NORMALCY Hosts First Talk-Back with Rita Taddonio at Theatre East, 9/7

Theatre East is presenting "Normalcy" by Bennett Windheim, Off Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 West 42nd Street (Theatre Row), NYC. Benard Cummings directs the new play. The limited engagement opens on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 7:00 pm. The first of a series of talk-backs during the run begins this Friday, September 7th with Rita Taddonio, LCSW and a representative from Spence-Chapin. Future talk backs with the author, the producers and director, as well as experts in the respective field of this emotionally charged play will be announced.

The cast includes: Aleisha Force, Judson Jones, Harvey Guion, Mary Ann Hay, Darlene Hope, Sarah Joyce, and Lisha Mckoy. The Set Designer is Lea Anello, the Lighting Designer is Jessica M. Burgess and the Sound Designer & Composer is Scott O'Brien. The Production Manager is Eric Kasprisin.

"Normalcy" takes a brutally honest look at transracial adoption, from the point of view of white prospective parents and their circle of family members and co-workers, to social workers and transracially adopted adults. Normalcy" tackles themes of identity, race, terrorism, nationalism, manifest destiny, marriage and the media, all through the lens of one white, affluent couple's attempt to make the hard choice – adopting a black child and the unexpected and unintended consequences that it has on their happy and complacent lives. 2 hrs. 10 mins (plus intermission).

Rita Taddonio, LCSW, is the director of the Adoption Resource Center (ARC), which provides ongoing post-adoption support, consultation, education and advocacy about developmental and/or adoption issues from birth through adolescence to families formed through international, domestic and special needs adoption. During her tenure at Spence-Chapin, Taddonio has visited international orphanages and has evaluated the effects of the Granny Program sponsored by Spence-Chapin at the orphanage in Xi'an, China. She has presented at the annual conferences of the Joint Council for International Children's Services (JCICS), the Adoptive Parents Conference (APC) and the Concerned Parents for Adoption (CPFA). She has also provided training on clinical issues in adoption to post graduate students at Yale Child Study Center and Weill Cornell Medical School, among others.

Spence-Chapin has been offering quality adoption services for more than 100 years. Their mission is to find adoptive homes for children in need here and in countries around the world. Spence-Chapin's roots can be traced to the early 1900s and the pioneering work of Clara Spence, and Dr. and Mrs. Henry Chapin, who independently established nurseries out of concern for homeless infants abandoned in hospitals and shelters. Both nurseries each broke new ground in developing social work techniques for adoption and, after the merger, continued to pioneer in the adoption field. Today, Spence-Chapin is proud of their role as a prominent voice and leading advocate for adoption, and of our commitment to the well being of all members of the adoption triad: birth parents, adoptive parents, and their children.
Theatre East (Judson Jones, Artistic Director; Christa Kimlicko Jones, Associate Artistic Director) advances the dialogue of the shared human experience through works that utilize simple storytelling, providing our community with a platform to deepen its understanding of themselves, each other and the world we share.

Performances for the limited Off-Broadway engagement of the new play through September 23 are: Wednesday – Saturday at 7:00 pm. Tickets are: only $18. They are on sale at the box office (Ticket Central) and through Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or on the web at www.ticketcentral.com.

For more about the play, visit www.normalcytheplay.org.

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