Full Casts Announced for 2012 TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series, 6/11 & 18

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces the casts of the upcoming plays in the 2012 TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series. The two plays yet to be presented are Appendage by Derek Murphy, produced by Tweiss Productions (Sharon Weiss & Eileen B. Weiss); and The Sin Eater by Michael Bettencourt, produced by Block & Tackle Productions, Inc. and Elfin Frederick Vogel. The selected plays will be read on Mondays, June 11, and 18 respectively, at 7pm at The Roy Arias Theatre, 300 W. 43rd Street, 5th Floor, Studio 500, NYC. Admission is FREE but reservations are required: email TRUStaff1@gmail.com or call 212-714-7628.

Each reading will be followed by a reception and a "Dollars and Sense" panel with top industry professionals - commercial producers, general managers and artistic directors - who will discuss the further development of the show that is read. "Not only do we introduce audiences to new works, we also offer them an insider's look at the producing process," says TRU president Bob Ost. Scheduled speakers include producers Pam Koslow (Jelly's Last Jame, Jane Eyre, Yank!), Tom Polum (The Toxic Avenger, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and Ric Wanetik (Marlene, Jolson & Company, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992), and general managers Georgia Buchanan and Erin Craig.

June 11, 2012 at 7pm
Appendage by Derek Murphy. Directed by Frank Licato.

A stranger on your couch. A wife gone astray. Blood on the pillows. What's a host to do? In the dark comedy Appendage, accidents don't just happen.

The cast features Sean Patrick Reilly (Broadway: Superior Donuts, The Beauty Queen of Leenane. TV: Series regular on Blue Bloods; The Black Donnellys.) and Mark Byrne (Public Theatre: Only Beauty; NY: Ulysses on Broadway, Fugue, Howie the Rookie).

Doug Shearer, Narration / Stage Manager (Lincoln Center/ Alice Tully Hall, Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre Co., Primary Stages)

From Dublin, Ireland, Derek Murphy is the author of several plays including A Short Wake (1st Irish Theatre Festival, NYC) and Miles Over Man (The Old Museum Theatre, Belfast). Appendage will premiere in Ireland at Belfast's MAC this summer.

Frank Licato has directed Off-Broadway productions Lamppost Reunion (revival), Centennial Casting, Requiem For A Heavyweight (Best Director, Off-Broadway Review), Sam Shepard's Seduced.

Tweiss Productions (Sharon Weiss & Eileen B. Weiss): Hell's Belles, A Short Wake, Between the Lines, Goodtime Charley (revival), Same Difference.

June 18, 2012 at 7pm
The Sin Eater by Michael Bettencourt. Directed by Sue Lawless.
Presented by Block & Tackle Productions, Inc. and Elfin Frederick Vogel.

In The Sin Eater, Margaret Pasqualini, accused of child abuse for taking nude photos of her son, decides to take 30 days in jail rather than admit any guilt; while there, she meets Vera Cortez, in prison for abetting the murder of her daughter. They form an unlikely alliance to create a world where children do not have to pay a cost for being children.

The cast features Edna Lee Figueroa (Theatre: The House of Bernarda Alba, El caballero del milagro. Film: Maldeamores, Che) as Vera Cortez, Nichole Donje' (Theatre: War & Therapy, Ashtrays for Vodka, Kindertransport. Film: The Maltese Murder, Mystery, Jim) as Margaret Pasqualini, and Chiara Montalto (A Brooklyn Love Story: Emergency Used Candles) as the Guard. Alexander Stine will read stage directions.

Sue Lawless has survived a career in the theatre for over fifty years. Among her many credits, she has been nominated for the Drama Desk Best Director of a Musical for In Gay Company. She has also been an Artistic Director, a reviewer on NEA panels, a member of all performing unions, among the early members of the SDC Foundation Board, and a multi-university professor. She is an elected member of The National Theatre Conference and Resident Director of the Juneteenth Legacy Theatre in New York. She is a very active working professional and activist for the profession.

Michael Bettencourt is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter and co-founder of Block & Tackle Productions (http://blockandtackleproductions.com) with Elfin Vogel. He writes a monthly column for Scene4, an online arts journal (http://www.scene4.com). All of Michael's scripts can be found here.

Block & Tackle Productions aims to create innovative dramatic productions for the stage, for the screen (of any size), for the ear, and for the web, using all available tools to tell all possible stories.

The TRU Voices New Play Reading Series encourages submissions from emerging and established producers who are interested in testing the waters with a new work, and offers an opportunity for them to forge relationships with writers. TRU also accepts submissions from writers and tries to match them with a sponsoring producer for the series. Shows that started in the series include Pied-à-Terre, which played off-Broadway at The Kirk, Theatre Row; The Great American Trailer Park Musical by Betsy Kelso and David Nehls, which enjoyed an off-Broadway run and is currently touring; Normal by Yvonne Adrian, Cheryl Stern and Tom Kochan, which played a limited run in fall '06 in the East Village starring Barbara Walsh and tours throughout the country; and Saint Heaven by Martin Casella and Keith Gordon, which has had successful runs at the Stamford Center for the Performing Arts and the Village Theatre in Issaquah WA. A finalist in the 2006 series, Missives by Garret Jon Groenvald, had a production at 59E59 Street Theatres directed by Elysabeth Kleinhans; TRU was a co-producer with Animated Theatreworks and PlayGround.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org or call 212-714-7628.