INSIDE
Stage breakup
Play explores the world of Cellino and Barnes
By Kevin Duggan Talk about courtroom drama!
A new play portrays the
shocking falling out between
New York’s most iconic pair of injury
attorneys: Cellino and Barnes. “Cellino
v. Barnes,” which will play to a soldout
crowd at the Bell House on Aug. 3,
offers a quirky, comedic take on the feud
between law firm partners Ross Cellino
and Steve Barnes, known across the state
for their omnipresent ad with its catchy
jingle, according to one of its writers.
“The guys are kind of like an urban
legend in New York — if you mention
them people sing the jingle right back to
you,” said David Rafailedes, who also
stars as Barnes in the play.
When the legal eagles had their highly
publicized break up, Rafailedes and his
co-star Michael Breen realized that,
despite their fame, the buddy barristers
were shrouded in mystery — which made
it easy to adapt their legal drama for the
stage.
“Everybody knows who they are but
we know nothing about them,” Breen
said. “It’s great if you’re writing, it’s
almost like fan fiction.”
The two writers invented a comic plot
to explain how the pair came to hate hate
hate, hate hate hate hate each other. The
characters in the two-man show are based
on advertisements and news reports, with
Barnes portrayed as the hard-working
and serious half of the team, based on an
ad where the real lawyer gave a detailed
explanation of a specific medical case —
versus the fun-loving Cellino, sourced from
reports of Barnes calling his partner lazy.
Members of the real Cellino’s family
have enjoyed previous productions of the
play at Park Slope’s Union Hall and in
the firm’s upstate hometown of Buffalo,
according to Breen, and Cellino himself
has expressed interest in coming. In
contrast, Barnes has no interest in the
show — which seems appropriate,
according to Breen.
“There’s a quote from Barnes in the
Buffalo News that plays aren’t really his
thing, which is the most Barnes thing
ever,” he said.
The show at the Bell House may be
sold out, but fortunately for fans of the
injured attorneys, the performers hope to
make it a regular production somewhere
in New York.
“We’re looking for a more permanent
home for the show,” Breen said.
“We’re confident we’re going to do it
again — we’re just ironing out the details,”
Rafailedes said.
“Cellino v. Barnes” at the Bell House
149 Seventh St., between Second and Third
avenues in Gowanus, (718) 643–6510,
www.thebellhouseny.com. Aug. 3 at 7:30
p.m. Sold out.
Your entertainment
guide Page 35
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HOW TO REACH US
2 COURIER LIFE, AUG. 2-8, 2019
DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES
ROLL OUT: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his new $58.4 million bike safety plan, which will start by adding 80
miles of protected cycle lanes across the fi ve boroughs by the end of his tenure in 2021. Photo by Kevin Duggan
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BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
a sweeping, multimillion
dollar plan to vastly
expand the city’s bike lane network
in the wake of a bloody
year that’s already claimed
the lives of 17 cyclists, most of
them in Brooklyn.
De Blasio will funnel $58.4
million to the Department of
Transportation to construct 80
miles of protected bike lanes
by the time he leaves offi ce in
2021, as part of a grand scheme
to lay out a connected network
of bike paths that span the Five
Boroughs, and hopefully prevent
future fatalities, according
to the mayor.
“The fact that this all happened
in such a small amount
of time — it’s a crisis and an
emergency,” de Blasio said at a
press conference at Bay Ridge’s
PS 170. “We’ve got to see this
end. It cannot go on like this.
These last weeks have been
something that should never
be repeated in this city.”
Out of the 17 cyclist’s deaths,
12 occurred in Brooklyn, and
the borough routinely rates as
the deadliest place to bike in
New York, according to fi gures
provided by the DOT, which
showed that more cyclists have
died in Kings County than
other boroughs in all but four
years since 2008.
So, it seems fi tting that — in
addition to the 30 annual miles
of bike lanes — the mayor’s
plan calls for the construction
of an additional 75 miles of bicycling
infrastructure by in
10 priority districts, seven of
which are in Kings County.
These priority zones include
parts of Bay Ridge, Borough
Park, Midwood, Sheepshead
Bay, Coney Island, East
Flatbush, Bedford-Stuyvesant,
Bushwick, Brownsville, and
East New York.
The department will use
most of the funds to hire 80
new transportation workers,
adding to its existing 110 staff
members.
In Brooklyn, the fi rst phase
of the bike lane expansion will
bridge the large gap in existing
cycling paths between Red
Hook and Bay Ridge, with new
protected bike lanes to create
a continuous route along
the Kings County waterfront
by 2021, linking Greenpoint
via the borough’s western and
southern coasts to the frontiers
of East New York, where
riders can continue onto existing
Queens bike lanes to distant
Rockaway.
De Blasio also vowed to
speed up construction of an ongoing
Fourth Avenue bike lane
through Park Slope and Sunset
Park, connecting with existing
bike paths that will take
riders to Downtown Brooklyn,
Prospect Park, and Bay Ridge,
in addition to forging new eastbound
routes connecting with
Ocean Parkway.
Hizzoner also vowed to resist
pressure from bike-wary
community boards that shoot
down city proposals to install
bike lanes through their neighborhoods,
saying that, while
he valued their on-the-ground
perspective, that he would use
his executive mandate to roll
out the cycling infrastructure
regardless of any grassroots
resistance.
“Community boards’ voices
should always be heard, because
sometimes what a community
board offers is a perspective
on how to do it better,”
he said. “But you know, inaction
is not acceptable. That’s
the standard I’ve held. If a community
board offers a critique
or alternative that’s a better
way to do things, great. If they
simply want no change and we
believe no change means less
safety, I just give the order.”
The plan calls for the Po-
“We’ve got to see
this end. It cannot
go on like this.”
- Mayor Bill de Blasio
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