Unicorn Theatre’s In-Progress New Play Reading Series Presents HONEST

Unicorn Theatre's In-Progress New Play Reading Series tackles honesty With Honest By Eric Simonson

Unicorn Theatre is dedicated to developing new plays and playwrights. Now in the fourth season, the In-Progress New Play Reading Series is your opportunity to get a glimpse of new works from local and national playwrights. Many of the scripts you will hear read are being considered for our 2011-2012 season. In the last four seasons, five of the plays read in this series have been produced in our main season including Rising Water, And Her Hair Went With Her, The Velvet Rut, Green Whales and this season's upcoming production of Two Jews Walk Into A War... On Sunday November 14th at 7:30pm, the Unicorn will present a reading of Eric Simonson's new play Honest. Simonson's plays Carter's Way and Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright have been produced by Kansas City Repertory Theatre and his play Lombardi is currently playing on Broadway. The Unicorn's Marketing Director and Literary Manager, Justin Shaw, directs Todd Carlton Lanker, Ashlee LaPine, Chris Roady, Matthew Leonard and Becca Scott in this one-night reading.

Free to the public, there are no tickets or reservations for In-Progress New Play Readings Series events.
A donation is accepted at the door.

About The Show

Guy Prescott, author of a best-selling memoir about his downward spiral into drug addiction and homelessness seems to have it all - youth, celebrity, and a huge advance from one of the biggest publishing houses in the country. One day he comes face-to-face with a prying reporter, snooping for a scandal. What follows is a fascinating tale that takes us back in time, first to Guy's heady college days, and then to a strange and traumatic family history. It's a journey fraught with intrigue, lies, heartbreak and the ultimate hoax: self-deception.

About the Playwright
Eric Simonson is an Oscar and Tony award winner and nominee for writing and directing. His plays and adaptations include Lombardi: The Only Thing currently playing on Broadway, Nomathemba (written with Ntozake Shange and Joseph Shabalala), Carter's Way and Fake at Steppenwolf Theatre Company where he is a company member. Other plays include The Last Hurrah, Edge of the World and Speak American. His work has been produced in Japan and throughout the United States at theaters including The Huntington Theatre Company, L.A. Theatre Works, City Theatre of Pittsburgh, The Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Madison Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Crossroads Theatre Company. His adaptation of Moby Dick at Milwaukee Repertory was chosen as one of Time Magazine's top ten productions of 2002. His production of Steppenwolf's The Song of Jacob Zulu received six Tony Award® nominations, including one for Best Direction. Mr. Simonson is also an accomplished theatre, film and opera director. He co-directed (with Campbell Scott) Hamlet for Hallmark Entertainment, as well as three documentaries for HBO, including A Note of Triumph, which won an Academy Award® for documentary short in 2006 and On Tiptoe, which received an Oscar® nomination and the IDA Award for distinguished achievement. In 2005, he received the Princess Grace Statue Award for sustained artistic achievement. His adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (originally produced at Steppenwolf) received its Off-Broadway premiere in December at New York's 59E59 Theater. His play Louder, Faster (co-written with Jeff Hatcher) will premiere at City Theatre in May of 2011.

More information online at www.UnicornTheatre.org

About Unicorn Theatre
Founded in 1974, Unicorn Theatre exists to enhance the cultural life of Kansas City by producing professional contemporary, thought-provoking theater, which inspires emotional response and stimulates discussion. Unicorn Theatre is under the artistic and executive leadership of Producing Artistic Director Cynthia Levin, who joined the company in 1980. From a newly expanded home in the Midtown neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, the Unicorn houses two stages--The Mainstage and The Jerome Stage (added 2007). A fully professional not-for-profit theatre, the theatre operates under agreement with Actor's Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. The Unicorn is a founding member of the National New Play Network, an alliance of not-for-profit professional theatres that champions the development, production and continued life of new plays for the American theatre; and is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group, Inc., the national service organization for the not-for-profit professional theatre. Financial assistance for this theatre has been provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; corporate and foundation gifts; and the generous individuals throughout the community we serve.