CALL ME CRAZY Opens 7/10 at Nuyorican Poets Cafe

This Thursday, July 10, New Jersey-based playwright/actress Helena D. Lewis will be opening her long-awaited off-off-Broadway debut of her award-winning solo play Call Me Crazy: Diary of a Mad Social Worker at the Theater @ Nuyorican Poets Cafe?. This much-anticipated three-week engagement runs through July 27th.

Call Me Crazy, a comedic- autobiographical one- woman play, takes a unique look at the highs and lows of working for peanuts while trying to save the world one poem at a time. After being assigned more work than she can handle, Lewis, an inner-city social worker, has a nervous breakdown, tries to kill her boss, and is committed for psychiatric observation. After being restrained, Lewis recalls her true-life experiences working with prostitutes, drug addicts, and prisoners.

Lewis first presented Call Me Crazy as a short play at the 2006 Downtown Urban Theater Festival (DUTF), where it went on to win Best Short at the festival. It was later developed into a full-length play and was a Festival Pick at the 2010 DC Black Theatre Festival.

Described as a "poetic powerhouse and a passionate performer with keen insight," Lewis is an award- winning playwright, acclaimed poet, and accomplished social worker. She launched her theater career in 2002 with the one-woman show Just Me. She is a poetry slam veteran who was a Nuyorican Poets Cafe? Grand Slam Finalist and member of the Nuyorican Slam Team. In addition to her career as a performer, Lewis recently earned her Master of Social Work degree and is a certified alcohol and drug counselor and an HIV/AIDS health educator.

Call Me Crazy: Diary of a Mad Social Worker will be playing at the Theater @Nuyorican Poet's Cafe?, 236 East 3rd Street, between Avenues B and C, in the East Village of Manhattan, NYC. Performances are held on July 10 through 27, 2014 at 7:00pm. The show on July 20th starts at 4pm. Tickets are $15, with group tickets also available. For tickets and further information, visit www.nuyorican.org