Oren Safdie, son of Moshe Safdie, and writer of plays themed around architecture, will be opening his third play, titled "False Solution", on June 13th. The play deals with an established architect struggling to design a new Holocaust museum in Poland, focusing on the architect's creative process.
 

FALSE SOLUTION -- a world-premiere play about an architect's struggles to design a Holocaust museum in Poland - written by Oren Safdie (author of the Off-Broadway hit PRIVATE JOKES, PUBLIC PLACES, and THE BILBAO EFFECT) - will be presented Off-Broadway with previews starting June 13 prior to an official press opening night on June 16, 2013 at La MaMa ETC (74A East 4th Street) in Manhattan.

PRIVATE JOKES, PUBLIC PLACES, which also premiered at La MaMa in 2003 before transferring to the Center for Architecture, starred Anthony Rapp. Mr. Safdie's Off-Broadway play THE LAST WORD, also enjoyed critical and popular success in 2007, and starred Emmy Award-winning actor, Daniel J. Travanti.

Oren Safdie's FALSE SOLUTION inhabits squarely the world of contemporary architecture. The play finds Anton Seligman, an established German-Jewish architect, in his studio late at night working on the design for a new Holocaust museum in Poland. His plans for the museum are challenged by Linda Johansson, a striking young intern and a first-year architecture student. Over the course of this intimate evening, Linda confronts Anton's resolve and throws his vision for the museum into turmoil. The effects of war, religious identity and sexual politics loom large over their electrifying encounter as creative process and personal agendas collide. The third in Oren Safdie's series ('Private Jokes, Public Places' and 'The Bilbao Effect') of plays about architecture.

FALSE SOLUTION was commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts.

A native of Montreal where he grew up in his father, Moshe Safdie's, famed Habitat '67, Oren Safdie is a former architecture student at Columbia University. In addition to its successful debut in NYC, PRIVATE JOKES, PUBLIC PLACES has been produced internationally in Toronto, London, and the National Theatre in Romania, and translated into Japanese. Other plays include “CHECKS & BALANCES”, "WEST BANK, UK" "JEWS & JESUS" "FIDDLER SUB-TERRAIN" and "LA COMPAGNIE" which he developed into a 1/2 hour pilot for CBS. As a screenwriter, Oren scripted the film YOU CAN THANK ME LATER starring Ellen Burstyn, Amanda Plummer, Genevieve Bujold, Mark Blum and Mary McDonnell, and the Israeli film BITTERSWEET. He has also written for METROPOLIS, DWELL, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE JERUSALEM POST, THE FORWARD, ARUTZ SHEVA, TIMES OF ISRAEL and BEYOND.

La MaMa is a remarkable arts institution with a world-wide reputation for producing daring work in theater, dance, performance art, and music. Founded in 1961 by theater pioneer and legend, Ellen Stewart, La MaMa has produced and presented more than 3,200 theatrical productions to date and is a vital part of the fabric of cultural life in New York City and around the world. La MaMa provides a supportive home for artists and takes risks on unknown work. Artists such as Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, Harvey Fierstein, Blue Man Group, David and Amy Sedaris, -and others whose names you haven't heard of yet - began their careers at La MaMa. International artists introduced to America by La MaMa include Tadeusz Kantor, Andrei Serban, Kazuo Ohno and, more recently, the acclaimed Belarus Free Theatre. La MaMa has been honored with more than 30 OBIE Awards, dozens of Drama Desk and Bessie Awards, and, in 2006, Ellen Stewart was recognized with a special TONY Award for "Excellence in the Theatre."

Performances of FALSE SOLUTION run June 13-June 30 at La MaMa E.T.C. (74a East 4th Street Place, between Bowery & 2nd Avenue in Greenwich Village); Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm, and Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets are $18. For tickets call (212) 475-7710 or visit www.lamama.org