FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade to Present Battalion Theatre's THE TUTORS, 3/12-28

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade will present Battalion Theatre's production of The Tutors by Erica Lipez, March 12-28 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery) with performances Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm. The production will be directed by Gadi Rubin (Assistant Director, Zack Abramowitz) and feature Sean Devare, Kullan Edberg, Dan Gonon, Michael Greenhan, and Gerrit Thurston. The creative team will include Lighting Design by Jason Fok and Set Design by Kyu Shin. The production will be Stage Managed by Jenny Gorelick. Tickets ($20) may be purchased in advance at www.horseTRADE.info.

While struggling to keep their dream of creating the next social media revolution afloat, Heidi, Toby, and Joe still have to make rent. But between tutoring manipulative Prep School Elite and editing application essays online, the boundary between distant professionalism and personal responsibility begins to blur. The Tutors offers a funny and touching look at the terror of hating where you are, knowing where you want to be, and not having a clue how to get there.

After successful runs of The Understudy and The Drunken City, Battalion Theatre returns to The Kraine with Erica Lipez's The Tutors. This dark comedy examines how we deal with failure in a time when we're constantly told we can succeed at anything. When technology allows us to present only our best, most successful selves, how do we navigate real human connection and find the courage to ask for what we really need?

Erica Lipez (Playwright) is a playwright and TV writer based in New York City and Los Angeles. She attended Harvard University and received her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University (2009). Her recent New York and regional stage credits include readings and workshops of her full-length plays: Bottled Up (The Public Theatre, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Furious Theatre Company/Naked Angels); The Tutors (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Theatre Row); and Fingers (Babel Theatre Project). Lipez's productions include Recess (Yale Summer Cabaret); Aquifer (Theater Masters at Rattlestick); Bully to You (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Art.Party.Theatre.Company, INTAR Theatre); and a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol (Foothills Theatre). She is a recipient of a 2009/2010 Dramatists Guild Fellowship, a 2009 Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights' Workshop and is a member of the 2009 Theater Masters' National MFA Playwrights' Festival. Lipez recently served as a staff writer on the Fox television series Lone Star and is currently a story editor on the hit USA television show, Suits.

Gadi Rubin (Director) is an actor, director, producer and musician originally from Manhattan. He directed Battalion Theatre's first production The Understudy. Recent stage credits include: The Drunken City (Battalion Theatre), A User's Guide to Hell, featuring Bernard Madoff (Project Y Theatre Company), Macbeth (The NYC Globe Theatre), and As You Like It (Edison Theatre). Recent TV credits include: Greatest Mysteries (Travel Channel) and Deadly Sins (Discover Channel). He has trained at Stella Adler Studio in New York, The Globe Theatre in London, and Washington University in St. Louis

Battalion Theatre is an ensemble-based company born in the space between formal acting training and established careers. Recognizing and reveling in the wealth of talent to be found in emerging artists, founders Kullan Edberg, Dan Gonon, Gadi Rubin, and Gerrit Thurston believe in utilizing the full scope and diversity of their interests to produce lively, moving, significant evenings of theater.

FRIGID New York is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group. www.horseTRADE.info