Times Square Arts presents three free screenings of director Jay Scheib’s The Disinherited, a live feature film that he will shoot in real time at The Kitchen during performances of Platonov, his adaptation of Anton Chekov’s first full-length play. Starring an ensemble cast that includes Mikeah Ernest Jennings, Sarita Choudhury and Tony Torn, Scheib’s “live cinema performance” will screen at AMC Empire 25 (234 West 42nd St, New York, NY 10036) at 8:00 p.m. on January 8th, 15th and 22nd. 

Free tickets are available via the Times Square Arts website at www.TimesSquareNYC.org/disinherited.

Rather than shooting from the back of the theater at The Kitchen, Scheib operates cameras on stage, fully visible to the audience. The footage is projected onto screens that are integrated into the set and is also live-edited and simulcast at the AMC Empire 25 as a stand-alone feature film. Platonov, or The Disinherited is a Jay Scheib & Co. Production produced by ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann and presented by Times Square Arts.

“This work is at once a live theatrical performance and a live film,” says Jay Scheib. “Who doesn’t want life to leap from the screen, and who doesn’t want reality to actually unfold on the stage? Who doesn’t want to actually be there? This is not reality television; we rehearsed for over two months. This is live cinema.”

Platonov chronicles an emotionally bankrupt society of anti-heroes who are losing their loves, homes and even, in some views, their humanity. Scheib describes the work, found in a safe-deposit box after Chekhov’s death,as “a play about young men and women who could have just gone to bed and continued along in their semi-prosperous yet semi-boring lives, even happily, but instead stayed up, got more drunk and chose a destruction they knew somehow was coming anyway.” 

Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, said: “Live theater and cinema are both inexorably linked with Times Square, so the fusing of them in this way is a bold way of creating something new from our rich traditions. Scheib’s work fits right in with this tradition.”

Sherry Dobbin, Times Square Arts Director, said: “Times Square Arts is bringing the experimental space of The Kitchen to the busiest cinema in the country. As a stand-alone feature film done in real-time, The Disinherited is a rare event that we are honored to present in Times Square free to the public.”

Jeff Steinhauser, Manager of Event Sales, AMC Empire 25, said: “I love the idea of merging different forms of expression to tell a story. Live film editing has the potential to be a very powerful and unique medium. I'm proud to be working with the Times Square Alliance to bring this unique adaptation of Platonov to Times Square.”

In directing Platonov, or The Disinherited, Scheib is joined by Laine Rettmer (Associate Director). The work features stage design by Caleb Wertenbaker, sound design by Anouschka Trocker, video design by
Josh Higgason, live camera by Jay Scheib and Laine Rettmer and costumes by Alba Clemente; with performances by Sarita Choudhury, Mikeah Jennings, Rosalie Lowe, Jon Morris, Ayesha Ngaujah, Laine Rettmer, Jay Scheib and Tony Torn.

About Times Square Arts: Times Square Arts, the public arts program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Acting as a laboratory for contemporary art in the public realm—a place where ideas are tested and new possibilities explored. Times Square Arts works with artists and cultural institutions to create dialogues with Times Square and all of its physical and mythological manifestations. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, in addition to the Alliance’s own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the Arts Program ensures these qualities remain central to the district's unique identity. Generous support by ArtPlace America and ArtWorks. Visit www.TimesSquareNYC.org/arts for more information. Follow us on Twitter @TSqArts and Instagram http://instagram.com/tsqarts

About Jay Scheib: Jay Scheib is a director, designer and author of plays, operas and live art events.  Scheib is a 2011-12 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2012 OBIE Winner for Best Direction, and is internationally known for works of daring physicality, genre-defying performances and deep integration of new (and used) technologies.  His productions include Thomas Adès’ opera Powder Her Face, which played to great acclaim at Brooklyn Academy of Music in February 2013, followed by performances as part of the Festival d’Opéra de Québec in Canada.  Other recent works for the stage have included a new contemporary ballet collaboration with choreographer Yin Mei and the Hong Kong Dance Company titled Seven Sages, which premiered in March 2012; a new staging of Fassbinder’s controversial play Garbage, the City and Death, with the Norwegian Theater Academy in Oslo; and Scheib’s own original Fassbinder adaptation World of Wires, which premiered at The Kitchen and for which Scheib was awarded a 2012 OBIE Award for Best Direction. Named Best New York Theater Director by Time Out New York in 2009, and one of the 25 theater artists who will shape the next 25 years of American theater by American Theater Magazine, Scheib is a recipient of the MIT Edgerton Award, The Richard Sherwood Award, a National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Fellowship, and the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.  He is a professor for music and theater arts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he directs the Program in Theater Arts. For more information, please visit http://www.jayscheib.com

About ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann: A producer of acclaimed international projects and tours, ArKtype’s work has been seen worldwide, including projects with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yael Farber, Peter Brook, Jay Scheib, Julie Taymor, Yaron Lifschitz, Dmitry Krymov, and Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin. Recent premieres include Big Dance Theater & Baryshnikov Productions’ Man In A Case at Hartford Stage and the off-Broadway run of Nalaga’at Deaf-Blind Theater’s Not By Bread Alone. Additional projects include Rude Mechs (Austin); Theatre for a New Audience; Soho Rep., Young Vic, Big Dance Theater; Aurélia Thiérrée & Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin (Paris); Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen; Circa (Brisbane); Lisa Peterson & Denis O’Hare; T.P.O. (Italy); Erth (Sydney); Sam Green / Yo La Tengo; Joshua Light Show; Alex Waterman & Robert Ashley, Arcane Collective and World/Inferno Friendship Society. Upcoming premieres include Andrew Ondrejcak’s Feast, Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen’s HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC, and Dayna Hanson’s THE CLAY DUKE. More information at http://www.arktype.org.

About The Kitchen: The Kitchen is one of New York City's oldest nonprofit performance and exhibition spaces, showing experimental work by innovative artists, both emerging and established.  Programs range from dance, music, and theatrical performances to video and media arts exhibitions to literary events, film screenings, and artists' talks.  Since its inception in 1971, The Kitchen has been a powerful force in shaping the cultural landscape of this country and has helped launch the careers of many artists who have gone on to worldwide prominence. More information available at www.thekitchen.org.