John Herrera to Present Benefit Performance of Solo Show THE GREAT WRITER

An old man sleeps on the porch of a house in New Orleans' Garden District. He is awakened by an aspiring young writer hoping to get an autograph. By day's end, the old man has agreed to teach the young writer the tenets of both writing and living well. In the process, can the old man reignite his passion and write again in the unadorned, accessible style of his earlier work?

Loosely based on the last year in the life of a famous writer who refused to succumb in the face of ill-health and alcoholism, Tony Award nominee John Herrera's (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Evita, In the Heights) solo show asks how a writer can continue to work when the best days of his life are behind him.

The Great Writer will be followed by a reception. All proceeds from the evening's performance will go to support EAG's charitable work.

The evening is set for Thursday, May 25 at 7:00 pm at Guild Hall at The Little Church, 1 E. 29th St., New York, NY 10016 (btwn Fifth/Madison - Trains: R/W @ 28th St.; 6 @ 28th St.) Tickets: $15/EAG Member, $20/Non-Members (Suggested Donation). RSVP: (212) 685-2927 or office@actorsguild.org.

John Herrera is a professional actor and playwright. He has written six plays thus far: Some Kind of Trouble (a semi-finalist at the O'Neill Playwright's Conference that was produced in Long Beach, CA last year), Mi Padre and Me, Tiempo de Amor (first presented at the First Stage Festival at Florida Stage), A Matter of Inquiry, and The Great Writer. As an actor, John was nominated for a Tony Award for creating the role of Neville in the original Broadway production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and he received a Jeff Award for playing George in Sunday in the Park with George at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Other Broadway credits include Evita, 1776, Camelot, Man of La Mancha and The Threepenny Opera. Off-Broadway, John created the role of Kevin in In the Heights and Rodolfo in The Public Theater's English language La Boheme starring Lisa Ronstadt. National tours include Anatoly in Chess, Enjolras in LES MISERABLES, Che in Evita, and both Roy and Louis in Angels in America. Some of his regional theater credits include Mark Rothko in Red at Orlando Shakespeare, Dansforth in The Crucible at Cleveland Playhouse, Santiago in Anna in the Tropics at Seattle Repertory (Carbonell Award), the King of France in All's Well that Ends Well at Triad Stage, and King Alonso in The Tempest at Notre Dame Shakespeare. John appears in The House That Jack Built, an independent film that is available on Netflix. He has been a guest star on Person of Interest and Law & Order: SVU among other episodic television shows.

The Episcopal Actors' Guild, established in 1923, is a charitable organization offering emergency assistance and career support to professional performers "of all faiths, and none." We also host a full calendar of events and fundraisers including concerts, variety shows, play readings, and professional workshops. Learn more at www.actorsguild.org.