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Renovated 13th St. Rep. Offers a Slew of Shows

rapunzarella-cast
The company of “Rapunzarella White: A Fairly Fractured Tale,” a new production at the 13th St. Repertory Theater, back row, from left, Brandon Duncan, Alia Munsch, Marlain Angelides, Mark Singer, Daniel Neiden; center row, Brent Hildreth; front row, from left, June Rachelson-Ospa; Schuyler Midgett, Lorelie Mackenzie, Noriko Sunamoto and Matthew Joshua Cohen.
The company of “Rapunzarella White: A Fairly Fractured Tale,” a new production at the 13th St. Repertory Theater, back row, from left, Brandon Duncan, Alia Munsch, Marlain Angelides, Mark Singer, Daniel Neiden; center row, Brent Hildreth; front row, from left, June Rachelson-Ospa; Schuyler Midgett, Lorelie Mackenzie, Noriko Sunamoto and Matthew Joshua Cohen.

BY ALBERT AMATEAU  |  The tiny theater on W. 13th St. that has nurtured budding playwrights, actors and directors for the past 42 years under its founder and artistic director, Edith O’Hara, is bursting with new creative energy since the arrival last fall of Susan Merson.

“We’re learning how to make the 13th St. Repertory Theater into a community-based center for artists, presenting music, poetry, photography, painting and new plays,” Merson told a visitor last week.

The 50-seat theater at 50 W. 13th St., between Fifth and Sixth Aves., is still the home of the longest continuously running (more than 40 years) Off Off Broadway play, “Line,” by Israel Horovitz.

“Israel came by last Thursday to see his granddaughter in a children’s show,” Merson said. “He has been a generous friend of the 13th St. Rep., letting us run the play for years without royalties,” she added.

Edith O’Hara, now 98, still lives in the apartment that she moved into in 1972 two flights up from the theater. She has a companion and gets visits periodically from her son Jack and a daughter, Jill, as well as from her grandson, John. Although Edith has slowed down in recent years (a hip was replaced a few years ago), she still comes down occasionally to see how the theater is doing.

“I came here at the end of October after Sandra Nordstrom left after 20 years of being Edith’s administrative assistant,” said Merson. “Edith and her daughter, Jenny, whom I knew in California, decided to keep the theater open when Sandra left, and they asked me to step in.”

Merson has been a member of Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), the innovative Off Broadway theater group on W. 52nd St., since 1975, and remained in contact with EST after she moved in 1986 to California, where she taught and produced plays.

“We did a huge renovation last fall, gutted the place, made sure that everything was up to code and met insurance standards,” Merson said of her first months as director of the 13th St. Rep.

It was a big job for a building that dates to 1840 and served as a station on the Underground Railroad, which helped escaped slaves travel to freedom before the Civil War.

Over the past 15 years, the 13th St. Rep. had been teetering on the verge of extinction. O’Hara bought the building in 1972 but ran into financial trouble a few years later. An “angel” came to the rescue and bought a half-interest in the property, only to prove less than angelic. In 1999 the investor wanted to sell his share to a developer who planned to replace the theater with a high-rise building. The battle raged off and on until 2008, when it was agreed that the theater would remain in place as long as Edith was living in the building.

Merson said that the situation is stable and she’s hopeful about the future.

“We’re now doing about six events a week and we can make the rent,” she said. “In addition to ‘Line’ we have ‘The Accidental Pervert,’ by Andrew Goffman, which has been running since 2010. And next week we’re opening ‘Triangle,’ a comedy by June Rachelson Ospa, directed by Joe Battista.”

The theater is also running “Bed Bugs and Beyond,” a comedy by Mark Blickley, again directed by Joe Battista, who wrote the music and lyrics for the show.

The theater also has a resident musician, Hayes Greenfield, a veteran jazz performer, sound artist, composer and educator. He runs an interactive children’s program, “Give Me Sound.”

Another children’s production, “Rapunzarella White: A Fairly Fractured Tale,” by Ospa and Daniel Neiden, also recently began a run at the theater on Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. In a nutshell, it’s “a family musical that mashes up fairy tales in a Bullwinkle sort of way with lots of songs and live music.”

An exhibit of silver-print photos by Charles Chessler, mostly of New York City, also opened this week in the theater lobby.

“Monologues for an Actress,” by Leah Kornfeld Friedman, performed by Essie Finkelstein, also takes the stage at the 13th St. Rep.

“Leah, who is 83, lives on 13th St.,” Merson said. “She is also a painter. I’ve been producing her plays for years.

“Right now, Caridad Svich, who won an Obie for lifetime achievement in the theater, is upstairs working on a new play,” Merson added.

From June 20 to July 30, the 13th St. Rep will be host to New York Theater Intensive, an international training program in partnership with Ensemble Studio Theater.

“We want artists to know that we’re alive and healthy and to come in to talk about a project,” Merson said. “We’re vital to the Village and we want to be a part of it.”