Folksbiene's Lost & Found Troupe to Premiere OLD NEW YEAR in Harlem

Hip, high-achieving Russian millennials make their way in a churning New York melting pot in "Old New Year," the Lost & Found Project's latest experimental theatre exploration.

Taking place in a unique non-theatre location in Harlem, the world premiere of "Old New Year" runs for three weeks from Wednesday April 26 at 7:30pm to May 13 at 3pm, with an Off-Off Broadway opening on Sunday April 30 at 3pm. The 11 performances take place at 345 East 104th Street in Harlem.

Produced and curated by Anya Zicer, and written in English by Boris Zilberman, "Old New Year" tells the stories of a grab-bag of young Russian Jews who learn about themselves through their connections with others unlike themselves. Directed by the distinguished Israeli actor and director Gera Sandler, "Old New Year" takes place during the New Year celebration favored by Slavic cultures, 13 days after the widely observed December 31st New Year's Eve celebration. The symbolism of this date -- and whether it's old or new -- is mined in unexpected ways.

The award-winning Lost & Found Project is an experimental theatre collective that creates modern, multi-disciplinary stage productions based on a verbatim, documentary technique. Through its work, the company delves into the cultural psychology of highly assimilated post-Soviet Jews, most of whom are first or second-generation Americans with varying degrees of awareness of their Jewish and Russian identities. This is Lost & Found's fifth production since its founding in 2011.

"Old New Year's" cast of nine includes Rebecca Karpovskiy; Masha King (Girls, Madam Secretary, The Videoblogs); Elena V. Levenzon; Sergey Nagorny; the Israeli film, stage and teleivision actor/director Gera Sandler ("Meduzot," "Bruchim Habayim ve," "Mishtatfim Bezaarchem," "Avanim"); Elena Rickman; Ruslan Verkhovskiy; Anya Zicer (The Americans), and Boris Zilberman.

A resident company of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Lost & Found Project became a core affiliate of FolksbieneRU in 2013 -- a program that engages and challenges New York's often insular Russian communities. FolksbieneRU is a partnership initiative of the Genesis Philanthropy Group and Folksbiene. All Lost & Found plays are in the authentic vernacular English of its characters.

"Old New Year's" exclusive three-week engagement at 345 East 104th Street, runs from Wednesday April 26 at to May 13, with an opening on Sunday April 30 at 3pm. Performances are Wed, Thurs, Sat at 7:30pm, and Sun at 3pm, with no performance on Wednesday May 3. Running time is 90 minutes. For tickets, which are $35, call 212-213-2120 or visit www.nytf.org.