RODNEY HAKIM

ACTOR/DIRECTOR

PAST DIRECTING PROJECTS

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

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.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM:

I presented (and performed in) a free staged reading of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the Shakespeare-themed coffee shop in Westbury, NY which is aptly named, A Midnight Summer's Dream Coffee Shop.  It featured some great local talents in what was one of the more entertaining staged readings I've been involved with.

FROZEN:

"Frozen" was one of the most intense, challenging, and compelling scripts I've ever worked on, and was among the strongest I've put forward in many years.  It was performed at the Queens Theatre in the Park in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.

"Frozen" puts us in the mutually colliding worlds of its three primary characters, a serial child abductor, the mother of one of the abducted children, and the forensic psychologist who is positing her theory that serial killers are not inherently evil. The play grapples with the moral relativism of our perceptions of child murderers, questions how they got to be that way, what is to be done with them if they are arrested, and what happens when such a murderer comes face to face with the grieving mother of one of his victims.

The cast:
Agnetha ................................................................................ Michelle Coffaro
Nancy .................................................................................... Lydia Gladstone
Ralph ......................................................................................... Donal Brophy
Guard ...................................................................................... Peter J. Rowan

The designers and staff:
Producer ............................................................................ Ronald B. Hellman
Lighting Design .......................................................................... Glenn Rivano
Tecnical Director .................................................................... William G. Wolf
Sound Design and Original Music ........................................... Daniel Liot Fine
                                            ........................................................... Peter Cline
                                            ........................................................ Theo Athinas
Costumes and Props .................................................................... Rosa Faulisi
Set Design ................................................................................ Rodney Hakim
Visual Design ................................................................................. Dave Cline
                                            ................................................... William Cline, Jr.
Technician .................................................................................. Will Andersen
Stage Managers ............................................................... Christine Reiglehoff
                                            .............................................................. Bari Plaut
Casting Assistant .......................................................................... Lydia Scotti

The Queens Theatre in the Park
Flushing Meadows - Corona Park

                                www.OutrageousFortuneCompany.com

                                                www.queenstheatre.org

ENTERTAINING LESBIANS:

One of my favorite directing projects in the last couple of years was the hilarious farce, "Entertaining Lesbians." It was presented as part of the inaugural season of the multi-media arts festival, The Fall Collection, which combines theatre, film, and live music into each of several distinct evenings of programming. Website:
                                    www.thefallcollection.org

Entertaining Lesbians:
A new one-act comedy set in Georgia, in which a socialite and her husband await the arrival of two very important guests, whom they must impress to get their daughter into the fanciest of prep schools. This comedy puts "Frasier," "I Love Lucy," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," in a blender and adds a dollop of political incorrectness, and really kicks into overdrive when a host of other party-crashers arrive and create chaos before the guests of honor appear.

Directed by Rodney Hakim
Written by Topher Payne
Costumes by Rosa Faulisi
Original Music by Daniel Liot Fine, Peter Cline, and Theo Athinas
Set Design by Jason Sturm
Stage Management by Kim Purdy (PSM) and Chad Pisetsky (ASM)

Cast:
Rowena -- Erica Livingston
Tad -- Carlo Vogel
Mrs. Kelley -- Dietra Kelsey
Janis -- Michelle Claudine Coffaro
Oliver -- Dustin Burrell
Christi -- Lauren Seikaly
Arlette -- Stacie Theon

AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT:

This was a fun one-act play I directed as part of the Sounding Theatre Company's "Sound Bytes" One-Act Play Festival.  Check back soon for more info on this one...

© 2008 Rodney Hakim