Clowns + Crime + Comedy + Cocktails + Christmas = Holiday Fun
Wednesday, December 2 at The Cutting Room
Critic’s Pick! “Unabashedly silly but also shrewd, paying homage to film noir and pulp novels… the 70-minute show is a hoot.” — The New York Times on Clown Bar
Sparkplug Productions will present a staged reading of Adam Szymkowicz's CLOWN BAR CHRISTMAS. Directed by Andrew Block, this evening of clowns, crime, comedy, cocktails and Christmas will put the fun in fundraiser for the acclaimed theater company's World Premiere of Szymkowicz's Clown Bar 3: Clown Island at Parkside (where the original Clown Bar premiered) in January 2027.
In CLOWN BAR CHRISTMAS, the clowns have all come home for the holidays! It tells the story of clowns... in a bar... at Christmas. During a snowstorm, the denizens of Clown Bar try to entertain some clown kids with some clown holiday stories. There’s more to it, but you'll have to venture into the seedy underbelly of clown crime to see for yourself. (Note: This play is not even remotely appropriate for children.)
The original play Clown Bar has been produced over 75 times including productions in South Korea, Austria, England, Ireland, Canada and multiple times in Turkey. The extended Clown Bar universe now contains 5 plays—Clown Bar, Clown Bar Christmas, Clown High School, Clown Bar 2 and the upcoming Clown Bar 3: Clown Island. There is also a graphic novel adaptation of the original play.
CLOWN BAR CHRISTMAS will be presented for one night only -- Wednesday, December 2 at 7pm. The Cutting Room is located at 44 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016. Tickets are $25. There is also a $25 food/drink minimum at this performance with full dinner menu and waiter service. Tickets are available at www.SpinCycleNYC.com.
ADAM SZYMKOWICZ’s plays have been produced in all 50 U.S. states and nearly 2 dozen countries including Canada, England, Australia, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Lithuania. His work has been presented or developed at such places as Portland Center Stage, MCC Theater, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages and The New Group, among others. Published plays include Deflowering Waldo, Pretty Theft, Food For Fish, Hearts Like Fists, Hearts Like Planets, Incendiary, The Why Overhead, Adventures of Super Margaret, 7 Ways To Say I Love You, Rare Birds, Marian Or The True Tale of Robin Hood, Kodachrome, Mercy, The Bookstore, Old Fashioned Cold Fusion, The Parking Lot, The Night Children, The Wooden Heart, Stockholm Syndrome, When Jack Met Jill, Heart of Snow, Christmas Tree Farm, 100 Things I Never Said To You, 100 Love Letters I Never Sent and Nerve. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Concord/Samuel French, Playscripts, Broadway Play Publishing, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Stage Partners and Original Works Publishing, and are featured in numerous Smith and Kraus and Applause books. His monologue book, Small Explosions came out from Applause in early 2023. His book on playwriting, Letters to a Young Playwright comes out from Applause in fall of 2024. He has been to The Orchard Project, Green Gulch, Theatre4ThePeople’s the Barn and to JAW at Portland Center Stage, served twice as Playwright in Residence at the William Inge Center, and twice as a Dramatists Guild Fund’s Traveling Masters. Szymkowicz received two grants from the CT Commission on Culture & Tourism, and has been commissioned by South Coast Rep, Rising Phoenix Rep, Texas State University, The NOLA Project, Single Carrot Theater, Majestic Rep, The Chance Theater, Concord Theatricals/The Educational Theatre Association and Flux Theater Ensemble. Adam received a Playwright’s Diploma from The Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program and an MFA from Columbia University where he was the Dean’s Fellow. Szymkowicz is a two-time Lecomte du Nouy Prize winner, a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writer’s Guild of America, and was a member of Primary Stages’ Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer’s Group, the MCC Playwright’s Coalition and of the very first Ars Nova Play Group. He has interviewed over 1100 playwrights on his blog.
ANDREW BLOCK (Director) received the Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards for Best Director & Production for the world premiere of John Pollono’s Small Engine Repair, starring Emmy-winner Jon Bernthal. His recent collaborations as an Artistic Associate of SparkPlug Productions include NYC premieres of Tom Kelly's The Bathroom Attendant and two plays by Adam Szymkowicz: Fat Cat Killers and the NYC Fringe hit Clown Bar 2 (Audience Choice, Most Fringe awards). Selected credits: Kelley Nicole Girod’s This Stretch of Montpelier and Body of Water (The Fire This Time Festival, Le Petit); Mark Jason Williams’ Straight Faced Lies & The Other Day (Theatre at 14th St Y); John Pollono's Lost and Found (FringeNYC Encore, Lucille Lortel Theatre); David Caudle’s Downward Facing Debbie (ProjectY); Sondheim's Company (Gallery Players); Why Bother? (Best Director, Planet Connections Festivity); Adam Rapp’s Bingo With the Indians (GLAAD award nomination for Outstanding Theatre, West Coast premiere); Bedroom Farce (FAPC); Reach (Ivy Theatre); Avenue Q (Manhattan College); Inherit the Wind (Manhattan College); Rumors (AADA); The Shape of Things (Adelphi University); Recovery (FringeNYC). He is a multi-hat-wearing Arts professional, with extensive experience in production, advocacy, education, and community building, and is a proud native of New Orleans. www.andrewblock.info
SPARKPLUG PRODUCTIONS was founded by Christopher Lee and Rebekkah Ross, Artistic Directors, to create performance opportunities for artists we believe in. Our goal is to produce new works utilizing multimedia and to bring artists from different disciplines together. This cross-pollination of artistic processes creates a cooperative spirit among artists and fosters collaboration. By working together, we hope to develop a platform that allows us to break through boundaries and conventions to create new multimedia works as well as a vibrant community of artists. SparkPlug is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization and donations are tax-deductible. www.sparkplugproductions.com, IG: @splugnyc