RODNEY HAKIM

ACTOR/DIRECTOR

DIRECTING

CURRENT PROJECT

Henry VI: An Experiment
A retelling of the story of the War of the Roses from Shakespeare's Henry VI trilogy.
 
Walkerspace
46 Walker Street (between Church St. & Broadway)
TriBeCa
 
$15
Running time: Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes

Remaining Performances:  Thursday 5/8, Friday 5/9, and Saturday 5/10 @ 8pm

 
By subway: 1 train to Franklin Street, or A,C,E trains to Canal street.  Short walk from trains to theater.

Shining City:

There are only three chances left to see Shining City at the Queens Theatre in the Park! Shining City premiered and was nominated for Tony awards last year on Broadway, and Ben Brantley of the New York Times said it's "as close to perfection as playwrighting gets." This is the first revival of the show in New York City since then, and it's a perfect opportunity to find out why Conor McPherson is one of the hottest playwrights in the world. Come catch the closing weekend of this critically acclaimed production, which Newsday calls "searing," "riveting," and "exquisite."

Remaining performance dates and ticket information are below. Order your tickets now to save over 15% off the ticket price you'd pay at the door! This is one of the most compelling scripts you're going to find on Broadway or Off (or Off-Off), and we've got an amazing cast at a beautiful theater. Plus, the play has a shocking ending that you'll never see coming! Order your tickets now and see what the buzz is all about. This is a production you can't afford to miss!


The Outrageous Fortune Company presents

SHINING CITY
Written by Conor McPherson
Directed by Rodney Hakim

A neophyte therapist with a new private practice in Ireland finds himself with his hands full when his first patient's symptoms include sleeplessness, anxiety, and being haunted by his recently deceased wife. The more the therapist learns about his patient, the more he learns about himself, and the more we see his own dark secrets get revealed, with a stunning ending you'll never see coming.

Featuring Dayle Vander Sande, Stephen Ryan, Maureen O'Boyle, and Gabriel Grant.

Produced by Ronald B. Hellman. Stage Managed by Tara Schmitt. Assistant Stage Managed by Aimee Hiltz. Lights Designed by Glenn Rivano.


The Queens Theatre in the Park
Flushing Meadows - Corona Park
Downstairs in the Studio Theatre

The remaining performance dates and times are:

Friday, December 7 @ 8:00 PM (followed by a question and answer session with the cast)
Saturday, December 8 @ 8:00 PM
Sunday, December 9 @ 3:00 PM

Tickets: $21 advance purchase, $25 at the door; group rates available

For tickets call 718-428-2500, ext 20 or contact via the web:
Email: OutrageousFortune@RBHofc.com , or visit www.OutrageousFortuneCompany.com 

Credit card orders at the box office: 718-760-0064

For more information about the Queens Theatre in the Park, and for directions, visit www.queenstheatre.org

Queens Theatre in the Park is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park (same exits off the Grand Central Parkway as the USTennis Association, The Queens Museum and the Unisphere).

Directions by train: Take the #7 train to Willets Point-Shea Stadium. Exit to the Shea Stadium side and pick up the free trolley to theatre. Trolley runs for one hour before and one half hour after each performance.

Directions by car: Take the Grand Central Parkway to Exit 9E (from Manhattan) or Exit 9P (from Long Island), then follow the signs to the Theatre. FREE PARKING is available in lot next to theatre.

 

The cast of Shining City (left to right: Stephen Ryan, Gabriel Grant, Maureen O'Boyle, Dayle Vander Sande)

 

UPCOMING PROJECTS

Video Shorts Web Series:
Coming early in 2008 will be my newest series of video shorts for the web, which will be a spoof of such various shows as Charlie's Angels, Get Smart, Kojak, Three's Company and more.  If you enjoyed Dating Grim, you'll love this.  More news coming soon...

 

RECENT PROJECTS

Dating Grim - The Bad Date Videos:

Have you ever been on a bad blind date?  We all have, but what's the absolute worst dating scenario you can think of?  What if this pitiful blind date was with Death?  Yes, Death, the Grim Reaper himself.  Take the most awkward, horrible dating disaster you can think of, multiply it by a million, add the Grim Reaper, carry the one, and you have the Dating Grim Bad Date Videos.  Death goes on a series of blind dates set up by the shady Dating A-Go-Go internet dating service.  If you think you've been on bad dates before, you ain't seen nothing yet.  Get ready for some of the most squirm-inducing, awful dating you've ever seen.  It's such a train wreck, you won't be able to wait to see the next one.  Think it's weird when you see a hot girl out with a dorky guy?  Wait till you see this.  There's nothing quite as Hellish as going on a horrendous blind date, especially when your blind date is Death!  People are already calling the Dating Grim video shorts the funniest video series on the web since Ask A Ninja.  To see the Bad Date videos in all their uncensored glory, check out Dating Grim on MySpace, www.myspace.com/datinggrim and on YouTube.

For more information and exclusive Dating Grim content, click on this link to go to the Dating Grim home page.

Operation Ajax:

** Backstage Critic's Pick **  Click here to read the full review

After taking part in the text construction and performances of the work-in-progress incarnations of "Operation Ajax," I am now appearing in and assistant directing the fully realized stage version of the play.  This is a project that Noel Salzman and the Butane Group have been working on for over two years, and this is the culmination of that process.  The text deals with the coup in Iran in the 1950's, in which the U.S. subverted Iran's democratically elected government and overthrew the popular leader, Mohammed Mossadegh.  It's challenging material, and very enlightening about the tensions our country has had with Iran over the last several decades.  Here is the plug:

After two years of dramaturgical construction and development, you are invited to attend the fully realized stage version of

OPERATION AJAX
(a game of skill and chance)

Constructed from no less than 25 text sources--James Bond, the History Channel, Gore Vidal, contemporary Iranian poetry, Kathy Acker, reality TV shows--the piece tells the story of the CIA's 1953 coup overthrowing Iran's first, and so far only, democratically-elected government.  Placed in a casino context, the densely-layered text explores how the addiction to risk and gambling has become a potent metaphor for U.S. foreign policy.

Directed by Noel Salzman

February 14th - March 10th, 2007
Wednesday through Saturday nights @ 8:15pm

The Where Eagles Dare Theatre
347 West 36th Street, 13th Floor, Studio Blackbird

Featuring:
- CIA Senior Officer Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. = Jay Smith
- Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini = Gavin Starr Kendall
- US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles = Albert Aeed
- Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi = Nicholas Warren-Gray
- British UN Representative Sir Gladwyn Jebb = Kelly Markus
- Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh = Dorothy Abrahams
- Dissident Iranian Writer and Poet Reza Baraheni = Rodney Hakim

Text Construction by Noel Salzman and Tamara Schmidt
with Rodney Hakim, Meghan Frank, Armistead Johnson, Mireya Lucio

info@thebutanegroup.org
www.thebutanegroup.org

 

"Neglected Classics" staged reading series at the Mid-Manhattan Library

[This series is currently on indefinite hiatus]

I recently presented a staged reading series in association with the Mid-Manhattan Library that examined some of the more obscure plays, poems, and short stories of our greatest playwrights.  In presenting some of the less performed works by such theatrical giants as William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, and the Greek masters, we tackled such questions as whether these works are more obscure because they are inferior to the playwrights' more popular works, if these pieces are still relevant and important, and if they are still entertaining and compelling to a modern audience.  The staged readings focused on such works as Shakespeare's long poem, "Venus and Adonis," Chekhov's one-act farces, "The Anniversary" and "The Bear," and a revised look at a Greek classic in Seneca's version of "Oedipus."

- Wednesday, September 27th, 6:30 - 8:00pm: Shakespeare's "Venus and Adonis"
    A staged reading of one of William Shakespeare's narrative poems, "Venus and Adonis," which tried to discover why this poem about the goddess Venus' infatuation with the mortal young hunter, Adonis, is seldom performed and often trivialized, despite the subtle erotic charge of the Bard's poetry.
 
- Wednesday, October 25th, 6:30 - 8:00pm: Seneca's "Oedipus"
    Everyone knows "Oedipus Rex" by the Greek playwright, Sophocles, but far fewer are aware of the revision that the ancient Roman playwright, Seneca gave the play nearly 500 years later.  A staged reading of Seneca's "Oedipus" explored the Roman version of the classic Greek tragedy, and will attempt to assess why Seneca's revision hasn't had as enduring a legacy as Sophocles' original.
 
- Wednesday, December 6th, 6:30 - 8:00pm: Anton Chekhov's one-act comedies
    Anton Chekhov, the great Russian playwright who is best known for such tragicomic plays as "Uncle Vanya," "The Three Sisters," and "The Cherry Orchard" also wrote a variety of lesser known one-act plays, two of which, "The Anniversary" and "The Bear" were presented as a staged reading, in which we attempted to find out whether Chekhov's one-act farces measure up to his full length masterpieces, and whether they are still as humorous over a century later.

PREVIOUS ENDEAVORS

For more information the Shakespeare Readings and the Neglected Classics Series, click on the Shakespeare Readings tab, and for some of my other past directing projects, click on the Past Directing link to the left of this page.

© 2008 Rodney Hakim