Tweed theaterworks

TWEED Theaterworks, also known as TWEED, Tweed Ensemble, and theatretweed, is an experimental theatre company founded in 1983 known popularly for its Fractured Classicks series; spoofs of classic American plays and films that employ unique casting choices,[1] as well as its critically acclaimed[2][3] productions featuring drag icon Lypsinka.[4]

TWEED Theaterworks' mission statement is stated as:

TWEED unearths raw, yet sophisticated, socially relevant artists and material and ushers them to the threshold of acceptability (and often beyond) to cast an irreverent mirror on contemporary culture.[5]

TWEED has been led by Artistic Director Kevin Malony since the company's founding in 1983. Originally intended as a platform for actors to present adaptations from literature and agent showcases, TWEED and Malony rapidly became a part of the thriving early 80s art movement in Manhattan's East Village.[6] The TWEED New Works Festival (1985-1995) presented the early work of many of today's recognized theater artists, including Bill Russell, Lisa Kron, John (Lypsinka) Epperson and John Kelly.[7]

The dancer and choreographer John O'Malley choreographed pieces for TWEED such as "Hotel Martinique" and "Atomic Opera".[8]

Reviewing TWEED Fractured Classick "The Mailman Always Comes Twice" in 2002, Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times called the show was a "ribald parody" of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Of Varla Jean Merman's leading performance as "Nora Papadopolous," Genzlinger wrote, "[she had] the Lana [Turner] look pegged pretty definitively, including the legs." Genzlinger described the show as "simply hilarious -- a terrific, if indescribable, bit of staging".[9]