BLOOD [BY THE MUMMERS] opens at NYMF

The vampiric satire, BLOOD, will take to the stages of the New York Musical Theatre Festival tonight. Listed by Davenport Theatrical Enterprises Best of Off Broadway website as one of NYMF's six "Best of the Fest" productions, BLOOD features the talents of the [By The Mummers] ensemble. Harkening back to the theatre companies of old, [By The Mummers] is a collaborative group that utilizes the many talents of its ensemble to write, produce, direct and perform new and interactive works.

Their latest work, BLOOD, is set at Birnam High School, a hotbed of supernatural bloodshed. During the course of the show, the ambitious upstart, Mack, rises amongst the hallway ranks of pretty girls, nerds, jocks, and studs, while best friends Jacques and Maura raise their personal stakes for the sake of survival. But there's one problem... Maura is Mack's girl. A prophecy revealing "The Chosen One" determines the fates of the Birnam Woodsmen and, rest assured, blood will spill on the righteous and the damned alike.

BLOOD [By The Mummers] is being produced this coming October by The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Frank Cardillo Productions, as one of their 2011 Next Link Project shows. It will play at the 47th Street in New York City on Oct. 4th, 7th, 12th, 15th and 16th.

Now in its eighth year, the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) is the largest annual musical theatre event in America and is widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF provides a launching pad for the next generation of musicals and their creators to ensure the continued vitality of one of America's greatest art forms. Hailed as the "Sundance of Musical Theatre," NYMF discovers, nurtures, and promotes promising musical theatre artists and producers at all stages of development, and inspires a diverse audience through vibrant, accessible, powerful new work.

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2011 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group, and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by American Eagle Outfitters, Back Stage, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Clear Channel Spectacolor, Disney Store Times Square, Fox 5/ WNYW-TV, King Displays, NASDAQ OMX, New World Stages, Next Magazine, PMD Promotions, The Port Authority of NY & NJ, Queerty.com, Season of Savings, Terra Fossil Wines, Thomson Reuters, TheMenEvent.com, Times Square Squared, and Yelp. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The BWF Foundation, Con Edison, The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jamie Ariel Phinney, Cameron Mackintosh Foundation, The New Musical Development Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating, and tickets to individual events are currently available for purchase at (212) 352-3101 or www.nymf.org. Single tickets for Festival events will go on sale September 1.