Playwrights Rapp, Bunin, Parnell in 'Stories on 5 Stories'

Playwrights Horizons has announced it will present the return of its unique benefit evening Stories on 5 Stories Monday, November 19.  The event will feature new works by seven of the theater's alumni writers: Billy Aronson (Light Years), Keith Bunin (The Busy World Is Hushed, 10 Million Miles), Julia Cho (BFE; The Piano Teacher at the Vineyard this fall), Wendy MacLeod (Juvenilia, The Water Children), Kira Obolensky (Lobster Alice), Peter Parnell (An Imaginary Life, The Cider House Rules) and Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner Adam Rapp (Essential Self- Defense, Red Light Winter).  Celebrating the theater company at its home at 416 West 42nd Street, the event will benefit the company's annual programs and productions.

The theme of the fourth annual Stories on 5 Stories will be Dreamstate.  "What keeps you up at night?  Do you have an unrealized aspiration, wish or hope for yourself or our world?"  At this year's event, the seven alumni artists will be partnering to address some of these questions through words and music.

In a departure from years past, this year the artists will be partnering with each other to create plays in various and unpredictable permutations.  Also different for the 2007 edition, instead of viewing plays in unusual spaces, audiences will see performances in more traditional locations, including the North and South rehearsal rooms and The Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

The initial playlets will be performed concurrently, each repeated several times in their own space.  They will be performed by separate casts, and attendees will travel from location to location to view each work.   The evening will culminate with all attendees seeing one final work in the Mainstage Theater, which will be co-written by no less than three of the writers. The only way for theatergoers to find out who's working with whom, and see the results of their collaborations, will be to attend the event.

Participating performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

The schedule for Stories on 5 Stories will be as follows:

6PM –  Pre-show dinner (optional) at etcetera etcetera (352 West 44th Street), attended by Playwrights Horizons staff and Board members, as well as some of the evening's playwrights.

8PM – Event and performances begin.

9PM – Post-show reception with participating artists.

Tickets are priced at $150 ("Dreamer" ticket - a single ticket to the shows and post-show reception) and $325 ("Visionary" ticket - a single ticket for the pre-event dinner, shows and post-show reception).

The event is strictly limited to 200 people, and it is anticipated that tickets will sell quickly.  All net proceeds from the event will benefit the theater's 2007-2008 programs and productions.

Tickets for Stories on 5 Stories can be reserved online by visiting the Playwrights Horizons website www.playwrightshorizons.org or by calling 212-564-1235, extension 3156. For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at 212-279-4200, Noon to 8PM daily, or purchase subscriptions online at Playwrights Horizons' website at www.playwrightshorizons.org.