RLTP Presents SCREEN PLAY, 3/4

Bogie & Bergman do Buffalo in the Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) presentation of A.R. Gurney's Screen Play, making its Western New York (WNY) premiere at the Road Less Traveled Theater on March 4th, 2011. The play, which opened in NYC in 2005, updates the popular 1943 film Casablanca to a WNY of the near future, in which Buffalo becomes the last stop for political refugees fleeing to Canada.
 
Screen Play is the second selection of RLTP's A.R. Gurney cycle, dedicated to presenting Gurney's newer, lesser-known, and more political comedies; the first selection, 2010's A Light Lunch, was a smash hit for the company. RLTP's production of Screen Play will star RLTP Resident Actor Bob Grabowski with Jay Pichardo, Natalie Mack, Carlton Franklin, Jermain Cooper, Jonathan Shuey, and (returning after his popular performance in A Light Lunch), David Hayes, under the direction of RLTP Artistic Director Scott Behrend. Screen Play will run March 4, 2011 through March 27, 2011, at the Road Less Traveled Theater.
 
"It's 2025, and everybody comes to Nick's Cafe Americana, Western New York's hottest nightclub," said Behrend. "It's where persecuted liberals make the last mad dash to freedom across the Northern border." "As with last season's A Light Lunch, Screen Play showcases a very different kind of Gurney," explains Behrend. "It's a political satire, a movie parody, and - naturally - a romance."
 
Behrend promised that Screen Play - which Gurney has staged as a rehearsal reading of a sci-fi/action motion picture - would appeal to fans of both Gurney and Casablanca. "All of the familiar, beloved figures are represented in a novel and clever way," guaranteed Behrend, enumerating Pichardo as a Humphrey Bogart-like figure, Mack as Ingrid Bergman, Franklin as Claude Rains, and Grabowski as Paul Henreid, among others.
 
Gurney is a Buffalo native who has enjoyed both local and national success for such plays as Love Letters, The Dining Room, Buffalo Gal, Sylvia, andA Light Lunch. His most recent plays include Black Tie, The Grand Manner, and Office Hours. Behrend praised Gurney as a key figure in Buffalo's theatre history, and reaffirmed RLTP's plans to continue to celebrate Gurney's newer and lesser-known plays in coming seasons.
 
Screen Play runs Friday, March 4th through Sunday, March 27th - Thursday through Saturday at 7:30PM and Sunday at 2:00PM. Tickets are $30 for Adults, $25 for Seniors, and $15 for Students with valid IDs. Students with valid IDs pay only $5 at RLTP's Mighty Taco Talkback performances on Thursdays. Tickets are available at The Road Less Traveled Theater Box Office, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or by calling 1-800-745-3000. The Road Less Traveled Theater is located at 639 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14205 (inside the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre).
 
Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) is a professional theatre company dedicated to the development and production of new theatrical works by Western New York playwrights, as well as presentations of esteemed modern dramas of outstanding literary merit. RLTP is located in the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre in the Downtown Buffalo Theatre District. For ticketing information call 1-800-745-3000 or visit www.RoadLessTraveledProductions.org. RLTP's work is made possible through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.