Lama Theater Company's The Monthly Swap: London Edition Set for The Kraine Theater, 7/25

Female playwrights from New York are being offered a chance to have their work presented to a London audience this summer. The Lama Theater Company, a non-profit theater group based out of Manhattan, announced today that the July edition of its cold reading series, The Monthly Question, will happen in New York and London simultaneously.

The theater group has teamed up with the So and So Arts Club in London to present The Monthly Swap - a night of cold readings for bold new written work inspired by the question, "What is Your Weapon?" On the evening of the event, selected material from New York will be presented in London while selected work from London will be presented in New York.

The London occasion coincides with the So and So Arts Club festival, www.womenandwar.co.uk While submissions for the Monthly Question are usually open to all genders worldwide, this event is calling for work specifically from female writers living in New York and London. Lama's Founder and Director, Hila Ben Gera, says she's excited to see what type of work evolves from such a provocative theme.

"I'm curious to see how writers from New York and London will approach the idea of power and weapons," says Ben Gera. "And to see how women in particular define these subjects. New York and London are both fast-paced, major cities - yet the environments are so different."

This will be the second swap hosted by the Lama Theater Company. The first was held in Tel Aviv in October 2015. Ben Gera says she hopes to collaborate with more national and international cities in the years ahead.

"We believe theater can change the world," says Ben Gera. "We're proud of the thought-provoking work that we continuously present to New York audiences. The Monthly Swap is about expanding the reach of that work -- fostering a broader exchange of ideas, getting new perspectives and gaining understanding of the human condition. We'd like to team up with as many cities as possible."

The Monthly Swap, presented by Lama Theater Company, will take place in New York on Monday, July 25 at 8pm at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). Actors come at 7:30pm for casting on the spot. Admission to the event if FREE.

The Lama Theater Company (NYC) is a writer/director-driven nonprofit company that continually raises questions and encourages bold new writing and directing. Lama means WHY in Hebrew. Once you begin to ask "Why?" you embark on a path of limitless possibilities and that quest for the unknown makes for vital theater. Our goal is to give artists a platform to create risk-taking and thought-provoking theater, theater that will inspire the audience to question the world around them by that to create a community that enlivens our existence. www.lamatheatercompany.com

The So and So Arts Club (London) was founded with the aim of assisting artists from across the creative arts to help themselves. The online facilities have enabled artists from all of the various disciplines involved in the creation and production of the arts to have far greater access to one another. Members are actively encouraged to meet across work, to forge collaborations both through the club and individually, and through mutual support and the sharing of opportunities and resources to generate paid work. It currently has a membership of 1200, each of whom is, in effect, their own start up business, bolstered by the support of being under the umbrella of a large multifaceted community.

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.