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Back by popular demand, Cindy of Arc is the VERY timely and celebrated comedy rock extravaganza by playwright and performer Cynthia Kaplan about the problem men have with lying and where that’s gotten the rest of us. Particularly women. And Jews.
Why are there no Jews in Whoville? What is a scold’s bridle? What is the song Delta Dawn really about? Should we rethink Dr. Deborah Birx? Why is the Holy Ghost a ghost? In this brand new work of comedy and music, your guide, Cindy of Arc, will answer these and other pressing questions, taking you through an abridged history of the lies men tell in such popular areas as religion, politics, sex, and, of course, songwriting. Think American Utopia but with Nazis, expletives, cannibals, dogs, no David Byrne, and no Utopia. And no choreographer. And no money. And it’s a comedy. And we wear shoes. But otherwise, very similar.
2023 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater finalist, Cindy of Arc is directed by Emmy-Winning writer and Tony-nominated producer Dani Davis, who directs a cast of four, including Cynthia Kaplan with Scott Stein, Dan Barman, and Zachary Larson/Julian Maile.
Cindy of Arc will be staged monthly at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd Street in NYC, with the next performance scheduled for 9:30 p.m. on December 13, 2024.
“Frankly, I’d hoped to retire my horse, Buttons, after this last election, but twas not to be. For some reason the world keeps demanding political, feminist, subversive, comedic work, with rock songs and a hot band, and so we’ll be here, performing Cindy of Arc until the Twelfth of Never or a woman becomes president, whichever comes first,” says Cynthia Kaplan. “My one hope is that people leave the theater having laughed hard, been outraged, sung along when invited to, then headed back out of the theater inspired to do something. Performances of Cindy of Arc have raised over $12,000 for local and national reproductive rights organizations. We’re pretty chuffed about that.”
Time Out New York says “You’ll laugh until you can’t breathe,” and CBS News Commentator Nancy Giles calls Cynthia Kaplan “the funniest, funkiest white girl I’ve seen.” Cindy of Arc has also been called “A laugh-out-loud event” (Maryland Theatre Guide), “Brilliant and blistering” (NWTheatre.org), “Outrageously hilarious” (DelcoCultureVultures.com), “epically funny, and hyper-intelligent” (Folk Music Notebook Radio), “Hilarious…The show gave me early 90’s riot grrl political anarcho-punk folk meets Violent Femmes-style pop-rock” (Baltimore Fishbowl), “Raucously successful…A one-woman rock-n-roll tour through human history, mythology, literature, and more” (WBJC Radio, Maryland), and “Cindy of Arc is amazing. You are going to have a ball. Cynthia Kaplan is a genius” (Comedian Judy Gold).
Cindy of Arc was first produced as a concert film shot during the pandemic in a barn on Cape Cod and premiered at the 2021 Cinequest Film Festival. In 2022, the show was workshopped on stage at Dixon Place Theater and the Five Angels Theater. Since then, Cindy of Arc has enjoyed several regional productions, including at NYC’s historic Bitter End, the 50th anniversary season of Seattle’s Tony Award-winning Intiman Theatre, Baltimore Theatre Project, and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.