SPECIAL Plays Studio Theatre Off-Broadway, Opens 9/17

William Leavengood's SPECIAL will play Off Broadway at Theatre Row Studio Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street, beginning September 15 through October 2. Elissa Middleton stars; Cat Miller directs.

SPECIAL is the powerful, intimate story of two women who face profound challenges when their lives become forever intertwined with the power and mysteries of the other-abled.

In Act I, a woman whose life has lost its direction finds her calling and a sense of purpose when she falls into a job as a Special Ed teacher in Florida. Despite an undermining administration, a
dysfunctional public school system, and her own fears of inadequacy, she directs her Special Ed students in a triumphant production of The Wizard of Oz.

In Act II, an emerging painter finds her self-centered, career-oriented life turned upside-down when she discovers that her infant son is severely autistic and non-verbal. Determined to offer
her son as normal and complete a life as possible, she struggles against social prejudice and government bureaucracy, as well as her own career aspirations, to raise her intensely high-needs child. Her journey explores what truly makes someone a "good mother."

SPECIAL is an unflinching and moving portrayal of the life struggles of two real-life women: Special Education teacher and activist, Mary Tilford, and wild and colorful visual artist, Michelle Feulner-Castro.

When: September 15 - October 2, 2011
Time: 8pm
Opens: September 17, 2011

Where: The Studio Theatre
Theatre Row
410 W 42nd Street
New York, NY

Tickets: $20 and can be bought at the Studio Theatre box office and Telecharge

Website: http://www.specialtheplay.com

BIOS:

William Leavengood is a two-time O'Neill playwright and alumnus of Circle Repertory. His Off-Broadway credits include the upcoming SPECIAL on Theatre Row; LITTLE MARY at the Sanford Meisner Theatre; THE HEAD at the Chelsea Playhouse; THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY, directed
by Casey Childs, at Primary Stages; and FLORIDA CRACKERS, directed by John Bishop, which premiered as part of Circle Repertory's 20th Anniversary Season.

William's short play, STEVE, was presented at the Town Hall Theatre in New York as part of BRAVE NEW WORLD: The American Theater responds to 9/11, and subsequently made into a short film starring Fisher Stevens.

In Florida, recent successes include WEBB'S CITY: THE MUSICAL at the Mahaffey Theater; CROSSING THE BAY at the Janet Root Theater; AMERICAN ROAD at the Gorilla Theatre; and FOOD & SHELTER at American Stage. His comedy, LOURDES OF THE FLIES, will have its world premiere at the Palladium Theatre in St. Petersburg on Aug. 19, 2011.

His farce, WHAT IS ART?, opened the Reflections Festival of New Plays at the Geva Theatre, and was later produced at the Court Theatre, Los Angeles, starring Beverly Hills 90210's Ian Ziering.

17 BLACK was chosen for the National Playwrights Conference and subsequently received the Brodkin Scholarship Award. William was invited to return to the NPC in 1995 with THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY.

Published works include FLORIDA, BOUND, a collection of his plays, and HELLENBACK HIGH. William has received grants from Florida Division of Cultural Affairs; Florida Council for the Arts, Pinellas County Arts Council, and the Berrilla Kerr Foundation. Other awards and honors
include the Edith Oliver Fellows Award and "Best of the Bay" Playwright in 2005, 2000, 1999 and 1997. He serves as Artistic Director of the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation and is Director of the
Theatre Program at Shorecrest Preparatory School. He belongs to the Circle East Theatre Company (NYC), the Dramatists' Guild, the Writers' Guild, and to his wife, Diana, and daughters, Alice and Charlotte.

Cat Miller recently returned to NY from Chicago where she received her MFA in directing from Northwestern University studying under Anna D. Shapiro, Jessica Thebus and Mary Zimmerman. Since returning to NY Cat has assistant directed Motherf**cker With the Hat by Stephen Adly
Guirgis on Broadway and directed Ghost Girl, a new play by Sue Pak, at the Workshop Theatre. Other favorite directing credits include Aunt Dan and Lemon by Wallace Shawn and her own adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale at Northwestern, Sex and Hunger by Kyoung
Park at Access Theater and 6 Figures Theater Company, and All the Happy People by Greg Hardigan at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Prior to returning to graduate school Catherine spent five years in New York where she directed and developed work for numerous companies including
the Lark Play Development Center, Six Figures Theater Company, Theatre Arts Japan, The Drilling Company, The Milk Can Theater Company, Access Theater, Babes in the Woods, the NY International Fringe Festival and Untitled Theatre Company among others. She was a directing resident at Playwrights Horizons for their 2006-2007 season where she assistant
directed for Anna D. Shapiro, Carolyn Cantor, and Joe Calarco. Cat is the recipient of an SDCF Observership and a member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab.

Elissa Middleton completed the 2-year Meisner-based actors' training with William Esper; studies voice and speech with Shane-Ann Younts; and scene study with Austin Pendelton. Recently she played the lead in Craig Lucas' Reckless and has acted in several independent features, including The Good Heart, with Brian Cox and Paul Dano, and As Good as Dead. Elissa is also a published nonfiction author and has written about travel, art, books and cuisine. She has conversational command of 4 languages and never imagined it was possible to be as happily married as she is to her husband, Clark Middleton.