Excerpt from War with the Newts

                                                           MR. BONDY
In clandestine fashion, I have shipped our Newts all over the world, wherever marine projects are underway. They’re like saltwater beavers, but far more intelligent: they can be trained to build dams, breakwaters and piers; give them food and room to live, and they will learn to excavate harbors and canals for their undersea homes; they will dismantle sandbars and shoals to keep their waterways clear. It is even possible to train them to enlarge outcroppings… or create small islands.

NEWSREEL: (San Francisco paper): “’BRIDGE THAT CAN’T BE BUILT’ NEARS COMPLETION: FOUNDATION LAID DESPITE 5.5 MPH CURRENT”

                                                           MR. BONDY
The Salamander Syndicate will incorporate financing companies, industry to supply the Newts with excavation tools and train them in the use of explosives; agribusiness to produce Newt food and shipping lines to deliver them; even insurance companies to cover the animals against injury and loss.

Gentlemen: Four-fifths of earth’s surface is covered by the oceans: that is too much! The Salamander Syndicate will connect the continents, build chains of islands for ocean flights, clear harbors to accommodate every size of ship imaginable. With our toilers of the seas we shall remake the globe in our image! And we will not speak then of the price of a pair of Newts anymore, gentlemen, but of the price of thousands, of millions of them, working to change the very fabric of the earth, once more the thrill of discovering new worlds!

War with the Newts Artists

Playwright and Director Jason Loewith co-wrote Adding Machine: A Musical, which won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Jeff and After Dark Awards for Best New Musical in 2007-08. He produced the world premiere at Next Theatre Company in 2007, where he served as Artistic Director from 2002-2008. That production went on to a six-month commercial run Off-Broadway, winning four OBIE Awards for direction, design and performance. He directed a new production of Adding Machine for Washington’s Studio Theater in October 2009.

As Artistic Director of Next Theatre, he directed the Chicago area premieres of Dying City, Defiance, The Long Christmas Ride Home, and Fabulation, among others. He conceived and directed the world premiere of The American Dream Songbook, and produced Chicago premieres by Caryl Churchill, Suzan-Lori Parks, Carson Kreitzer, Sam Shepard, Dael Orlandersmith, and many more. His programming twice received the coveted After Dark Award for Outstanding Season. He is a three-time grantee from the NEA for Artistic Excellence, and a recipient of support from the Rockefeller MAP Fund, MacArthur’s International Connections Fund, and a TCG New Generations Future Leaders grant.

Since moving to Washington in 2008, Jason was appointed Executive Director of the National New Play Network, the country’s alliance of nonprofit theaters that champion the development, production, and continued life of new plays. He also maintains a freelance directing career, most recently at Baltimore’s CENTERSTAGE for their production of Working It Out. Prior to his leadership roles in Washington, Jason served as Artistic Administrator at Chicago’s Court Theater for two years, and for five years as General Manager of Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company.

Playwright Justin D.M. Palmer is a Chicago-based playwright and screenwriter. He began working with Next Theatre in 2002, first as a Literary Associate and later as an Assistant Director (Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Measure for Measure) in 2003 and Dramaturge (The Misanthrope) in 2004. He is Artistic Director of Sandbox Theatre Project, a company that performs new site-specific plays all over the city of Chicago. He has co-written/directed most of STP’s work, including Where We Live (in a real apartment), Bottle Can Draft (in a real bar), Can You Spot Me? (in a real fitness center), and Multi-Purpose Doom (in a real community center). He contributed new short plays to The Silver Project and 10x10 Festival for American Theatre Company in 2009/2010 and Yes, This Really Happened To Me for Theatre Seven in 2008. He has co-written several short indie comedies with the local filmmaker Nathan Adloff, with whom he is also developing a feature-length independent comedy to shoot in Chicago in Summer 2010. Justin has a MFA in Writing from The School of the Art Institute Chicago and a dog named Ted.

Cast
Jennifer Avery*
Steve Pickering*
Joseph Wycoff*
Will Zahrn*
Eddie Bennet
Joel Ewing
Mildred Langford
James Zoccoli

Creative Team
Directed by Jason Loewith
Scenic Design by Collette Pollard
Costume Design by Kristine Knanishu-Engel
Lighting Design by Keith Parham
Sound Design by Misha Fiksel
Puppet Design by Michael Montenegro
Projections Design by Mike Tutaj
Properties Design by Sally Weiss
Dramaturg Celise Kalka
Stage Managed by Nancy Staiger*
Production Managed by Jim Davis & Patrick Fries

* Member, Actors Equity Association

"War With the Newts" is a fascinating, gutsy and intensely creative show that precisely evokes the era and style of Kapek’s creation.

- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune