Presented at the the Manhattan Theatre Club Studios, the second annual invitation-only New Play Readings will include August Schulenburg's drama Good Hope as well as the 2008 New York Musical Theatre Festival selected tuner Wood.
Good Hope will be the first offering on June 8 at 6 PM. Directed by "30 Rock" cast member Keith Powell, the work, according to press notes, "takes place in 1850's South Africa, where the Xhosa people have endured seven long wars with the English. But when a sickness strikes their sacred cattle, the Xhosa turn to the apocalyptic visions of a teenage girl. Can the unlikely friendship between a leader of the Xhosa and the daughter of an Anglican priest stop the prophecy? Based on a real tragedy, Good Hope explores the dangerous and necessary power of belief."
Included in the Good Hope cast are Michael Potts (Grey Gardens), Karina Mackenzie (Collected Stories), Howard Overshown (Yellowman), Stephen Conrad Moore and Ken Glickfeld.
Featuring music by Julianne Wick Davis, with book and lyrics by Dan Collins, Wood will be performed June 9 at 2 PM.
Directed by Thomas Caruso (Mimi LeDuck), the 2008 NYMF entry Wood "is a modern day re-imagining of A Midsummer Night's Dream complete with spandex clad color guard enthusiasts, shirtless Christians, quarreling divas, under-cover mothers and a sassy trio of Fairies who sing and dance and put En Vogue to shame from the stalls of a public men's room," according to press notes. Set to perform the work are Joe Cassidy (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Sally Wilfert (Make Me a Song), Adam Heller (Caroline, or Change), Ryan Ratliff (Altar Boyz), Kate Wetherhead (Legally Blonde), Michael Zahler, Evan Harrington (Avenue Q) and Josh Sassanella. Wood will have musical direction by Christopher Littlefield.
For more information visit www.NYTheatreBarn.org.
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The New York Theatre Barn is committed to creating and developing new, evocative works that are based on the principle that theatre is a collaborative art form that can only be successful when the process of the artists involved is nurtured and supported.
