Ron Holgate and Roger Robinson Set for CEASEFIRE Reading at Berkshire Playwrights Lab, 8/22

Berkshire Playwrights Lab will present a staged reading of James Demarse's new play, Ceasefire, on Wednesday, August 22 at 7:30pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, Mass.). Directed by Joe Cacaci, the production will feature Tony Award-winning actors Ron Holgate and Roger Robinson, along with Kofi Boakye, Mickey Solis, and two actors to be announced. There is no charge for admission, however, Berkshire Playwrights Lab suggests a $10.00 donation to help offset its programming costs. For reservations, call 413.528.0100 or visit the Mahaiwe box office in person. For more information, see www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org.

James Demarse's Ceasefire is the story of an American diplomat who tries to negotiate peace in an African republic while he simultaneously tries to negotiate the travails of his troubled marriage. "The play excites us because it is the story of a man who is trying to juggle both the public and the personal. In the process he discovers that his own government is playing a complex game of 'cat and mouse' intelligence," said Berkshire Playwrights Lab Co-Artistic Director Matthew Penn. "Espionage, marital challenge-what could be better?"

James Demarse is an actor, director, and playwright based in New York City. He founded and was the artistic director for seven years of the 42nd Street Workshop, a non-profit theatre company in New York that has a membership of about two hundred actors, writers, and directors. He ran the playwriting module and acted as dramaturg for all readings and productions. He has also had Equity showcase productions of his plays in New York, including Knock 'Em Dead at the Image, Breaking Through the Clutter at the 42nd Workshop, three one-act plays under the title of Urban Disorders at the Company of Characters, Easy Street at the Quaigh, and A Dress Unknown at the West Bank. He has also had rehearsed staged readings of Black Duck Bay, Dying For You, Orange Bees at 42nd Workshop, George Washington's Farewell to his Mother at the Actor's Studio PD UNIT, and Violent Child at Ensemble Studio Theatre. He has performed on and off Broadway, at regional theatres, and for film and television. He is a member of Actors Studio, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Dramatists Guild of America.

In addition to being co-artistic director of Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Joe Cacaci is the founding director of East Coast Arts, where he produced twenty world premiere plays over seven seasons, and the producing director, with Dan Lauria, of The Playwrights Kitchen Ensemble in L.A. from 1993 to the present, where over 500 new plays have been given staged readings in the Monday Night Reading Series. He co-produced David Mamet's Obie-winning play, Edmond, at the Provincetown Playhouse. His own plays have been produced at The Public Theater, The Coconut Grove Theatre (where he also directed), The Long Wharf Theater, and at The Alley Theatre in Houston. He has directed at The Westport Playhouse and commercially in Los Angeles. He has also written numerous made-for-television movies and co-created the CBS prime time series The Trials of Rosie O'Neill. He was executive producer (show runner) of two prime time series: Showtime's The Hoop Life and CBS' The Education of Max Bickford, which starred Richard Dreyfuss and Marcia Gay Harden. He directed the PBS pilot Cop Shop, which starred Richard Dreyfuss and Blair Brown. Currently, he teaches television writing in the graduate program of the Film School at Columbia University.

An opera singer and actor, Ron Holgate won a Tony Award for his performance in the musical 1776; he is a veteran of Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, and over a dozen national and international tours. Roger Robinson won a Tony Award for his performance in August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone and he appeared in six of Wilson's ten plays chronicling African American life in the 20th century. Kofi Boakye hails from Ghana and has trained at the Lee Strasberg Theater and the Columbia University Theater Program. Mickey Solis is a graduate of the Institute For Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University and he is a member of Dangerous Ground, a multimedia theater company.

Founded in 2007 by theatre professionals Joe Cacaci, Jim Frangione, Bob Jaffe, and Matthew Penn, the Berkshire Playwrights Lab is the area's only theatre dedicated exclusively to encouraging, developing, and presenting new plays. Through readings-and in the future through workshops and fully-staged productions-the Lab provides emerging and established writers with a professional and creative environment, while offering audiences the engaging and provocative opportunity to share in the dramatic evolution of premiere works.

The Lab has staged readings of more than 50 new plays, many of which have gone on to full productions, including Kelly Masterson's Against the Rising Sea at Queens Theatre in the Park, Chris Newbound's The Birthday Boy at Berkshire Theatre Festival, Kate Wenner's Make Sure It's Me at Stage Left Theatre, and later this summer, Kelly Masterson's Edith at Berkshire Theatre Group. Also, from last season, Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation went on to The Old Globe and Andrew Dolan's The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King recently opened to rave reviews at Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles. As well, Matt Hoverman's The Glint has been optioned for Broadway, Anna Ziegler's An Incident (with the new title Another Way Home) will be produced at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco in November and Matthew Penn will direct a production of Scrambled Eggs by Robin Amos Kahn and Gary Richards next April at the Beckett Theatre in New York.

Note: Press is welcome to attend Berkshire Playwrights Lab events, but not to review, as the plays presented are works in progress.