Fifth Annual New York One-Minute Play Festival Cast & Creatives Announced

Casting has been announced for the Fifth Annual New York One-Minute Play Festival, hosted by Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters. The New York One-Minute Play Festival will take place Sunday, October 16 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street), the Off-Broadway home of Primary Stages. Seating is extremely limited.

The festival, co-curated by Dominic D'Andrea, founder of the One-Minute Play Festival, and Tessa LaNeve, Director of ESPA, will feature performances by Erin Adams, Rob Askins, Michele Baldwin, Vince Bandille, Seth Bazacas, Joresa Blount, Emily Bohannon, Matt Bourne, Shelly Lenita Bousso-O'Rourke, Danielle Brooks, Jim Cairl, Mike Callahan, Sam Cates, Julia Chan, Juliette Cohen, Jamie Concepcion, Sarah Cook, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Michael Dalto, Leah Dietrich, Joseph Diomede, Daniel Froote, Zoe Geltman, Katherine Gordon, Ana Grosse, Joel Haberli, Jennifer Harder, Walker Hare, Tommy Heleringer, Paul Hickert, Christian "Chopper" Jacobs, Nancy Keegan, Gavin Starr Kendall, Gabe King, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Bryn Lagoni, Anna Lamadrid, Kelsey Landon, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, Rachael Lee, Marcy Lovitch, Jared Maguire, Sarah Matteucci, Pete Mccabe, Jo Mei, Danielle D. Morvant, Brian Miskell, Megan Cook Nelson, Molly O'Neal, Alexis L. Pereira, Jess Pohly, Rebecca Prescott, Laura Ramadei, Matt Reeves, Deema Salem, Sonja Sweeney, Erica Swindell, Caitlin McDonough Thayer, Daniella Thome, Matt Walters, Jacob Wilhemi, Ariel Woodiwiss, Monica Wyche and more.

One-minute plays by more than 50 established and emerging playwrights were commissioned for the one-night-only event. A one-minute play is a highly theatrical singular moment; it is a form of theatre that looks at the most immediate storytelling event or core emotional content.

Tickets are available for $20 through Ticket Central at www.ticketcentral.com or 212.279.4200, or by visiting the 59E59 Theaters Box Office, 59 East 59th Street (between Park and Madison). Proceeds from the festival will in part benefit the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA).

Writers in this year's festival include a collection of seasoned and early-career playwrights, including ESPA playwriting students, members of Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, and Primary Stages greater family of artists: Liz Duffy Adams, Joshua Allen, Micheline Auger, Rachel Axler, Neena Beber, Maria Alexandria Beech, Brooke Berman, Bekah Brunstetter, David Cale, Raul Castillo, David Caudle, Joshua Conkel, Kara Lee Corthron, Jorge Ignacio Cortinas, Cusi Cram, Lydia R. Diamond, Kristoffer Diaz, Bathsheba Doran, Christine Evans, Marin Gazzaniga, David Grimm, Jason Grote, Adam Gwon, Michael Hollinger, Tina Howe, Sam Hunter, Chisa Hutchinson, David Henry Hwang, Mara Jebsen, Nick Jones, Rajiv Joseph, Lila Rose Kaplan, Kait Kerrigan, Greg Kotis, Neil LaBute, Claire LaZebnik, JC Lee, Lisa Loomer, Craig Lucas, Mariah MacCarthy, Donald Margulies, Winter Miller, Michael Mitnick, Janine Nabers, Stacy O'Neill, LuAnne Rice, Melissa Ross, KJ Sanchez, Vanessa Shealy, Julian Sheppard, Tommy Smith, Lloyd Suh, Nilaja Sun, Adam Szymkowicz, Daniel Talbott, Kate Tarker, Ken Urban.

The festival will include the direction of May Adrales, Dominic D'Andrea, Alex Correia, Jackson Gay, Josh Hecht, West Hyler, Jessi D. Hill, Jose Zayas, and Primary Stages Artistic Director, Andrew Leynse.

Also joining the team are stage manager Jon Nehlich and sound designer Daniel Kluger.

The One-Minute Play Festival was created in 2007 by director Dominic D'Andrea to promote the spirit of radical inclusion for writers of different age, gender, race, culture and point of career. The one-minute play challenges the playwrights to expertly craft a theatrical moment. It requires a new sensibility to work in this deceptively small form.

The Festival has partnered with theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New Brunswick, and New York, where it is now an annual tradition. In selecting Primary Stages ESPA as this year's beneficiary, the festival will in part support ESPA's programming designed to cultivate new work and emerging artists.

Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) is a multidisciplinary school with departments in acting, writing, and directing. Now in its fifth year, ESPA has refined actors who have been seen on and off-Broadway, developed writers whose work has won awards and received workshops and productions, and served as a professional and artistic home for emerging talent. ESPA is defined by its strong commitment to collaboration through programs such as Detention, a monthly performance series that partners ESPA writers, actors, directors, and a faculty advisor in the creation of a unique evening of theater. Having provided a home to nearly 1,400 students, ESPA has become a leader in performing arts education through its excellence in training, unique collaboration and networking opportunities, and strong professional community. ESPA is open to all artists, in all stages of their careers.

Primary Stages is an Off-Broadway theater company dedicated to inspiring, supporting and sharing the art of playwriting. Under the leadership of Founder and Executive Producer Casey Childs, Artistic Director Andrew Leynse and Managing Director Elliot Fox, we operate on the strongly held belief that the future of American theater relies on nurturing individual playwrights and giving them the artistic support needed to create new work.

Primary Stages produces new plays at 59E59 Theaters, where we have been the Resident Theater Company since its inauguration in 2004. Since our founding in 1984, we have produced more than 100 new plays, including Charles Busch's Olive and the Bitter Herbs, A.R. Gurney's Black Tie, Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate (Two 2009 Tony Award® nominations); Brooke Berman's Hunting and Gathering (one of New York Magazine's Top Ten Plays of 2008); Terrence McNally's Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams (starring Nathan Lane and Marian Seldes) and The Stendhal Syndrome (featuring Isabella Rossellini and Richard Thomas); Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter's In the Continuum (which went on to tour the U.S., Africa and Scotland); David Ives' All in the Timing and Conor McPherson's St. Nicholas (which marked the playwright's U.S. debut).

In 2008, Primary Stages was honored with the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, which encompasses much more than the plays we produce for the stage. Primary Stages supports playwrights and develops new works through commissions, workshops, readings and our two flagship programs: The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group and the Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). Through these programs, Primary Stages advocates for our artists, helping them make important-and often transformative-connections within the theater community.

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