Playten, Doran, Etc. Set for Why This Night Reading

New World Stages will host two staged readings of Why This Night, a new comedy by Stephen Joseph, with direction by Alan Souza, on Monday, August 28th at 7pm and Tuesday, August 29th at 3pm at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).
 
"The ingredients: the ultimate Jewish mother, her (of course) perfect son, his celebrity-chef boyfriend, a nutty percussionist, a loquacious little lady, a world-weary widow, a deaf drum-major, and a spotlight-craving prophet.  Add a dash of danger - and Elijah in a Santa suit! - and you've got the recipe for a delicious, wacky, heartfelt new comedy that you don't have to be Jewish to love," according to notes on the reading.

"See what happens when a writer brings his famous boyfriend home to Boca Raton to experience the perfect Passover Seder… and meet his mother….who, by the way, has been chosen by the prophet Elijah to lead the Exodus!"
 
The cast includes OBIE-winner Marcia Jean Kurtz (Taller Than a Dwarf, Everett Beekin) as the mother in question, Tony-nominee Alice Playten  (Henry, Sweet Henry, Caroline or Change) as a nosy little neighbor and Harris Doran (Hair in Concert) as her son.  Jay Russell (The Play What I Wrote) is the zany prophet, joined by Ryan Farrell (ABC-TV's "All My Children"), OBIE winner Carole Monferdini (Full Gallop, The Club) and Adam Wade (I'm Not Rappaport).
 
Joseph is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and the Asolo MFA Conservatory.  Why This Night? is  Joseph's fourth play.  Alan Souza is a freelance director and a graduate of the Syracuse University Drama Department.  He most recently directed Fiddler on the Roof for the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma.
 
The reading is free but reservations are required. For more information, visit www.whythisnight.com.