Rising Sun Performance Company to Launch New Reading Series

Coming off their critically acclaimed, award nominated season which included two world premieres of ERIK by John Patrick Bray and The FIREBIRD by Tim Errickson, Rising Sun Performance Company is pleased to announce that they will be presenting a reading series of new full length works this fall.

The reading series aims to be an informal and relaxed environment with refreshments and conversation, allowing audience members to be engaged participants and see plays being considered for future production & development, Meet & Mingle with the artists and participate in a lively Q&A post show.

Reservations & additional information can be found online at www.risingsunnyc.com
All readings will be at the Alliance of Resident Theatres 520 Eighth Avenue

Close to the A,C,E, 1,2,3, N,R,Q,B,D,F trains to 34th street

Tuesday, November 10 at 7PM

Helvetica
by Will Coleman
Directed by Brock Harris Hill

Helvetica Burke: adventurer, writer, and cynic, has spent her life packaging Death neatly between the lines of her beloved children's books, with her trusty stuffed bear Myron by her side. When she encounters Death head-on however, she finds the storybook truths within the realities of her past, present, and future. A play about stories.Helvetica is the Winner of SETC's 2015 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award

Playwrights Bio:

Will Coleman is the Artistic Director of The Wheelhouse Theatre in Chicago. His play Helvetica won the 2015 Getchell New Play Award from SETC. His ten-minute play, "Spooky Action at a Distance" premiered at Tesseract Theatre in St. Louis in November, and his musical Zombie Boyfriend! (co-written with Chandler Davis) premiered at Studio Roanoke in 2011, and will be produced by Wheelhouse in February 2016. He is currently an MFA candidate at the Playwright's Lab at Hollins University.

Wednesday, November 11 at 7PM

Hoboken by Laura Rohrman
Directed by Eric Parness

On Halloween night, Erica dressed up as little girl, meets the hot Irish gun-loving, coke snorting, banker Jack, who is obviously her dream ticket to fame, fortune, romance, and yes, a free apartment. But could this really work out? What's really wrong with Jack? For starters, his fancy apartment is back in Hoboken, a stale place that as much as she tries to leave keeps pulling her back. This high-voltage romantic thriller pushes the dark and taboo and will make you wince more often than is comfortable.

Playwrights Bio:

Laura Rohrman is the author of several full-length plays including: Reporter Girl (Semi-Finalist O'Neill Festival, Weissberger Award Nominee and Princess Grace Finalist) about the life of her maternal grandmother, Dale Messick who created the famous cartoon strip Brenda Starr Reporter. Her other plays include: My Life As You(Finalist Playwrights First Award) and Hoboken. She's also the author of many one-act plays including: Below 14thand Without -- both finalists at the Samuel French Festival short play festival in New York City. Laura's work has been performed around the Globe. As an actor, Laura had a starring role in 2006's UE, a Russian TV mini-series that filmed in Moscow. Laura is a graduate of The New School for Drama's MFA program where she studied both playwriting and acting. In addition to being a Marketing and PR specialist who has worked with major corporations, she also has a background as a literary agent, where she worked for four years. Laura is also the busy mom of two little girls. She is currently developing a TV series. For more info: www.laurarohrman.com

Wednesday, December 2 at 7PM

This Time We'll Make it Work
by C.J. Ehrlich
Directed by Mia Anderson

Two mismatched singles on opposite sides of the political spectrum decide to change their bad dating karma with a bold experiment - stay together, no matter what. "Let's date like we're Adam and Eve!" proposes evangelical Winnie. "I would like, at least, to have something to regret," agrees computer nerd Tom. Winnie is a sweet fundamentalist in a strange cult. Tom is so liberal he's almost paralyzed with tolerance. What's not to work? This anti-rom-com asks how people risk connection in our culture of disposable relationships. More than that, it addresses the ever-widening chasms of ideology in the US. Two extremes share a country. Can "we" let "them" do their thing, if nobody gets hurt? Who should compromise? Can this ever work?

Playwrights Bio:

C.J. Ehrlich's award-winning plays have enjoyed productions all around the US and internationally, in exotic locales such as Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Louisville, Milwaukee, Manhattan, Kealakekua, Kitchener (Ontario), Chennai (India), Liverpool, Wogonga (Australia) and alongside the Panama Canal. (On the wish list, Djibouti, Ypsilanti, and Pyong Yang.) Producing partners include the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, SourceDC, Little Fish (Los Angeles), the Boston Theatre Marathon, Core Artists Ensemble NYC, Manhattan Theatre Source, JWTLA, Theatre Ariel, Fringe of Marin, Heartland Theatre and Rover Dramawerks. Recognitions include Charles Getchell finalist, Heideman Award finalists, SETC state winner in Virginia, and many Audience Choice and Best of Fest awards. Other pursuits include travel, book editing, theatre administration, actorating, instructing impressionable youth in the fine art of the spit take, smashing computers for a paycheck, driving ambulances, appreciating the nuances of wet collodion on silver, moving from one place to another and back again, kibbitzing, kvetching and kvelling, and, perhaps closest to her heart, mentoring and hectoring. C.J. currently resides in several parts of the northeast under various assumed identities. Fortunately, most of those files have been sealed. Enough said?

Wednesday, December 9 at 8PM

Mega
by Tim Errickson
Directed by Dennis Gleason

Mega tells the story of Kerry, who wins 300 million dollars in the MegaMillions jackpot, and decides she wants to reunite with her ex-boyfriend Darrin by offering him a life of wealth and unlimited choices. Darrin is currently involved with Abby, and they have recently discovered that Abby is pregnant. Kerry must choose how far she will pursue her own happiness at the expense of others, and how much her newfound wealth entitles her to. Complicating these issues is Max, Kerry's brother-in-law and Darrin's best friend, who attempts to broker both Kerry's happiness and Darrin's relationship, as long as both allow Max to get a piece of the newly won fortune.

Playwrights Bio:

Tim Errickson is an award-winning director, playwright and non-profit entrepreneur. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of Boomerang Theatre Company. His play Endless Summer Nights premiered with Boomerang in 2010 and was a "Pick of the Week" by nytheatre.com, where it was subsequently published. Recently, his play The Firebird premiered at the Planet Connections Festivity in June 2015, produced by Rising Sun Performance Company. Tim has previously developed projects with John Pielmeier, Bill C. Davis and Mike Folie, including the treatment for the feature film script Places. During his time as Artistic Director of Boomerang, Tim has produced 55 full productions (including 18 outdoor Shakespeare productions) and produced development workshops and readings for over 60 new plays. Boomerang was awarded the 2008 Caffe Cino Fellowship for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway, and has reinvented the rotating repertory model for the Off-Off/Indie theatre. In addition to Boomerang, Tim has been on staff at Lincoln Center Theater and New Dramatists.Tim studied at Hofstra University's New College, The University of London, ESPA at Primary Stages and Circle Rep. He serves on the Honorary Awards Committee for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards and is the current president of the Off-Off Broadway Community Dish, a service organization for the Off-Off/Indie Theatre Community.