Cady Huffman Set for SONNET PROJECT Launch, 5/20

New York Shakespeare Exchange (Ross Williams, Artistic Director) is thrilled the announce the 12 sonnets that will launch the year-long interactive SONNET PROJECT on May 20, with an invitation only launch event happening from 7 - 9 PM at The Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35 Avenue in Astoria). For more information, visit www.ShakespeareExchange.org.

Tony Award-winner Cady Huffman, currently on Broadway in The Nance, is the special guest at the launch, where she will do a sonnet reading.

Ms. Huffman also joins previously announced actors Lynn Cohen, Vince Gatton, Joanna Gleason, Austin Pendleton, Chris Sarandon, Dana Snyder, and Michael Urie in appearing in an upcoming sonnet film.

The following sonnet films will be released at the launch party:

- Sonnet 8, directed by Emily Ernst and Daniel Burity and featuring Michelle Beck, filmed at the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, Manhattan
- Sonnet 9, directed by Sean MacBride Murray and featuring Anton Rayn, filmed at the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn
- Sonnet 15, directed by Melissa Crespo and featuring Michael Lopez, filmed at the Osborne Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Brooklyn
- Sonnet 20, directed by Guy Patton and featuring Eric Percival, filmed at Christopher Park in Sheridan Square, Manhattan
- Sonnet 41, directed by Matthew Kohn and featuring Johnny Sparks, filmed at the Temperance Fountain in Tompkins Square Park, Manhattan
- Sonnet 44, directed by Sean Gannett and featuring Kevin Brewer, filmed at The Unisphere, Queens
- Sonnet 71, directed by Noemi Charlotte Thieves and featuring Kristi Dana, filmed at the Holocaust Memorial at the Appellate Court, Manhattan
- Sonnet 73, directed by Malinda Sorci and featuring Pat Dwyer, filmed at the Wisteria Pergola, Central Park, Manhattan
- Sonnet 152, directed by David Ketterer and featuring Zoë Frazer, filmed at the 230th Street Stairwell, The Bronx
- Sonnet 14, directed by R. Jameson Smith and featuring Rochelle Slovin, filmed at Far Rockaway Beach, Queens
- Sonnet 19, directed by Becky Lane and featuring Annie Paul, filmed at The Bear and Faun Statue, Morningside Park, Manhattan
- Sonnet 1, directed by Melinda Hall and featuring Ross Williams, filmed at Chelsea Piers, Manhattan

The SONNET PROJECT launch party is sponsored in part by Brooklyn Brewery and Communal Brands. Catering is by Nova Catering and Cater2Me.

As part of their commitment to make Shakespeare accessible to everyone, everywhere, New York Shakespeare Exchange embarks on an extraordinary year-long undertaking, creating short films of all 154 of Shakespeare's love poems with 154 actors in 154 unique locations around the five boroughs, bringing together the classical poetry of the Bard with the urban poetry of New York City.

Throughout the year, each short film will be released on the website www.SonnetProjectNYC.com and via a SONNET PROJECT mobile app. The goal is to reach an audience of 1,000,000 by April 23, 2014, in celebration of Shakespeare's 450th birthday.

This year-long endeavor culminates in the release of a full SONNET PROJECT Anthology, complete with special features exploring the textual nuances of the language, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the creators and actors.

The project will also feature several "virtual" bonuses, including special Sonnet "walking tours" of New York City neighborhoods, an interactive SONNET PROJECT website available to educators and Shakespeare-lovers of all ages, as well as Sonnet Project scavenger hunts making use of QR codes and mobile technology.

Plus, the SONNET PROJECT will also include several IRL (In Real Life) events throughout the year.

NYSX's SONNET PROJECT was financed by one of Kickstarter's most successful theatrical fundraising endeavor to date raising $49,255.

New York Shakespeare Exchange offers innovative theatrical programming that explores what happens when contemporary culture is infused with Shakespearean poetry and themes in unexpected ways. Providing fresh points of entry to the work so that modern audiences will be exposed to the intrinsic power of Shakespeare, their goal is to encourage an enthusiastic appreciation of classical theater and to expand the reach of the art form within new and existing audiences.