'Stories on 5 Stories' with Dennehy & Hecht on Nov.19

Playwrights Horizons has announced twelve performers who will participate in the return of its unique benefit evening "Stories on 5 Stories" on Monday, November 19.  Among those taking part in the special event will be two-time Tony Award winner Brian Dennehy, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jessica Hecht, Joanna P. Adler, Becky Anne Baker, Caroline Clay, Stephen DeRosa, André Holland, Sue Jean Kim, Clea Lewis, Michael Mastro, Annette O'Toole, Kellie Overbey, Jeremy Shamos and Todd Weeks.

The evening will feature new works by seven of the theater's alumni writers: Billy Aronson, Keith Bunin, two-time Obie Award winner David Cale, Julia Cho, Quincy Long, Wendy MacLeod and Kira Obolensky.  Celebrating the theater company at its home at 416 West 42nd Street, the event will benefit the company's annual programs and productions.

The theme of the fourth annual "Stories on 5 Stories" will be Dreamstate.  "What keeps you up at night?  Do you have an unrealized aspiration, wish or hope for yourself or our world?"  At this year's event, the seven alumni artists will address some of these questions through words and music.

In a departure from years past, this year the artists will be partnering with each other to create plays in various and unpredictable permutations.  Also different for the 2007 edition, instead of viewing plays in unusual spaces, audiences will see performances in more traditional locations – winding their way through the Playwrights Horizons complex, where seven writers will create four plays in spaces on three floors.

The initial playlets will be performed concurrently, each repeated several times in their own space.  They will be performed by separate casts, and attendees will travel from location to location to view each work.   The evening will culminate with all attendees seeing one final work in the Mainstage Theater, which has been co-written by three of the writers.

In our fifth floor rehearsal rooms: Billy Aronson's play Bottom's Dream, in which we see an actor's fantasy when he wakes up in his dressing room to the adoration of a star-struck fan; and Wendy MacLeod's Night Terrors rips open the artist's mind, exploring the hilarious neuroses that keep a playwright up at night.

On the fourth floor, playwrights Kira Obolensky and Quincy Long team up in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater to transport us to a "lucid dreaming center," where our heroine struggles to dream herself out of a problem.   

Finally, on the Mainstage, will be presented the result of a unique collaboration between three writers.  The Summer People, co-written by Keith Bunin, David Cale and Julia Cho, takes us even deeper into our dreamstate, exposing a family's memories, hopes, and regrets as they collide on a beautiful summer day by the lake.

The schedule for "Stories on 5 Stories" will be as follows:

6:00 PM –  Pre-show dinner (optional) at etcetera etcetera (352 West 44th Street), attended by Playwrights Horizons staff and Board members, as well as some of the evening's playwrights.

8:00 PM – Event and performances begin.

9:00 PM – Post-show reception with participating artists.

Tickets are priced at $150 ("Dreamer" ticket - a single ticket to the shows and post-show reception) and $325 ("Visionary" ticket - a single ticket for the pre-event dinner, shows and post-show reception).

The event is strictly limited to 200 people, and there are a limited number of tickets still available.  All net proceeds from the event will benefit the theater's 2007-2008 programs and productions.

Wines for this event courtesy of Bedell Cellars and Corey Creek Vineyards.  Other generous support has been provided by Amish Fine Foods, Amy's Bread, The Bread Factory Café, Brooklyn Brewery, Cupcake Café and Skyy Spirits.

Tickets for "Stories on 5 Stories" can be reserved online by visiting the Playwrights Horizons website www.playwrightshorizons.org or by calling Shayla L. Titley at (212) 564-1235, extension 3146.

For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase subscriptions online at Playwrights Horizons' website at www.playwrightshorizons.org