Felciano Cast in 'Darfur Play;' Talkbacks Announced

New York Times Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, NBC "Today" and "Dateline" Anchor Ann Curry and Humanitarian Aide Worker Joann Ellen Kingsley will join playwright Winter Miller in a post-show discussion following the reading of her new play on Darfur on Friday, November 3rd at 7:30 PM at the Public Theater. 

Directed by Joanna Settle, "Untitled Darfur Play" is part of the fall line-up for New Work Now!, a nationally recognized festival of free play readings that showcases a new generation of artists for the American Theater. 

In 'Untitled Darfur Play,' "Hawa lives in a refugee camp.  Her entire family was murdered before her eyes by the Sudanese government's death squads. Carlos has abruptly abandoned his fiancée to be an aid worker in Darfur.  Marika is looking for the perfect page one story to sear the face of genocide onto a nation's conscience. There is a line between telling the story and becoming the story. There is a line between saving a life and breaking a code of ethics. There are secrets that must not be revealed. Decades after the horrors of Rwanda, genocide continues day after day in Darfur. When we say never again, what we really mean is once again," state press notes.

"Untitled Darfur Play" will feature Howard W. Overshown, Miriam Laube, Sonja Parks, Manoel Felciano (Sweeney Todd), Patrick Rameau, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Sharon Washington.

Over the past decade, New Work Now! has become the backbone of The Public Theater's mission to develop new work.  Full Public Theater productions developed in New Work Now! include the critically acclaimed musical Caroline, or Change by Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori, the 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, as well as Dirty Tricks by John Jeter, Kit Marlowe and Measure for Pleasure by David Grimm, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot by José Rivera, and Stop Kiss and Satellites by Diana Son. 

New Work Now! readings are free and open to the public.  Reservations are arranged by calling 212-967-7555 from 10AM to 9PM Monday through Sunday.  There is a limit of two reservations per reading.  Reserved tickets must be picked up 15 minutes prior to starting time, at which time unclaimed tickets will be released to people on the waiting list.  Please note that events at Joe's Pub have a $12  food or 2 drink minimum per person.