"New Voices Heard" features selections of eight plays developed through LaMaMa's 2008 Umbria International Playwrights Retreat. The presentations, held Feb. 18 and 19 at La MaMa La Galleria, are free and open to the public.

Works presented Feb. 18 include The City Beneath, penned and directed by Marco Calvani, with translations by Bing Taylor; Raquel Almazan's La Piloma Prisoner, featuring Shirley Rumerick, Marilynn Torres, Raquel Almazan, Namakula and Gloria Zelaya under the direction of Carmen Rivera; MT Cozzola's Infernal, with cast members Shira Kobren, Matthew Park, Amy Quint, and Austin Tidwell and direction by Dann Fink; and Anne Phelan's The Benders: A Dark Western Comedy, which features Kate Bender, Cotton Wright, Johnny Bender, Michael Mattie and Ma Bender, under the direction of Elizabeth Munn.

The Feb. 19 line up comprises Carlo Matos' Amalia's Magic Mirror, featuring Franchesca Valdez and Alexis Nieves; Moral Garbage from Siobhan Antonioli, with Victor Clotter, Cary Hite, Caroline Peralta, Ebrahim Al Rasheed and Sandy Luna under the direction of Melissa Fendell; and Barbara Jwanouskos' From Here to There, directed by Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, with Mark Southers, Sarah Novotny, Susan Dinos and Dmitry Chepovetsky.

A fully-staged presentation of Mark Clayton Southers' I Nipoti will include Tony Bingham, Mark Calla, Kevin Brown and Bob Roberts under the direction of Wali Jamal.

For further information visit www.lamama.org. LaMaMa e.t.c. is located at 74A East 4th Street in Manhattan.