Tony Speciale to Direct Jordan Dean, Jeff Hayenga, Mark Junek and Elizabeth Morton in LOCUST SONG Reading, 11/17-18

Jordan Dean (Mamma Mia! CSC's Midsummer), Jeff Hayenga (The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Elephant Man), Mark Junek ("Smash", Berkeley Rep's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) and Elizabeth Morton (Death of a Salesman) will lead an industry reading of Locust Song, a new play by Jerry Marsini on November 17th at 7 pm and on November 18th at 12:30pm at the WorkShop Theater Company's Main Stage, 312 W 36th Street. Drama Desk Nominee, Tony Speciale, who recently directed the Barry Manilow musical Harmony (2014 Suzi Bass Award winner Outstanding Director of a Musical & Outstanding Production of a Musical), will direct the Manhattan reading.

Locust Song follows three generations of a rural Tennessee family across four decades, and tells the story of the trials that will either tear them apart or forge a more enduring bond. It is a rich and sweeping Southern Gothic drama about the conflict between following dreams and facing reality, and the various ways our choices are inherited by future generations.

The complete cast consists of Jordan Dean, Jeff Hayenga, Mark Junek, Mary Keefe, Preston Martin, Elizabeth Morton and Hayley Treider.

The Vicious Circle, in association with Plastic Theatre are producers of this invitation-only event. Industry interested in attending or wanting more information may email info@locustsong.com.

BIOGRAPHIES:

Jordan Dean - Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Mamma Mia!, and Cymbeline (Lincoln Center). Sir Kenneth Branagh) (Park Ave Armory and MIF), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Classic Stage Company), The New Century (Lincoln Center), As You Like It (New York Shakespeare Festival), Six Characters in Search of an Author and The Free Zone (Ubu Repertory). Regional: The Heart of Robin Hood (A.R.T.) The Corn Is Green, An Enemy of The People (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and Romeo and Juliet (Actors Theater of Louisville). TV/Film: High Maintenance, Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and Guiding Light, Macbeth (National Theatre Live), Thanks for Sharing, Not Fade Away, Other People, Burning Blue, Virgin Alexander, and Jersey Girl. Training: Carnegie Mellon University.

Jeff Hayenga - NY Stage: The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Importance of Being Earnest, Harvey, Twelve Angry Men National Tour (Roundabout Theatre), The Elephant Man (title role), Jeffrey (title role), Two Rooms, Patient A (Signature Theatre), Hapgood (Lincoln Center), As Bees In Honey Drown, Sister Mary, The Actor's Nightmare, Burkie, Hamlet, Beyond Therapy, Ah Wilderness, Mother Courage, King Lear. Regional: The Dream of the Burning Boy (Malibu Playhouse) Good Boys (ACT Seattle) Nicholas Nickleby (Missouri Rep) Emma (Pioneer Theatre SLC) Love! Valour! Compassion! & A Question of Mercy (Intiman, Seattle) Pride's Crossing & Breaking Up (Old Globe, San Diego) TV: Bones, Law and Order, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Star Trek:(Next Generation & Enterprise), Jag, Trinity, Bodies of Evidence, NY Undercover, Jack and Bobby, In The Heat of The Night, Matlock. Film: Other People's Money, And The Band Played On, Memron, The Unborn, The Prince of Pennsylvania, Center Stage.

Mark Junek's credits include The Performers (u/s Broadway), after all the terrible things I do (Milwaukee Rep), Galileo, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Classic Stage Company), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Berkeley Rep), The Imaginary Invalid (Bard Summerscape), The Seagull, Henry V (Juilliard), "Smash," and "Law and Order: SVU." Mark is a founder of Makehouse, which provides artists free space and time to create in rural New Jersey, www.makehouse.org. Training: The Juilliard School. Education: Columbia University.

Elizabeth Morton last performed on stage in Tribes at Berkeley Rep. Other credits include the narrator (grown-up Scout) in To Kill a Mockingbird at the Weston Playhouse in Vermont, the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman, Shaw's Candida at Two River Theater Company, episodes of "Louie" and "666 Park Avenue," and the audio book narration of Paul Rudnick's novel Gorgeous. Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of Evansville and a member of The Actors Center Workshop Company.

Tony Speciale (director) is the founder of Plastic Theatre-conceiving, co-authoring and directing the world premiere of Unnatural Acts: Harvard's Secret Court of 1920 (Classic Stage Company, 2011-Drama Desk Nominee for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Director; GLAAD Media Award Nominee for Outstanding NY Theater: Broadway & Off-Broadway; Off Broadway Alliance Award Nominee for Best New Play). Tony served four seasons at Classic Stage Company (CSC) as Associate Artistic Director where he directed A Midsummer Night's Dream featuring Bebe Neuwirth, Christina Ricci and Taylor Mac, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. Tony's work also has been seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville (ATL), Ahmanson Theatre (Center Theatre Group), Alliance Theatre, The Gym at Judson, The Clurman Theatre (Theatre Row), New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), HERE Arts Center and The Club at La MaMa. Tony is also the proud recipient of a Princess Grace Theatre Honorarium.

Jerry Marsini (author) is an interdisciplinary theatre artist and creative director. He is co-author of the Drama Desk and GLAAD Media Award nominated play Unnatural Acts: Harvard's Secret Court of 1920, in which he also originated a role for its extended off-Broadway premiere at Classic Stage Company. Additional NY stage credits include Brecht on Brecht (Accidental Repertory Theater); Bald Diva! (Theatre Askew); West Village Fragments (Peculiar Works Projects); Drinks Before Dinner (Inside Art); Mephisto (Theatre of Necessity & Reverie); MONO (Another Urban Riff); Der Ring Gott Farblonjet (Nada Show World). He recently served as production designer on the new pilot For Real, featuring Broadway stars Nikki M. James, Nick Adams, Jessica Rush, Michael James Scott and Matt Doyle. Jerry also has helped create advertising and marketing campaigns for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, HBO, Playground Entertainment, Independent Film Channel, La MaMa ETC, Ping Chong + Company, Ann Taylor and The Body Shop. He is a graduate of Duke University and The Actors' Center Conservatory. This is the premiere reading of this new work.

Plastic Theatre is a rolling ensemble of multi-disciplinary artists led by Tony Speciale, dedicated to making new works of theatre collaboratively, free from convention, inclusively rather than hierarchically. In his preface to The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams outlined instructions for presenting his work with "unusual freedom of convention" in an effort to find "a more penetrating and vivid expression" of experience. Inspired by this ultimatum, our Plastic Theatre makes full use of every aspect of artistic expression at our disposal to create vital, theatric work that transcends a mere reflection of the everyday. The real, surreal, absurd, and symbolic all have a place on our stage, sometimes sharing the spotlight simultaneously.

The Vicious Circle is a not-for-profit company founded to create new, ensemble-based works. Past productions have included the development of the play Unnatural Acts by The Plastic Theatre, and Soulographie: Our Genocides, a series of 17 plays written by Erik Ehn on human rights issues, the latter of which was produced across the nation over the course of two years, culminating in a two week marathon at La MaMa in November 2012. The group later produced Gun Control Theatre Action Week through a series of international readings by acclaimed playwrights including Neil LaBute and Caridad Svich.

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