Photo Coverage: Urban Stages Announces Cast For COMMUNION, 10/6-10/30

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director) will kick off its 33rd season with the American Premiere of the award-winning drama Communion by celebrated Obie Award- winning, Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor, who will direct the production. This limited engagement will run at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues) will begin performances tonightand will run through October 30th, 2016 with Opening Night set for Thursday, October 6th. Tickets are $40 ($25 during previews) and may be purchased via OvationTix at www.urbanstages.org or by phone at 1.866.811.4111.

The talented Communion cast includes: Erica Bradshaw (TV: "Orange is the New Black," "Law & Order: SVU"), Stephanie Cozart (NYC: Lost In Yonkers), Jackie Hansen (NYC: Shatter. TV: "Deadly Sins"). The design and production team for Communion includes Deborah Constantine (Lighting Design), Frank Oliva (Set Design), Gail Cooper Hecht (Costume Design), Tony Crawford (Technical Director),Ashley Jansen (Assistant to the Director), Krystle Henninger (Production Stage Manager), Alayna Graziani (Assistant Stage Manager),Associate Producer Peter Napolitano, Development & Literary Director Antoinette Mullins and Company Manager/Financial AdministratorOlga Devyatisilnaya.

In Communion, Leda's Born-Again daughter shouts a painful truth: "People don't have mothers like you." The distance between Leda and her daughter is filled with silence and anger. Upon the advice of a therapist dealing with her own host of troubles, Leda tries to bridge that distance and prepare her daughter for the calamity just ahead. Communion explores the dark places of relations and what is needed to repair a familial bond under the pressures of religion, recovery and a ticking clock. It asks whether or not some bonds are too damaged to mend.

Urban Stages also gave MacIvor's Marion Bridge its American Premiere, which was subsequently turned adapted into a film.