Mary Pat Gleason's Stopping Traffic Extends Through July 2

Stopping Traffic--the hit new Off-Broadway play about one woman's life-long experiences with bipolar disorder, written and performed by Mary Pat Gleason--has extended its world premiere through July 2 at the Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street).
 
Directed by Lonny Price (A Class Act, upcoming Gypsy at Ravinia and 110 in the Shade for Roundabout), Stopping Traffic is "one woman's comic odyssey: Mary Pat Gleason, an actress who has performed countless roles in film (Lorenzo's Oil, The Crucible), television ("Sex and the City") and theater, candidly relives this true-story about her life-long experiences with bipolar disorder."
 
Initially scheduled to run through June 25, the show extended its engagement in response to strong audience and critical support. Since opening June 7, the play has helped raise awareness of bipolar disorder -- capturing the attention of theatergoers as well as charitable health organizations, including Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the nation's leading industry based HIV/AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization, and Fountain House, the mental health organization with programs in 400 locations worldwide (including one in NYC on the West Side) that provide housing, employment, wellness and educational service to people of all ages with major mental illness. Gleason hopes that her activism and awareness might assist Fountain House to open a facility in Los Angeles.
 
A popular feature of the show has become the nightly post-show Q&As between Ms. Gleason and the audience. "These discussions have become an important part of the evening of theatre, providing audiences with the chance to learn more about mental illness -- considered by many to be the last 'taboo' -- and also giving people the rare and much-needed opportunity to speak publicly about their own experiences with mental illness, or the experiences of a family member or friend."

Stopping Traffic features set design by Neil Patel; costume design by Tracy Christensen; lighting design by David Weiner; and sound design by Obadiah Eaves.

Vineyard Theatre celebrates its upcoming 25th Anniversary Season with four productions, starting October 24 when previews begin for the Off-Broadway premiere of Anne Washburn's The Internationalist, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll. In early 2007, the Vineyard will present a rare revival of J.M. Barrie's Mary Rose, directed by Tina Landau, and the return of its popular Lab Production Series, featuring The Agony and the Agony, a new work written by Nicky Silver (who will also perform), directed by Terry Kinney. A fourth production for spring 2007, and an ambitious series of events as part the Vineyard's year-long celebration of its anniversary to be announced. 

Performances of Stopping Traffic run Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 5pm. Tickets are $50. For reservations, call the box office at 212-353-0303 or log onto www.vineyardtheatre.org.