and Josephine Feagley
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