(NEW YORK) The producers of the stage play, The Eternal Space, announced today that it has launched a 40-day Kickstarter Campaign with a $20,000 end goal to help the production support an upcoming showcase run in New York City.

The production team is offering backers one-of-a-kind gifts designed to reflect the show’s focus: photography, rail travel, and the Old Pennsylvania Station. Show Producer Cassie Farrelly says, “New York has always been a place where creativity thrives. The original Penn Station embodied this appreciation for art, The Eternal Space celebrates this achievement and our backing gifts are truly one of a kind – just like the play and the city it honors.”

Since a centerpiece of the production is photography, renowned architectural photographer, Norman McGrath is offering signed, original prints direct from his impressive catalogue. His photography is a critical element of the stage production.

The urban-enthusiast’s blog Untapped Cities will host a Penn Station walking tour open only to Kickstarter backers. Attendees with have the chance to discover, first-hand, old Penn Station remnants scattered throughout the current station. Included is a gathering after the tour for a drink and conversation with the tour leaders and the show’s creator.

Etsy needlepoint sensation Carsonzickersham has designed and crafted limited edition Penn Station Eagle samplers. Since there were twenty-two eagles removed from the Station’s facade, the designers are making twenty-two framed samplers and breaking the mold.

Comic and Letterpress artist Courtney Zell will be designing a production poster using Norman McGrath’s actual contact sheets from his Penn Station collection. The poster will be used for the showcase run but Kickstarter backers will have the chance to get their own limited-edition poster first. The poster will be signed by the playwright, Justin Rivers.

“Kickstarter is a natural fit for The Eternal Space since our project’s every step has been a group effort. I’m excited and honored to team up with Untapped Cities, Norman McGrath, Courtney Zell and Carsonzickersham to provide unique backer gifts that reflect both our show and our appreciation, ” said The Eternal Space playwright Justin Rivers.

The Eternal Space is a two-man play that begins with a coincidental meeting in 1963 in New York’s Pennsylvania Station. This chance meeting launches a three-year debate about progress, preservation, and posterity as one man fights to keep the station standing while the other is instrumental in taking it down. Using original photography from the journalists who documented the station’s destruction and recreations of broadcast recordings as powerful backdrops to the story, the show charts an unlikely friendship through the social and cultural upheavals of the mid-1960s.

Previously, the show has had four developmental readings, one of which at the Manhattan’s Center for Architecture/AIANY as part of the demolition’s 50th anniversary remembrance. Rick Bell, Executive Director of AIANY called the play’s dialogue “scintillating” and went onto say, “The Eternal Space dramatizes the conflicts between those who would replace our architectural legacy in the name of progress, and those whose frame of reference carries heavy intellectual baggage. Is reconciliation possible?” Bell finished by saying The Eternal Space was a play “that makes you think twice about what we take for granted.” Additional readings were held at Fordham Lincoln Center and The Tank NYC in the past twenty-two months.

FACT SHEET

THE ETERNAL SPACE: KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

About the Kickstarter Campaign: After three developmental readings, a series of fruitful collaborations, and a fast-growing audience base, The Eternal Space needs to take its production to the next level. To do this the production need to raise capital for a showcase run. Since the project has been a collaboration from the get-go, its staff thought where better than Kickstarter to crowd fund the run. $20,000 will help us to house our run in the appropriate theater space, pay for the rights to all the featured photos and contribute to marketing costs helping to spread the word about the show.

We are excited to offer the following backer gifts as a sincere thank you to all those gracious enough to support us:

● Pledge $5: Your name in our program, continual social media shout-out and backer-only updates on the project.

● Pledge $25: A special-made postcard designed with photographer Norman McGrath’s contact sheets from his Penn demolition archives. The postcard will come with a personalized note from the playwright.

This reward also includes the signed postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

● Pledge $50: A ticket to the show in spring 2015 and a full-sized signed poster designed using Norman McGrath’s never-before-seen Penn demolition photos. This reward also includes the signed postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

● Pledge $75: A never-before-seen 8 1/2″ by 11″ printed photo of the old Penn Station signed by its photographer, Norman McGrath.

This reward also includes a ticket to the show, the poster, the postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

● Pledge $100: Two tickets to the show in spring 2015.
This reward also includes the poster, the postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

● Pledge $175: A spot on an exclusive tour of Penn Station locating old station remnants sponsored by Untapped Cities. Also includes a drink afterward.

This reward also includes the McGrath print, a ticket to the show, the poster, the postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

● Pledge $250: Signed script and photo/meet and greet with cast and crew.
This reward also includes a spot on Penn Station tour with drink, the McGrath print, a ticket to the show, the poster, the postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

● Pledge $500: One of twenty-two framed and numbered Penn Station eagle needlepoint samplers from Carsonzickersham made exclusively for the Eternal Space.

The reward also includes a signed script and photo/meet and greet with cast and crew, a spot on Penn Station tour with drink, the McGrath print, a ticket to the show, the poster, the postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

● Pledge $750: Premium opening night seating with an invitation to opening night party.
This reward will also includes a signed script and photo/meet and greet with cast and crew, a spot on Penn Station tour with drink, the McGrath print, a ticket to the show, the poster, the postcard, your name in our program, continual social media shout-outs and backer-only updates.

*The first 22 of this reward level will also receive the Penn Station eagle needlepoint sampler.

About the Show: On October 28th, 1963 Pennsylvania Station’s demolition begins. The wrecking crews work outside in the morning drizzle to dismantle a fifty-three-year-old architectural marvel. Inside, a construction worker turned photographer is running away from his past while an aging English teacher can’t let his go. Their coincidental meeting begins a three-year debate over progress, preservation, and posterity, as one man fights to keep the station standing while the other is instrumental in taking it down. This is the premise for The Eternal Space, a two-man play that charts an unlikely friendship through the social and cultural upheavals of the mid-1960s.

Photography: Photography is a critical element of the planned stage production, providing the scenic background for the play’s dialogue. Research has amassed a catalog with over 1000 never-published/exhibited photos from New York based-photographers. Contributors to the collection include:

● Norman McGrath, a renowned, professional architectural photographer whose work has appeared in every notable architectural publication.
● Peter Moore, a professional photographer known for his documentation of the Fluxus movement in New York City. His Penn Station photographs are a small portion of his commercially successful body of work.
● Alexander Hatos, a career employee of the Pennsylvania railroad whose photographic catalog offers the unique perspective of employee access.
● Ron Ziel, an internationally acclaimed railroad historian and Long Island native. His collection documents the station’s entire lifespan and includes images from his perspective as a LIRR commuter in the 1960s.
● Aaron Rose, an accomplished photographer whose images, the New York Times declares, “seem to caress the world”. He was virtually unknown to the photography world until 1997, when four images were exhibited at the Whitney Biennial.

Campaign Summary:
Link to Kickstarter Page: www.kickstarter.com

Campaign Began: September 27
Campaign Runs until: November 6
About the show: www.theeternalspaceplay.com

For Justin Rivers & The Eternal Space
Contact: Sara Zick,
646-209-8726
sarazick@gmail.com