Broadway to Gather to Celebrate the Film Premiere of SPEECH & DEBATE

On Sunday, April 2 the Broadway community will gather to celebrate the premiere of Speech & Debate, based on the critically acclaimed comedy by Tony Award winner Stephen Karam (The Humans), with a red carpet premiere screening on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre. Members of the cast and crew along with current and former Broadway stars will come together for the one-night celebration. Also on Sunday, April 2, to coincide with the red carpet premiere, the film will be available exclusively on iTunes for $12.99 HD. Sycamore Pictures is producing the film, directed by Dan Harris.

On Sunday, April 2, the film will also champion a day to celebrate the power of theater. Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, will serve as the event's advocacy partner. Leading up to the premiere the film is asking theater fans everywhere to share the impact that theater has had on their lives by using #FindYourVoice. Guests at the screening will also have the opportunity to lend their support to the arts advocacy conversation by sending a postcard to their legislator in support of a pro-arts Congress.

On Friday, April 7, 2017 the film will premiere in select theaters and VOD. Starring Liam James, Sarah Steele, Austin P. McKenzie, Roger Bart, Janeane Garofalo, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kal Penn, Kimberly WilliamsPaisley and Skylar Astin and featuring cameos by Broadway's biggest stars, a stellar supporting cast, and an original song performed by Kristin Chenoweth, Speech & Debate is sure to thrill audiences young and old, alike!

The wickedly funny Speech & Debate follows three teenagers brought together by a series of mishaps. Frustrated by the hypocrisy they see in their parents, teachers, and the entire school board, the unlikely trio set out to find a common truth and make their voices heard as they revive a defunct school club and take on the world. Blogging, blackmail, and Broadway belting drive the trio's bond in this outrageous comedy. Sarah Steele ("The Good Fight"), returns to the big screen as the beloved "Diwata;" a role she originated OffBroadway. Liam James (The Way, Way Back) and Austin P. McKenzie (Spring Awakening) star as her unlikely friends, "Solomon" and "Howie."

Fresh off his Broadway breakthrough and Tony Award for The Humans, playwright Stephen Karam adapts his first comedy Speech & Debate for the screen. Three of Karam's acclaimed plays including Speech & Debate, Sons of the Prophet and The Humans premiered at New York City's Roundabout Theatre Company and continued on to success around the country. Karam is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist & two-time NY Drama Critics Circle winner; as well as an Obie, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Hull-Warriner award winner. Having appeared in the New York productions of both Speech & Debate and The Humans, actress Sarah Steele returns to the big screen for Karam's film debut.

Sycamore Pictures is partnering with Vertical Entertainment to distribute the film.

Sycamore Pictures produced the Sundance hit The Way Way Back, starring Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell, John Carney's Begin Again starring Kiera Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's Mississippi Gring, starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn, John Krasinski's The Hollars with Anna Kendrick and Margo Martindale, the dysfunctional family comedy A Merry Friggin' Christmas starring Robin Williams and Joel McHale, and Collide starring Nicholas Hoult and FeliciTy Jones.

Photo credit: Haley Rynn Ringo