FROM WHITE PLAINS Will Open Off-Broadway 2/14

Following an acclaimed, sold-out run earlier this year Fault Line Theatre will transfer its timely new play FROM WHITE PLAINS - about the lasting effects of gay bullying - to the Pershing Square Signature Center for an Off-Broadway run beginning February 8, 2013 and running through March 9, it has been announced by Fault Line Theatre Co-Artistic Directors, Aaron Rossini and Craig Wesley Divino.

FROM WHITE PLAINS will have an official press opening of Thursday, February 14 at 8:00pm.

After a shocking announcement on international television, 30 year old Ethan Rice finds himself finally having to confront who he was and what he did as a teenager. Conceived and Directed by Michael Perlman and written and developed in collaboration with Fault Line Theatre, FROM WHITE PLAINS follows four men, both straight and gay, as they attempt to take responsibility for past actions and move beyond it, aided and complicated by social media and viral videos. The play examines how male relationships change as boys grow into men and asks who gets to speak for a victim of bullying when he is no longer here to speak for himself?

FROM WHITE PLAINS was presented earlier this year as a showcase from May 31 through June 10 at La Tea Theatre, where it was heralded as a "gripping and full-blooded drama...so full of insight about prejudice, empathy, and the limits of forgiveness that it ought to be required viewing for anyone touched by, or concerned about, this mournful epidemic," by Cory Conley of NYTheatre.com. He goes on to write, "FROM WHITE PLAINS also happens to be as skillfully written, performed, and produced a piece of theatre as any you're likely to see for a while." Dan Bacalzo of TheaterMania called it, "[An] outstanding new play," and "the four-person cast works well as an ensemble, and each brings a distinct, multi-layered characterization to his individual role. Perlman stages the piece with efficiency and the action is well paced throughout its 90-minute running time."

Additionally, the showcase production of FROM WHITE PLAINS was nominated for three 2012 IT (Independent Theatre) Awards - Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role (Karl Gregory); Outstanding Original Full-Length Script; and Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play.

The original cast of FROM WHITE PLAINS will return for the Off-Broadway transfer: Craig Wesley Divino, Aaron Rossini, Jimmy King, and Karl Gregory. Design team for FROM WHITE PLAINS will be Tristan Jeffers (set design), John Eckert (lighting design), Jessica Wegener Shay (costume design) and Chad Raines (sound design).

Michael Perlman is a NYC based director and playwright who earned his MFA in Directing from the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Directing Program. Directing credits include "Christmas Carol" and "The Mourner's Bench" (Trinity Rep), "Time of Your Life," "Uncle Vanya," "Hamlet" (Motif Award: Best Director) and "A Doll's House" (Brown/Trinity MFA Programs), "Velocity of Autumn" (Boise Contemporary Theater) "Oklahoma" (Maples Rep), "Dog Park and Life Science" (Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep), "We Are Proud to Present a Presentation..." and "Exquisite Corpse" (New Plays Festival), "Love, I Hear" (Stephen Foster Productions), "Iphigenia" and "Other Daughters" (Temporary Theatre Company), "The Last Five Years" (Stamford Center for the Arts), "Winnie-the-Pooh" (Hangar Theatre Kidstuff), "Emperor of Ice Cream..." and "Romeo and Juliet" (Hangar Theatre Lab Company.) In addition, Michael has directed workshops and readings at Trinity Rep, The Magic Theater and Young Playwrights, Inc. Assistant directing credits include "Suicide, Inc." (Roundabout), "Cymbeline" (Fiasco Theater), "King Lear" (Public Theater, Director James Lapine), "The Laramie Project" (Matthew Shephard Foundation Benefit, Director Moises Kaufman), "Cabaret: and "The Importance of Being Earnest" (Trinity Rep). In addition, Michael's one-person show "Flying on the Wing" was presented at the New York Fringe Festival, where it was the winner of Outstanding Solo Show of 2006. Michael is proud to be a member of SDC, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and holds a BA and MFA from Brown University.

Fault Line Theatre was founded in 2010 by Brown/Trinity Repertory MFA actors Craig Wesley Divino and Aaron Rossini and Trinity Rep set designer Tristan Jeffers. Fault Line is dedicated to producing plays, classical and modern, that they love. They strive to understand and transmit a story from within the text to create productions that engage and inspire. Previous NYC productions include "Doctor Faustus," "Frogs" and "From The Same Cloth." www.faultlinetheatre.org

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