Frank Ingrasciotta to Bring BLOOD TYPE: RAGU to Shea Smith's Performing Arts Center

Broadway League Vice-Chair of the Road Member, Tony Award Winner, and Producer, Albert Nocciolino will present the one-man play, Blood Type: Ragu at the historic Shea Smith's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY. A coming-of-age story exploring the first-generation American's delicate dance between culture and identity. Writer/Performer Frank Ingrasciotta, portrays more than 20 characters who live, love and laugh in this fast-paced, tour-de-force journey that is not just a comedy, not just a drama. It's family - and we all have one!

Ingrasciotta, an actor, stage director and arts educator, is trained in the Meisner technique. He developed Ragu at the George Street Playhouse. The show continued an acclaimed commercial Off-Broadway run at the Actors Playhouse, and was awarded top honors at last year's United Solo Festival for Best Comic Actor and Best Comedic Script. He previously told Broadwayworld.com the show was about "the first-generation child as a go-between [for] two cultures and the struggle of finding your identity in the mix. It should resonate to anyone who has a family." Asked how much of the show was autobiographical and how much was fictional, Ingrasciotta replied, "It's 80 percent true, 10 percent my wife's story combined into mine, and 10 percent heightened for drama."

Ragu has also toured theaters and performing arts centers in Albany, Atlanta, Connecticut, New Jersey, Long Island, Staten Island and Atlantic City. Ted Sod directs.

Shea's Performing Arts Center, 658 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14202. For tickets, (800) 745-3000. For more information go to www.sheas.org, or www.bloodtyperagu.com.

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