Guettel, LaChiusa, Etc. Set for Nov. 'Stories on 5 Songs'

Acclaimed theater company Playwrights Horizons will present the return of its unique benefit evening "Stories on 5 Stories" on Monday, November 13. 

This year's installment will have a musical twist, with the stories being told exclusively through song.  Renamed "Songs on 5 Stories" this year, the evening will feature original music by the theater's alumni and current writers: Tony Award winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island), 5-time Tony Award nominee Michael John LaChiusa (See What I Wanna See, The Wild Party), Tony Award winner Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins), Ricky Ian Gordon (My Life With Albertine, Dream True), Scott Frankel & Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) and Michael Friedman and Rinne Groff (Playwrights Horizons commissioned artists). 

The evening will celebrate the theater's home at 416 West 42nd Street and benefit the company's 2006-2007 season musical theater activities.
 
"Songs are being written specifically for the evening, inspired by and performed in locations around the theater company's 5-story headquarters.  While noted for its two state-of-the-art theaters, the building will host each number in such site-specific, non-traditional locations as the costume shop and the trap room under the Mainstage," state press notes.

"The numbers will be performed concurrently, each repeated several times in its own location.  Attendees will travel throughout the building in small groups in order to see each work, and each will be performed by separate casts.  Everyone will have the opportunity to view all six performances."

Participating performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

The schedule will be as follows:

• 6:00 PM - Dinner (optional) at Chez Josephine (414 West 42nd Street), attended by Playwrights Horizons staff and Board members, as well as some of the evening's playwrights.

• 7:30 PM – Event begins 

• 9:00 PM – Post-show reception with artists

Tickets are priced at $150 ("Ovation" ticket - a single ticket to the shows and reception) and $325 ("Overture" ticket - a single ticket for the pre-event dinner, shows and reception).

The event is strictly limited to 200 people, and it is anticipated that tickets will sell quickly.  All net proceeds from the event will benefit the theater's annual musical theater development programs and productions.

Playwrights Horizons' 2006-2007 season includes Bruce Norris' The Pain and the Itch, which recently opened, Tanya Barfield's Blue Door, Richard Nelson's Frank's Home, A.R. Gurney's Crazy Mary, as well as David Cale and Jonathan Kreisberg's musical Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky and Adam Rapp's Essential Self Defense.

Tickets for the show can be reserved online by visiting the Playwrights Horizons website www.playwrightshorizons.org or by calling (212) 564-1235, extension 3154.