Allan Knee's THE JAZZ AGE Readings Set for 3/8 & 9

Jana Robbins and Craig Haffner will present industry-only staged readings presentations of The Jazz Age, a new play by Allan Knee (FINDING NEVERLAND, LITTLE WOMEN).

Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre... burned up the world in a fury of passion, friendship and beauty. Fueled by the pulsating beat of an onstage jazz band, playwright Allan Knee's provocative new play fuses music, literature and art to reveal the thrilling yet tragic story of these three legends. They were young. They were driven. They were decadent. They were The Jazz Age. 

Presentations are set for March 8 at 3:00PM and March 9 at 11:00AM. 

The reading features Kieran Campion (THE AMERICAN PLAN) as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Schrieber (DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS) as Ernest Hemingway and Hannah Yelland (BRIEF ENCOUNTER) as Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. The show’s creative team currently includes musical scoring by Steve Orich (JERSEY BOYS), movement consultant Mark Stuart (WOMEN ON THE VERGE), scenic design by Derek McLane, casting by Laura Stanzcyk, CSA and stage manager Peter Lawrence. The presentations will be directed by Jana Robbins.

Allan Knee is the author of the play, THE MAN WHO WAS PETER PAN, which was the basis for the film FINDING NEVERLAND (starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslett). He is currently working on a musical adaptation of the film (music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie) for The Weinstein Company, which is looking to open this season in the West End. He wrote the book for the Broadway musical, LITTLE WOMEN (music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein), starring Sutton Foster and Maureen McGovern. Among his other works are the romantic dance drama, SYNCOPATION, which won an American critics theater award, and is currently touring Australia; SHMULNIK’S WALTZ (music by David Shire), SANTA ANITA ’42, and A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM, about the life of Edgar Allan Poe.  For PBS he wrote the four-part adaptation of THE SCARLET LETTER. In independent film, he has written, ESTHER’S DIARY, for Bright Shining City Productions, and is currently working on FILM NOIR, for FilmNoir Productions.  Allan is a graduate of the Yale Drama School.

Steve Orich has worked as a successful Orchestrator, Composer and Musical Director in NY and LA for over thirty years, receiving a Tony nomination for Best Orchestrations for the 2006 Best Musical, JERSEY BOYS. As a composer, he has scored many television series & specials. Off-Broadway and in Regional Theatres, he has orchestrated SNAPSHOTS, PERSONALS, HAMELIN, POTHOLES, A GOOD SWIFT KICK, PAINT YOUR WAGON, YOU NEVER KNOW and CAN-CAN. Other Los Angeles productions include orchestrating and conducting Michael Feinstein’S GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK at the Mark Taper Forum and Vocal Directing BERNSTEIN’S MASS at the Hollywood Bowl. Most recently he orchestrated TURN OF THE CENTURY for Tommy Tune at the Goodman Theatre. His orchestrations have been performed by the Boston Pops, at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White House and around the world.

Mark Stuart’s choreography and performances have been featured in films, commercials, music videos, on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. Stuart most recently served as Choreographer on the Diesel: Fuel for Life television ad campaign. He also currently appears in a Revlon commercial, was recently featured in an exclusive performance for Madonna, and was the Assistant Choreographer for the world-premiere Broadway musical WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. Stuart also won the 2011 BroadwayWorld Award for Choreography for THE WIZ, hailed as “a work of art.”

Jana Robbins is a Tony nominated producer for the 2009 Broadway production of RAGTIME, joining Kevin McCollum and Manny Azenberg to transfer the highly successful Kennedy Center Production. In 1995 she founded BETTER WORLD PRODUCTIONS in order to "present theater and film entertainment that inspires us to create a Better World". Jana made her Broadway producing debut with Allan Knee's LITTLE WOMEN starring Sutton Foster and Maureen McGovern and her Off-Broadway producing debut with I LOVE YOU BECAUSE. Other Off-Broadway producing credits include WHITE'S LIES starring Betty Buckley and Daniel Beaty's THROUGH THE NIGHT with producer Daryl Roth earning her a second Drama Desk nomination.

Jana helped to develop and produced THE PARTICIPANT in association with Chazz Palminteri, written by and starring Dayton Callie of TV's DEADWOOD. The show was nominated for a Best Solo Performance Award by LA Weekly. She also helped to develop and produce, "The Last Days of Frankie The Fly" a film starring Keifer Sutherland, Dennis Hopper and Daryl Hannah, and "Executive Target" with Roy Schieder and Michael Madsen. Jana is also producing MANAGING MAXINE which will open the 12/13 season at The Human Race Theater Co. in Dayton, Ohio Sept. 9, 2012 and developing THE GREAT GAME by D. Tucker Smith, which she was producing with her partner on LITTLE WOMEN, Randall Wreghitt, who will be sadly missed. Jana currently serves as the Artistic Director for the Okoboji Summer Theater, owned and operated by her alma mater, Stephens College. For more informationwww.JanaRobbins.com .

Craig Haffner is a Tony nominated Broadway Producer (RAGTIME 2010), an Emmy award winning television writer/producer and an Eisner Award winning comic book editor. Craig's writing career launched in situation comedies for CBS and ABC moving to executive and producing jobs for the ABC Network and the ABC station group. Craig founded Greystone Films & Television (1987-2007 and in 2007 Craig became a founding partner of New Comic Company, raising funding and purchasing all rights to the Warren Publications graphic comic novel titles CREEPY Magazine, EERIE Magazine. Other Theatre Projects for Broadway include John Berendt's MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL and AFRAID OF THE DARK for Off Broadway. 

For more information on The Jazz Age, please visit www.JazzAgeThePlay.com