Jonathan Warman To Direct IN LOCO PARENTIS At FringeNYC 2010 8/13-29

Acclaimed director Jonathan Warman will direct IN LOCO PARENTIS by Michael DeVito, as part of the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival (August 13-29), at the Fourth Street Theatre, dates to be announced soon.

IN LOCO PARENTIS is the story of a high school senior who is still struggling with grief over the death of her mother three years earlier, and her English teacher, a middle-aged lover of Shakespeare who has begun to lose his zest for teaching, and for life, but who is awakened by the young girl's beauty and insight. Together they study Hamlet, and what begins as an uncomfortable arrangement of one-on-one tutoring turns into a powerful, life-changing exploration of each character, with Hamlet as the backdrop. IN LOCO PARENTIS explores how we define ourselves, and is set in the pressure-filled American high school classroom.

The cast of IN LOCO PARENTIS includes Desmond Dutcher*, Kristin Katherine Shields*, Ryan Hilliard* and Kareem M. Lucas. The design team includes Maggie Pilat (sets) and Yuriy Nayer (lights).

MICHAEL DeVITO (Playwright), a high school English teacher, is the author of several plays, including PILLS, which was read as part of Ten Grand Theatre's Cold Cuts Reading Series, and will be world premiered by Player's Guild of Canton, Ohio in July. PILLS will also be produced as part of Chicago's Black Ship Company's inaugural season in 2011. In June, 2009 he participated in Emerging Artists' Theater's LAB series, and produced IN LOCO PARENTIS as part of The Manhattan Theatre Source's Playground Development Series in November, 2009. Michael has studied literature at Brooklyn College and playwriting at Queens College, Gotham, and as a founding member of The Playwrights' Group.

Of director JONATHAN WARMAN's 2009 FringeNYC production of GROUPIES by Sharon Lintz, the New York Post's Frank Scheck said: "Under Jonathan Warman's excellent direction, the four performers do a superb job of bringing these troubled, poignant figures to life." His New York directing credits include: ANDRU'S HEAD (new musical, featuring Brooke Elliott ("Drop Dead Diva")) (NeoNeo Theatre, FringeNYC), STRUCK / BREAK (Emerging Artists Theatre), AMERICAN FABULOUS (NeoNeo Theatre, FringeNYC), THE WOMEN OF THE MAHABHARATA (eyeBLINK), THE PHYSICS OF LOVE (TOSOS II), KITCHENETTE (TOSOS II, reading featuring Jackie Hoffman), THE JAMB (HOT! Festival @ Dixon Place, staged reading featuring Mike Albo). International: DREAMS REOCCURRING(Clubul CFR, Iasi, Romania and Nu Festival, Timisoara, Romania), BREAK (Dublin Gay Theatre Festival). Regional: HEADS (Omaha Magic Theatre), THE STRANGEST KIND OF ROMANCE (Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, with upcoming national tour), STRUCK / BREAK (New Orleans Fringe Festival). Notable assistant credits: Stage Directors & Choreographers Society 50th Anniversary Gala (Assistant to SDC Board President Karen Azenberg),THREE SISTERS (La MaMa ETC, dir. Richard Schechner), ROSENCRANTZ SI GUILDENSTERN SUNT MORTI (Teatru National Vasile Alecsandri, Iasi, Romania, dir. Ovidiu Lazar). Proud member of Emerging Artists Theatre and TOSOS II. He has served as Artistic Director of NeoNeo Theatre Company and Literary Manager for Access Theater, and is conceiver of WHITE CITY, a new musical with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend of The Who, currently in development. For more info, see www.jonathanwarman.com.