Plays by Grodin & More to Presented by The Culture Project

The Culture Project has announced a number of new readings and plays that it will present this summer.

The Prosecution of Brandon Hein, directed by Gordon Edelstein and written by and starring Charles Grodin (The Right Kind of People), will be presented as a special one night reading at the 45 Below Theatre on Monday, June 5, 2006 at 7:00PM. Grodin heads a cast of six.

"A symbol of injustice in our legal system, Brandon Hein remains incarcerated after eleven years for a crime another man admitted to committing. So what did Brandon Hein do? He was drunk and got into a fight that involved six boys where one boy stabbed another who bled to death. The state did not claim that Brandon killed anyone, but under the felony murder rule if a jury decides that Brandon and his friends went to a fort in the backyard of a house in Agoura Hills, CA to steal marijuana, not just to smoke it or buy it as the boys claimed, Brandon could be convicted of intended robbery. That is what the jury decided. Legal scholars have said the sentence for Brandon Hein is one of the most outrageous applications of the felony murder rule they have ever seen. Actor, commentator, author and playwright Charles Grodin pored through trial transcripts and interviews to create a nonfiction play that is an incredible story of injustice, political ambition and vengeance," state press notes.

John Griffin's Godot Has Left The Building, directed by Will Pomeranz, will run at the 45 Below Theatre from June 22nd through July 9th.

"Godot Has Left the Building follows the trials and tribulations of Sebastian and Joe, two men who seem to be the only people alive in a landscape of broken computers and the detritus of modern life. Watch as they comically struggle to find meaning to their own micro-world, and the larger world around them."

Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise, created and directed by Yael Farber, and written by Farber in collaboration with the cast, will play The Culture Project from July 25th through August 27th.

"Based on the lives of the five men and women who make up the cast, Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise is a vivid and intimate portrayal of growing up in apartheid South Africa. Told through narration interwoven with dance and unforgettable songs this immensely uplifting theatrical work is a celebration of the capacity of the human spirit to rise above adversity."

Both The Culture Project space and 45 Below are located at 45 Bleecker Street. For more information, contact the Culture Project, 212.253.9983 or www.45bleecker.com.