Summer Play Festival Announces Directors and On Sale Date

The 3rd Annual Summer Play Festival (SPF) has announced the directors who will be staging the 15 plays to be showcased at this year's festival.

In addition, for only $25, the SPF membership card is now available which gives the following benefits: Priority booking – Members have the ability to purchase tickets to the shows before they go on sale to the general public on Monday, June 5th; Special discounts – Members receive a free drink per show at the SPF Living Room Lounge, as well as special discounts on SPF merchandise and programs; Invitations to programs and events – Members will know about year round panels, roundtables, seminars and readings such as the industry panels SPF coordinates with the Mayor's Office of Film Theatre and Broadcasting; Quarterly e-news – Members will be able to stay informed with the SPF artists and their latest projects, as well as all of the festival's year-round activities.

The 15 shows in this year's SPF lineup include:

The Butcherhouse Chronicles by Michael P. Hidalgo, directed by Thomas Caruso
Father Joy by Sheri Wilner, directed by Pam MacKinnon
The Fearless by Etan Frankel, directed by Scott Schwartz
Gardening Leave by Joanna Pinto, directed by Michael Goldfried
Hardball by Victoria Stewart, directed by Lou Jacob
Hitting the Wall by Barbara Blumenthal- Ehrlich, directed by Drew Barr
Marge by Peter Morris, directed by Alex Timbers
Millicent Scowlworthy by Rob Handel, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll
Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez, directed by Justin Waldman
Spain by Jim Knable, directed by Jeremy Dobrish
Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino, directed by Matt Shakman
The Squirrel by Alex Moggridge, directed by Patrick McNulty
Swansong by Patrick Page, directed by David Muse
Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler, directed by Evan Cabnet
A Wive's Tale by Christina Ham, directed by Rosemary Andress

The Butcherhouse Chronicles by Michael P. Hidalgo is about four high school students in search of their missing history teacher. Chronicles will be directed by Thomas Caruso: Resident Director of Mamma Mia! (Las Vegas); The Girl in the Frame (Adirondack Theatre Festival); Associate Director of Bombay Dreams (Broadway); Mimi Le Duck, (Adirondack Theatre Festival/FringeNYC); Terrence McNally's Master Class (National Tour).

Father Joy by Sheri Wilner is a fantastical comedy about a girl whose father is actually disappearing before her very eyes. The play has been seen at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Rattlestick Theater, and The Old Vic Theatre in London. Father Joy will be directed by Pam MacKinnon, whose other credits include: Itamar Moses' Bach at Leipzig (NYTW); David Mamet's Romance (The Goodman Theatre); Gina Gionfriddo's After Ashley (Philadelphia Theatre Company); Sheri Wilner's Father Joy (CATF) and Victor Lodato's 3F, 4F (Magic of Bach at Leipzig (Milwaukee Rep).

The Fearless by Etan Frankel follows the decade-long journey of three friends who form a rock band in college, and find out what its like to live their dream. The Fearless will be directed by Scott Schwartz whose other credits include Broadway: Golda's Balcony and Jane Eyre (co-directed with John Caird). Off-Broadway: Bat Boy: The Musical; Tick, Tick…Boom!; The Foreigner for Roundabout Theatre Company and others, as well as numerous regional productions.

Gardening Leave by Joanna Pinto finds a British man whose life is turned around when a pretty young Iranian woman comes to help with his rooftop garden. The British playwright has had plays read around London, including the Union Theatre, UPSTART, and Chelsea Theatre. Gardening Leave will be directed by Michael Goldfried, who directed Kahn and Kant by Gary Sunshine in this year's Drama League "Directorfest". New York productions include Sexotheque by Mike Albo; the revival of Charles Ludlam's Stage Blood; and Bob Dylan in the Bathroom by Sarah Moon.

Hardball by Victoria Stewart is a comedy about a rising female Republican political pundit. What happens when news becomes entertainment and politics become a performance? Hardball will be directed by Lou Jacob: Off-Broadway world premiere of The God of Hell by Sam Shepard; Coyote on a Fence, (2 Drama Desk Award Nominations, Village Voice Top Ten); Dickens Hard Times (Village Voice Season Highlight, Drama Desk Nom. Best Director); Ernie Joselovitz's Vilna's Got a Golum. SPF 05: Courting Vampires by Laura Schellhardt; SPF04: Arrivals and Departures by Rogelio Martinez.

Hitting the Wall by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich is a dark comedy about a pair of neighbors putting their lives back together after the death of one of their children. Hitting the Wall will be directed by Drew Barr: I Am My Own Wife (Portland Stage Company; Boise Contemporary Theater); Frozen (PlayMakers Repertory Company); You Can't Take it With You (Great Lakes Theater Festival. New York: Adam Bock's The Typographer's Dream (Clubbed Thumb at the Ohio and HERE):

Marge by Peter Morris is a comedy about a man who hires a prostitute to help murder his wife. Marge will be directed by Alex Timbers: Artistic Director of Les Freres Corbusier. Boozy (Off-Broadway) A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant (OBIE and BackStage West GARLAND Awards), and most recently, Heddatron, a play with live robots.

Millicent Scowlworthy by Rob Handel is a "ripped from the headlines" story that finds teenagers reenacting a murder that took place in their community. Millicent Scowlworthy will be directed by Ken Rus Schmoll: for 13P: Rob Handel's Aphrodisiac (P.S.122) and Anne Washburn's The Internationalist (45 Bleecker Theater: 45 Below). OTHER NYC: Girl Blog from Iraq (The Culture Project/Women Center Stage), Honor and the River (Summer Play Festival '04), Demon Baby (Clubbed Thumb), Cause for Alarm (NY Fringe), Alice Invents a Little Game…(Vineyard Theatre/Poetry Theatre Project), and more.

Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez follows a Cuban exile haunted by the memories of her past when her son announces his intention to join the Marines. Sonia Flew will be directed by Justin Waldman: Artistic Associate of the Huntington Theatre Company and the Producing Artistic Director of Next Stages, which he founded. Huntington credits include assistant director of Love's Labour's Lost, Sonia Flew, The Rose Tattoo, Springtime for Henry, and Breath, Boom, and director of readings of Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck, Persephone by Noah Haidle, Two Days at Home, Three Days in Prison by Rebekah Maggor, and Stabbing and Carol Mulroney by Stephen Belber.

Spain by Jim Knable is a comedy about a woman, recently separated from her husband, who encounters a sixteenth-century conquistador in her twenty-first century living room. Spain will be directed by Jeremy Dobrish: Recent Off-Broadway: In the Wings (Promenade), Ted Kaczinski Killed People With Bombs (SPF), The Joys of Sex (Variety Arts ), The Tutor (York), Class Mothers '68 (Drama Desk nomination, best solo performance, Priscilla Lopez),  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). He is the Artistic Director of Adobe Theatre Company.

Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino is about a Rabbi and his old friend an astrophysicist who wants to prove that God does not exist. The play will be directed by Matt Shakman, who is the founder and artistic director of the Black Dahlia Theatre in Los Angeles. At the Dahlia: Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow (LA Drama Critics Circle and Garland award, Best Production; Garland award, Direction); Richard Kramer's Theater District (LA Drama Critics Circle award, Direction; LA Drama Critics Circle nomination, Best Production); Adam Rapp's Nocturne (Ovation nomination, Direction & Production).

The Squirrel by Alex Moggridge is a black comedy that follows a woman and her oversensitive husband, overbearing sister, and a man she just hit with her car. The Squirrel will be directed by Patrick McNulty, who has directed at the Geva Theatre studio, the A.C.T. studio, the NY Fringe Festival, RoadWorks Productions and Northwestern University. He is a founding member of RoadWorks Productions in Chicago with whom he presented Midwest Premieres of new works by Eric Bogosian, Charles Mee, Judith Thompson, Mike Leigh, Phyllis Nagy, and Howard Korder.

Swansong by Patrick Page is a comedic fictitious story about real life playwright Ben Jonson putting together the first Folio of William Shakespeare's work after his friend the Bard's death.  Swansong will be directed by David Muse: Associate Director at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC; At the Studio Theatre: Frozen and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (2006 Helen Hayes nomination for Best Director and Best Production); Antony and Cleopatra at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.

Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler combines a dysfunctional family with a dirty yard and home improvement on the evening of the son's graduation party. Training Wisteria will be directed by Evan Cabnet: Elizabeth Meriwether's The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels/ 45 Bleecker), Mat Smart's The Morgan Morality Act of 1894 (Slant/ Phil Bosakowski Theatre). Recent: Pride and Prejudice (Slant), Masterpiece Theater, My Renaissance Faire Lady (Ontological).

A Wive's Tale by Christina Ham is a futuristic drama about a group of barren women conspiring to create the perfect society. A Wive's Tale will be directed by Rosemary Andress: Up Against the Wind (a Rhapsody Imagined from the Life of Tupac Shakur) by Michael Develle Winn for New York Theater Workshop, Ritalin for Two by Joan Jubett and Jerusha Klemperer at Under St. Marks, Metamorphosis by Michael Develle Winn for PSNBC at HERE among others.

Under founder Arielle Tepper (a producer of Broadway's Monty Python's Spamalot, The Pillowman, A Raisin in The Sun, and Freak), The non-profit organization The Living Room for Artists Inc./Summer Play Festival provides emerging writers, directors, designers and producers an opportunity to work on their material and their craft in a protected environment, guided by established professionals at no cost to them.

Individual tickets for Summer Play Festival Shows are $10. (Each $25 membership is per person). The Summer Play Festival runs from July 5-30 at the Theatre Row Complex 410 W. 42nd St. For more information on the SPF Membership program visit the SPF website, www.spfnyc.com or call 212-279-4040.

For more information, please visit SPF's website or contact Michael Gravison at 212-279-4040 or Michael@spfnyc.com.