Mar. 9-25: Nick Choksi in CollaborationTown’s The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos by Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell at the New Ohio Theatre

Nick Choksi

CollaborationTown (The Play About My Dad, The Momentum) presents the World Premiere of THE DEEPEST PLAY EVER: THE CATHARSIS OF PATHOS by Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell with music by Michael Wells. Directed by Lee Sunday Evans and Jordan Seavey, previews begin March 9 at the New Ohio Theatre. An acclaimed 2006 production of this Brecht satire won an Outstanding Playwrighting Award at FringeNYC; this newly revised, reworked production is slated for opening on Wednesday, March 14.

Before Mother Courage there was Mother LaMadre. In THE DEEPEST PLAY EVER, an unrivaled masterpiece of modern dramatic writing, our antiheroine Mother LaMadre and her rag-tag crew drag their wagon through the Fifth World War and the post-post-apocalyptic wasteland that is New Europe. Together they must navigate all the pitfalls (and rewards) of the dramatic art of drama to find the few remaining books the art-abolishing Evil Empire have yet to destroy and maybe, just maybe, find a way to replace violence with art. If the zombies don’t eat them first, that is.

The production stars Jordan Barbour, Carly Cioffi, Nick Choksi, John Halbach, Boo Killebrew, Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell, Chinasa Ogbuagu, Phillip Taratula, Emily Walton and TJ Witham. The creative team includes set and props by Deb O, costumes by Nikki Moody, lighting by Nick Houfek, sound by Brandon Wolcott and Daniel Kluger, music direction by Michael Wells, associate music direction by Nicholas Williams, stage management by Kaitlin Nemeth, and assistant stage management by Shelby Hibbs.

Nick Choksi’s New York work has included: Invasion (The Flea), Triple Trouble with Love (59E59), Practice (Atlantic), Huck and Holden (Cherry Lane), Twelfth Night (Sonnet Rep); Regional includes: Love’s Labor’s Lost(RSC & Shakespeare Theater DC), Mouse Cop (Chicago’s Noble Fool),Imaginary Theater Company (St. Louis Rep); TV/FILM: “The Electric Company” (PBS), “L&O: CI” (NBC), “Sopranos” (HBO), “Royal Pain” (CW), the upcoming film Violet & Daisy (dir. Geoffrey Fletcher), and as Vimal Patel on “One Life To Live” (ABC). He is a graduate of the Juilliard Masters Drama Division.

Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell received his BFA from Boston University’s School of Theatre Arts in 2003, and has also studied playwriting with Charles Mee. Geoffrey received a Fringe Excellence Award for Outstanding Playwriting for THE DEEPEST PLAY EVER. He has performed in many CTowns shows and collaborated on the writing/creation of many as well, including: The Momentum (2012 GLAAD Media Award nominee, Fringe 2010 Excellence Award for Outstanding Production), Let’s Go,Townville, The Astronomer’s Triangle and The Trading Floor.

CollaborationTown is a non-profit theatre company dedicated to creating ensemble-driven pieces. Past productions include The Play About My Dad(59E59), The Momentum (Outstanding Production at FringeNYC 2010, GLAAD Media Award nominee); Children at Play (two 2010 NYIT Award nominations, The Living Theatre), Let’s Go, Townville (La MaMa E.T.C.), 6969 (59E59 Theaters; winner of three Innovative Theatre Awards),They’re Just Like Us (nominated for four 2006 NYIT Awards), The Astronomer’s Triangle (nominated for four 2005 NYIT Awards), The Trading Floor, and This is a Newspaper (FringeNYC 2003 Award Winner).

THE DEEPEST PLAY EVER: THE CATHARSIS OF PATHOS runs March 9 – 25, Monday & Wednesday – Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 7pm & 10pm. The New Ohio Theatre is located at 154 Christopher Street — accessible from the 1 train to Christopher Street or the A, C, E, B, D, F, or M trains at West 4th Street. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased by calling Smarttix at 212 868 4444 or online at www.smarttix.com. For more information visit www.sohothinktank.org or www.collaborationtown.org.

Christine Lin, Debargo Sanyal, C.J. Wilson and Nick Choksi at The Pershing Square Signature Center after a performance of Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque on February 26, 2012. Photo by Lia Chang

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Lia Chang. Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.