LUCKY STAR Sets Reading for 1/28 at Theater for the New City

Lucky Star written by Ted Sod and Edie Demas will be read on Monday, January 28th at 7pm at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets) New York, NY 10003. Lucky Star is about Jill, a 16-year-old suburban rebel from Piscataway, NJ with an overactive imagination, who has been parented by an ex-drag queen turned florist named Coco Dependent. Jill thinks her biological mother is either Madonna, Beyonce or Amy Winehouse.

The play will be part of Theater for the New City's New City, New Blood reading series and will include wine and cheese post reading. The cast includes: Vichet Chum, Keith Chappelle, Dan Domingues, Cameron Folmar, Yasmeen Jawhar, Lanna Joffrey, Jillian Louis, Socorro Santiago and Justin Sayre as Coco. Naomi Anhorn is the stage manager. Sod is directing. Demas is assisting him. Contribution $5. You can make a reservation at: literary@theaterforthenewcity.net

Ted Sod (co-writer and director) is dramaturge for the education department at The Roundabout Theatre Company in NYC. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA, Actors Equity, The Dramatists Guild and SD&C. Musicals and plays he has written include: 27, RUE DE FLEURUS/MY LIFE WITH GERTRUDE (produced at Urban Stages/Published by Samuel French); THE COUSINS GRIMM (Produced at Bailiwick Theatre, Chicago; developmental readings at NYMF and Eugene O'Neill Cabaret Conference); STEALING (O'Neill Theatre Center Music Theatre Conference; New City Theatre, Seattle; Seattle Group Theatre); DAMAGED GOODS (Alice B. Theatre, Seattle); SALON (Annex Theatre, Seattle); THE KISS (Alice B. Theatre); NOT SUNSET BOULEVARD (Alice B. Theatre); A RUDE AWAKENING (Broadway Performance Hall, Seattle); SATAN AND SIMON DESOTO (Cal Arts Theatre School/published by Heinemann Books) and THE LOST ART OF CONVERSATION. LOST ART was recently named a finalist for the Abingdon Theatre Company's Christopher Brian Wolk Award and has been read there twice and also as part of the New Blood Series at Theatre for the New City. It was also selected to be read as part of the Lavender Footlights festival in Miami. His plays for young audiences include: MAKE ME PELE FOR A DAY (Seattle and Dallas Children's Theatres); THREE WISHES (Seattle Children's Theatre); and CONQUEST OF FEARS (George Street Playhouse and Seattle Repertory Theatre). Sod produced, wrote, and acted in CROCODILE TEARS, an independent feature film, based on his play "Satan and Simon DeSoto".

Sod's NYC directing credits include: HOW TO BE A GOOD ITALIAN DAUGHTER IN SPITE OF MYSELF (Cherry Lane); BLOOD TYPE: RAGU (Actors' Playhouse); BY JUPITER for the Musicals in Mufti series and several developmental readings at The York Theatre Company; WHO POPPED PAPI CHULO? and SCARLET SEES THE LIGHT for the NYC Fringe Festivals and THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES at The Terry Schrieber Studio. He assisted Daniel Sullivan on the world premiere of 10 UNKNOWNS at Lincoln Center Theater. He was Artistic Associate & Director of Education at George Street Playhouse (GSP) for three seasons. At GSP, he directed AGNES OF GOD, A NIGHT IN TUNISIA, TALLEY'S FOLLY and WIT on the main stage and numerous touring shows. He has also directed at Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's Cabaret Conference; Capital Rep; The Bickford Theatre; Charlotte Repertory Theatre; The Arbor Music Society, Adelphi University and Sarah Lawrence College.

EDIE DEMAS, PhD, (co-writer and asst. director) is currently the inaugural Director of Education for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, she was the Director of Education at New York City's New Victory Theater for ten seasons. While under her direction, the theater's education programs were honored with the Americans for the Arts annual award for Arts Education and Demas herself received a BAXten award in recognition of her work with teaching artists and young audiences. Edie holds an MA and PhD from NYU's Program in Educational Theatre where she has been on the adjunct faculty since 1990. In addition to her work in theater and education, Demas has worked in script development for film and TV and founded a youth and family film festival in Ireland. She has published both fiction and non-fiction works and currently has several titles in development for kids and teens.