MTC's 'Dutch Masters' & 'Bethany' Readings Set for HOWL! Arts Project, 10/17 & 24

HOWL! Arts Project & The Actors Fund welcome Manhattan Theatre Club's readings of two new plays - DUTCH MASTERS by Greg Keller and BETHANY by Laura Marks - as part of HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 on Mondays, October 17 and 24, respectively, at 7pm at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks) in Manhattan. These two plays were selected for inclusion in the festival by MTC Artistic Producer, Mandy Greenfield. Proceeds benefit HOWL! HELP, an emergency services assistance and health fund for East Village Artists.

In DUTCH MASTERS, a young white man and a young black man meet on a D train to the Bronx. They get to talking and end up spending the day together. It seems like a simple story. But it's 1992. Los Angeles is still smoldering. The Crown Heights riots are a recent memory. And this chance encounter is about to lead these two apparent strangers into a head-on confrontation with the racial tensions threatening to tear the country apart. A piercingly insightful comedy-drama that takes a frank and deeply human look at the problems of race in America.

In BETHANY, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and the going has gotten very tough indeed for Crystal. Her job is in jeopardy. Her house has been repossessed. Worst of all, her daughter has been taken by social services. It's time for Crystal to get going. But in her effort to get her daughter back and put her life on the right track, Crystal is forced to question just how far she's willing to go to survive.

Greg Keller's play THE YOUNG LEFT was produced by The Cherry Lane Theater in 2008. He is a 2009 Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School and a recipient of the Lecomte du Nouy Prize for playwriting. As an actor, his credits include THE SEAGULL at CSC with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming. Keller holds an MFA in Acting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Laura Marks is a student in Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace playwriting program and a member of The Public Theater's 2010 Emerging Writers Group. BETHANY was a winner of the SheWrites competition and received prior readings with Steppenwolf's First Look Festival, Reverie Productions, APAC, Partial Comfort and Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta. Marks also received the 2011 Leah Ryan's Fund of Emerging Women Writers award for BETHANY.

HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 - a unique month-long series of theater, performance art, music, dance, poetry, comedy, entertainment for the entire family, and much more - runs October 1-31 at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place). Proceeds benefit HOWL! HELP, an emergency services assistance and health fund for eligible and qualifying East Village artists, administered by The Actors Fund.

The 3rd Annual HOWL! ARTS PROJECT channels the spirit and artistic invention of its namesake poem and poet Allen Ginsberg to deliver firsthand examples of the creative, cultural, and historical forces that have made the highly original downtown arts community world renowned.

H.E.L.P. (HOWL! EMERGENCY LIFE PROJECT) OF THE ACTORS FUND is a wonderful community resource created to support artists who have made or continue to make their careers in NYC's East Village and Lower East Side and are in need of emergency assistance. Eligible artists include participants in the annual Howl! Festival and those in the East Village Arts Community of theatre, music, performance art, dance, multimedia, the spoken word and visual arts. Assistance is based on need and qualifying work history. This fund provides emergency assistance to qualified performing artists in crisis and offers other Actors Fund support services.

THE ACTORS FUND is a national human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund - which supports both performers and everyone behind the scenes in theatre, film, TV, music, dance, radio and opera - is a safety net, providing social services and emergency assistance, health services and health insurance information, employment and training programs, and housing support for those who are in need, crisis or transition. Learn more about The Actors Fund's services and programs at www.actorsfund.org.

MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB, under the dynamic leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, has grown in three decades from a prolific Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country's most acclaimed theatre organizations. Founded in 1970, MTC now includes a subscriber base of 20,000 and produces on Broadway in the recently restored Biltmore Theatre on West 47th Street and at the historic New York City Center complex on West 55th Street. Each season is distinguished by the variety of the repertoire. In 2008, MTC's Biltmore Theatre was re-named the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre after the pioneering Broadway publicist. MTC is committed to bringing theatre to the widest possible audience. Initiatives which enable MTC's work to reach an ever-growing range of theatgoers include moving successful plays originally produced at MTC's New York City Center home to larger Broadway or Off-Broadway venues for an extended run; originating certain productions in larger venues; collaborating with leading regional theatres to bring major new American plays to New York; and bringing student and family audiences to our theatres through the ambitious Education program. www.manhattantheatreclub.com.

The reading of DUTCH MASTERS is set for Monday, October 17 at 7pm. The reading of BETHANY is set for Monday, October 24 at 7pm. Tickets are $15 in advance; $18 at the door. HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 runs October 1-31 at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place). For tickets, visit www.brownpapertickets.com.

For more information about HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011, visit www.howlfestival.com.