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<\/a>The new series is written by playwright and television writer Ed Napier with co-direction by Emmy winning television producer Jesse Green and actress\/filmmaker Jodie Markell. The first episode was just launched. The Building 2020: Under Lockdown tells the story of a group of residents who live in a co-op on the Upper West Side of New York City and how they are coping with all the challenges and devastation surrounding their relationships and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\nThe cast is comprised of some of New York\u2019s most beloved stage actors: Pun Bandhu, Joseph Delafield, Laura Esterman, Kevin R. Free, Kathryn Grody, Robert Lupone, Jodie Markell and Alexandra Napier. The characters are a group of iconographic New York personalities living in their Riverside Drive apartment building. With the appearance of COVID-19, they have to navigate their new shut-down world and the complications it presents \u2013 while juggling the ongoing fights, feuds and intrigues of their neighbors.<\/p>\n
The Building began as a stage play before COVID-19 ever existed. Author Ed Napier re-conceived it as The Building: Under Lockdown in the immediate days after New York shut down. The shooting began one week later. \u201cFor artists the need to create is just basic. We really needed a reason to get out of bed and do something,\u201d says Napier. \u201cCreating a show that could be shot entirely on Zoom was born out of my desire to create something now and in the moment.\u201d \u201cOur characters are sometimes insufferable and sometimes lovable, comically idiosyncratic and infuriatingly stubborn \u2013 but ultimately, they are extraordinarily human,\u201d says producer Anne Hamburger. Building residents include an over-the-top controlling President of the Co-op Board, Gladys Pasternak (Kathryn Grody); an emergency room physician, Stephen Cho (Pun Bandhu) who Gladys refuses to allow into the building; Cho\u2019s caring wife, Mallory Catalano (Alexandra Napier), a public-defender; a privileged former financier, Charlie Tuttle (Joe Delafield), who\u2019s pursuing the Episcopal priesthood to the dismay of his wonderfully quirky actress wife, Chloe (Jodie Markell); and a violinist\/music teacher, Midge Rivington (Laura Esterman), self-ascribed \u201clast true Marxist on the Upper West Side,\u201d who\u2019s having an on-again\/off-again romance with everybody\u2019s favorite Jewish Uncle, Benny Weinstein (Robert Lupone), one of those menschy types who knows a little bit about every subject known to humanity.<\/p>\n
The first episode of The Building: Under Lockdown premiered online July 1, 2020 via YouTube and Facebook. Thereafter it will live on the social media channels listed below. The Executive Producers are Ed Napier, Jesse Green, Jodie Markell and Anne Hamburger.<\/p>\n
The Westside Rag says: “We\u2019re no theater critics, but the show is… good! This is very tough to pull off but it flows.” While most of the comments on the Westside Rag were positive, there was one critic who just said: “yawn.” Another even appeared to take some delight: “Green screen fail!” Others seemed appreciative of the story with comments suggesting the show reflects the reality of the times as well as the quirky nature of people living in close proximity to one another.<\/p>\n
Art Paradise, an art education and support center in West Hartford Connecticut says: “It’s really good, we watch it while we are painting and making things out of clay and we really love the characters!”<\/p>\n