Gallery Players Presents THE 13TH ANNUAL BLACK BOX NEW PLAY FESTIVAL 6/3

The Gallery Players proudly announces its line up for The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival. The festival boasts the world premieres of 19 new plays, opening in Brooklyn Thursday, June 3rd with a new adaptation of CANDIDE, by TJ Edwards (The Pearl Theatre Company), directed by The Gallery Players' Executive Director Neal J. Freeman. The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival runs June 3 - 27th, 2010.

The Gallery Players, producers of the new musicals Yank! (slated for a Broadway run; 2007 NYIT Award, Outstanding Production of a Musical) and Like You Like It (2007 NYIT Award, Outstanding Production of a Musical) continues its commitment to developing new work through The Black Box New Play Festival, now in its 13th year. Nat Cassidy's The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (produced by The Gallery Players in association with Engine37) premiered in The 11th Annual Black Box New Play Festival and received the 2009 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-Length Script. This year's line-up features another exciting collection of world premiere work, highlighted by TJ Edwards' new adaptation of Voltaire's CANDIDE.

The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival presents the world premieres of 19 plays in 4 boxes. The first box features the world-premiere of a full-length play to run throughout the festival, June 3-6, 12-13, and 19-20. Boxes 2 - 4 celebrate the short play with 19 premieres over 3 weekends: June 10 - 27:

Box 1: The world-premiere of a full-length play runs June 3 - 5 at 8 pm, June 6 at 3 pm, June 12 & 19 at 2 pm, June 13 & 20 at 7 pm:

CANDIDE by TJ Edwards, Directed by Neal J. Freeman
Voltaire's masterpiece, adapted for the stage in rhymed couplets by playwright TJ Edwards (The Pearl Theatre Company), is an assault on society, religion, human nature, education, government and above all, optimism. Candide's journey is here enacted by 11 actors playing over 75 roles in a madcap journey to discover just what it is that makes life worth living, led by Montgomery Sutton* (Edmund in King Lear, The Gallery Players) as Candide. Featuring: Judy Alvarez, Andrew Davies, Amanda McCallum*, Kyle Metzger*, Kyle Minshew*, Len Rella*, Emilie Soffe, Minna Taylor, Patrick Toon* and Alice Winslow *appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

Tickets to CANDIDE are $18 for adults, $14 for Seniors & Children 12 and under, and can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.galleryplayers.com.

The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival continues with Box 2: A weekend of 7 new short plays, Thursday, June 10- Saturday, 12 at 8 pm, Sunday, June 13 at 3 pm:

WILL YOU SING ME A LULLABY by Michael Kevin Baldwin, Directed by Rachel C. Dart
A damaged brother and sister find common ground in singing each other a lullaby. ?
AL BASHIR by Erik ChristIan Hanson, Directed by Paul Brewster?
An assassination is in the works for President al-Bashir of Sudan. Hank has wanted this for years but his team seems to have last-minute reservations.
UNDER THE RUG by Jamie Gerardi, Directed by Brian Maschka? ?
An absurdist comedy of two well-regarded upper crust citizens of New Hope, Pennsylvania who have committed ghastly crimes. ?
A MEETING by Joseph Talarico, Directed by Barbara Danielle Harrison?
A priest and a young man enter a cramped room. The priest wants company. The young man may want something more.
ADDICTION ANONYMOUS by David M. Korn, Directed by Allison Bressi?
An amusing look at the nature of twelve-step programs and their cultural proliferation.
THE REMAKE by David L. Williams, Directed by Michael LaPolla?
Martin has a screenplay he won't show anyone. When his agent Leland finally sees it, he learns that Martin has written a remake of a movie that should never be remade. The one problem? It's a great script.
I LOVE NEW YORK by Corey Pajka. Directed by Chad Yarborough
A working class stiff on the subway likes to think he's an underground poet. Taking solace in his mp3 player, his imagination takes control. Can he resolve his fantasy with reality?

Box 3: A weekend of 8 new short plays runs Thursday, June 17 - Saturday, June 19 at 8 pm, Sunday, June 20 at 3 pm:

SEVEN MINUTES by Lindsay Joy Murphy, Directed by Angela Dirksen?
Two high school kids stuck in a closet find common ground and a spark of something more.
WINTER FLOWERS by Lily Rusek, Directed by Heather Arnson?
Two older sisters are facing a crisis and life and death decisions have to be made.?
15 MILES TO THE HORIZON by Jeannine Jones, Directed by William Addiss
While waiting for her blind date, Suzanne strikes up a conversation with a handsome stranger. Will she take the chance?
MEMENTO MIMI by Denis Meadows, Directed by Kristine Ayers
Memory and reality clash in a chance meeting between old flames on a ferry ride.
DIGNITY by Joe Lauinger, Directed by Barrie Gelles?
John Garfield's elderly uncle has committed a grave offense against the rules of his nursing home, and it's up to John to agree to the therapy insisted upon.
KARP'S LAST TEXT by Corey Pajka, Directed by Ari Rosenbaum
Can two people truly communicate through a wall of technology?
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR by Camilla Maxwell, Directed by Mike Hayhurst
A couple in suburban London prepare for a lovely Sunday afternoon barbecue with friends. When the husband secretly invites the neighbors to join the party, they realize you can choose your friends but you can't choose your neighbours.
ME by Maia Akiva, Directed by Sarah Bennett
Suppose you were to come face to face with your destiny, but it won't give you any information. Is destiny right? Is it a bad thing to know, or will it make your life easier?

Box 4 - A weekend of 3 new short plays runs Thursday, June 24th -?Saturday, June 26th at 8pm,?Sunday, June 27th at 3pm:

PIECE OF CAKE by Nora Vetter, Directed by Brian Michael Flanagan?
A young woman gains clarity when she stops in at a bakery to order a birthday cake for her new boyfriend.
HOT FUDGE SUNDAE by Corey Pajka, Directed by Tim O'Donnell
A young man finds himself in an otherworldly ice cream parlor with his favorite dessert and a strange little girl he's oddly familiar with. Only as the play progresses, and the girl's life along with it, does he deduce their true link, but their time together is melting away as quickly as the sundae.
THIS ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE by Philip Gerson, Directed by Kelly Johnston?
Why would a softhearted liberal repeatedly stab a sexy right-wing pundit-therapist with a carving knife? To answer this, we're taken on a wild ride through today's nightmarish universe of hate politics, big media consolidation and isolating technology.

Tickets to Boxes 2 - 4 of The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival are $15 for adults, $12 for Seniors & Children 12 and under. Festival passes are $30. Tickets can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.galleryplayers.com.

The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Aves. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival is produced by Dominic Cuskern for The Gallery Players. Associate Producers are Barrie Gelles, Nina Lutwick, & Hannah Mason, Festival Stage Manager is Allison M. Malinowski, Scenic/Props Designer is Starlet Jacobs, Costume Coordinator is Dara Fargotstein and the Lighting Designer is Scott Andrew Cally. The Stage Manager for CANDIDE is Kelli Keith, Assistant Director is Brian Letchworth and the Costume Designer is Dara Fargotstein.

A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals. Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret." The Gallery Players is the recipient of the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement and is the three-time recipient of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical in 2007, 2008 and 2009 for their productions of Urinetown! The musical, Yank! A New Musical, (now slated for a Broadway run) and Like You Like It. Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein; Broadway regulars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman and Diedre Goodwin; New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky and many others.

The Gallery Players' summer season continues with Hamlet, July 21 - August 8, 2010. The Peanut Gallery, a summer musical theatre camp for kids, runs July 5 - 30, 2010. For more information on The Gallery Players' 43rd season, visit www.galleryplayers.com.