TELEVISION:
Duke, the Dog Priest
Esuriens Productions has obtained the rights to adapt Duke, the Dog Priest (Green Integer Press) by Domício Coutinho for television. Through the eyes of a sacristan at a Little Italy church in the 1960s we learn all of the goings-on in the church, the neighborhood and, by extension, New York City just as the counterculture, the sexual revolution and Vatican II are beginning to change everything.
At the heart of the series is the story of Rosely, a precocious girl given up for adoption who turns to prostitution after she is expelled from St. Thecla's school at age fifteen. Rosely's story intersects tragically with that of Brother Alphonse, St. Thecla's chief cook, who commits suicide after encountering her near Times Square and following her to a nearby hotel for sexual relations. Considered by clergy and parishioners alike as one of the church's most pious members, Brother Al's death rocks the parish. It triggers a crisis of conscience in the clergy and the parishioners and provides the series with a spine through which dozens of others stories are interwoven.
The Sublet
Coming off of a successful reading of the full-lenght play The Sublet at the Bleecker Street Theater. Esuriens Productions is developing the romantic comedy into a sitcom. The television series explores the humor and angst of trying to 'make it' in New York. Ross, a young, out-of-town writer believes he has found his dream apartment on the Upper West Side. The city, though, is a lot tougher than he ever imagined. Soon, his roommates become his de facto family. There's Barbara, an attractive painter who seems to only have time for her parakeet; Sharon, who brings men to her room at all strange hours; Brad, a struggling actor, who is always trying to hustle his roommates; and Tobias, a disbarred attorney who lives under the stairs with his boyfriend Max. Always late on their rent, the tenants have to contend with Juan, the super, who constantly threatens eviction. Every time Ross is about to give up on life in the big city, though, he learns a lesson in perseverance or in love.
FILM
Chekhov's Rifle is a black comedy that pits a down-on-his-luck actor, Tim, and a misanthropic playwright, Harry, as roommates in an Upper West Side apartment. When Harry reveals that he has purchased a hunting rifle that once belonged to Anton Chekhov, and that he keeps it loaded, hanging above his desk, the only question is who will shoot the other one first.
Silicon Valley
It is the year 2000, and San Francisco is at the height of the dot-com bubble. Money is flowing freely, and the values that Tom LeMarr, 45, a local counterculture hero, has always cherished are in short supply in his native city. While surfing he meets Mitch, an instant millionaire in his early twenties, who hires Tom as a surfing instructor. Slowly, Tom is seduced by Mitch’s lifestyle and before long he finds himself coveting that which he has always rejected. When the opportunity arises, Tom surprises himself with his own ruthlessness and kills Mitch; now he has to deal with his conscience. Idealism and materialism have always coexisted uneasily in the American psyche; in Silicon Valley these two elements clash explosively with tragic results. This noir thriller explores the age-old question: What good is it to gain the world, yet forfeit your soul?
Hotel Utopia
Rohmer meets The Love Boat. Seven captivating stories in seven New York City hotel rooms where guest's lives unravel in the space of 24 hours. Characters in these intersecting tales of love and loss include Tim, a businessman who decides to forsake his usual five-star hotel for a Chinatown dive and gets more than he ever bargained for in the way of Brianna; Mike, 22, fresh from Utah, whose reunion with his estranged twin brother becomes infinitely more complicated after he is robbed and run over by a gypsy cab; and Tilda a washed up artist who, in a final attempt to jump start her career, organizes an exhibition in a hotel suite that goes horribly wrong. Written by Suzanne Limozinere and Silvana Jakich.
THEATER
Dr. Feelgood
It is the autumn of 1969 and Tennessee Williams has been admitted to the psychiatric ward of Barnacle Hospital in St. Louis. Armando Rosa's play expertly shifts from reality to hallucination as Williams is visited by ghosts from his past, including his sister Rose, Tallulah Bankhead, his black nanny Ozzie, and the infamous Dr. Feelgood.
King Freund
When Abe Freund's nurse, Wayne, announces he is taking Labor Day weekend off, it throws Adam Freund's plans to take over his father's estate into disarray. Sarah is hired to substitute Wayne but quickly surmises something is wrong and weans Abe off of his medication just in time for him to regain his wits. The play culminates in a showdown between father and sons. Sarah, however, is harboring her own secrets and inserts herself into events in ways no one expected.