Tribeca Theater Festival Announces Plays

Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, founders of the TRIBECA THEATER FESTIVAL along with Madelyn Wils, president of the TRIBECA FILM INSTITUTE, have announced the six playwrights who will have readings of their works presented as part of Tribeca All Access Open Stage. The program, running during the Tribeca Theater Festival, provides exposure for a small number of playwrights of color by reading excerpts of their works in a professional environment. These invitation-only sessions will be directed by Kenny Leon on Monday, October 25 and Michael Greif on Tuesday, October 26.

"We are thrilled to be launching our new Tribeca All Access Open Stage program at the inaugural Tribeca Theater Festival," says Madelyn Wils. "The quality of the submissions we received proves that there is enormous talent ready to break through the pack. We modeled this program on our successful Tribeca All Access Connects program which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and brought 25 filmmakers of color together with over 100 industry representatives. We are extremely proud of our Tribeca All Access programs and the impact they have on increasing diversity in theater and film."

The plays selected have not yet been produced. Excerpts will be read before an invitation-only audience of theater professionals including agents, producers and theater company representatives. TAA Open Stage will also facilitate meetings between the selected playwrights and industry representatives.

The selected plays and playwrights are:

ASCENSION by Cynthia Robinson
Two slaves' impending marriage is haunted by the woman's relationship with the master of the plantation.

COWBOY VS. SAMURAI by Michael Golamco
In this re-telling of CYRANO DE BERGERAC, one man must choose between the "Asian American" and the "American" within himself in a pursuit of love.

THE ESCAPE ARTIST'S CHILDREN by Steve Harper
An unemployed African-American lesbian tries to beat the blues with some poignant and comic results.

MAGNIFICENT WASTE by Caridad Svich
In this dark comedy, three people, hungry for celebrity, make a pact that will forever change their lives.

SISSY by Ricardo A. Bracho
A coming-of-age tale set against a social revolution in Central America and a 12-year-old's disco dreams.

YOU DEAD YET? By Akin Salawu
A tale of a dysfunctional family puts a schoolteacher between her troubled nephew and her nasty mother.

Honorable Mentions

TAA Open Stage will pair the following playwrights with a mentor playwright during the Tribeca Theater Festival to discuss their work. These plays will not be included in the readings series:

DANCE THE HOLY GHOST: A PLAY ON MEMORY by Marcus Gardley

WHERE SLEEPING DOGS LIE by Christina M. Ham

The selection committee consisted of Jessica Hagedorn, novelist, poet and multimedia artist; Jamal Joseph, co-founder of Harlem's IMPACT Repertory Theater; Eduardo Machado, Playwright and Artistic Director of INTAR Hispanic American Arts Center; Voza Rivers, Chairman of the Harlem Arts Alliance; Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tony Award-nominated actress; Diana Son, playwright; and Cheryl West, playwright and screenwriter.

"It is wonderful that the Tribeca Film Institute has opened its doors to minority writers. They need to be heard and seen," Eduardo Machado, Artistic Director, INTAR Hispanic Arts Center.

"There are some strong, bold and inspired voices out there waiting to be heard and yearning to be nurtured. TAA Open Stage is a wonderful program that addresses this need without an agenda and in a principled, intelligent manner," Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tony Award-nominated actress.

THE TRIBECA THEATER FESTIVAL produced by Robert De Niro, JANE ROSENTHAL, and CRAIG HATKOFF, co-founders of the Tribeca Film Festival, in association with the Tribeca-based Off-Broadway theater company DRAMA DEPT, and presented by American Express, will run Tuesday, October 19 - Sunday, October 31, 2004.

The two-week Festival will celebrate theater by supporting new voices and new work while furthering the organizers' mission for the economic and cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan. In addition to Tribeca All Access Open Stage, highlights of the Festival will include "The Downtown Plays," "Stage On Screen" programs, and theater panel discussions and play readings.

"The Downtown Plays," at Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University (3 Spruce Street between Park Row and Gold) is a two-week run of an evening of world-premiere short plays by some of the theater community's leading playwrights, including Jon Robin Baitz, Douglas Carter Beane, David Henry Hwang, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Kenneth Lonergan, Frank Pugliese, Paul Rudnick and Wendy Wasserstein. Tony Award-winning director John Rando ("Urinetown") will helm the production, which will feature a stellar ensemble of actors.

For tickets and more information about the FIRST ANNUAL TRIBECA THEATER FESTIVAL, visit www.tribecatheaterfestival.com or www.dramadept.org.

In addition to American Express as the Founding Sponsor, The Tribeca Theater Festival is excited to announce their signature sponsors, the New York Times, WNBC, and Telemundo/WNJU.