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, as well as its critically acclaimed productions featuring drag icon Lypsinka.
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 to cast an irreverent mirror on contemporary culture.

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. The TWEED New Works Festival presented the early work of many of today's recognized theater artists, including Bill Russell, Lisa Kron, John Epperson and John Kelly.
The dancer and choreographer John O'Malley choreographed pieces for TWEED such as "Hotel Martinique" and "Atomic Opera".
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. Of Varla Jean Merman's leading performance as "Nora Papadopolous," Genzlinger wrote, " the Lana look pegged pretty definitively, including the legs." Genzlinger described the show as "simply hilarious -- a terrific, if indescribable, bit of staging".