URBAN STAGES NEW PLAY READING SERIES March Line-up Announced

Urban Stages' (Frances Hill, Founder/Artistic Director, Lauren Schmiedel, Managing Director) continues it 25th season celebrating diversity and new works with the March line-up of URBAN STAGES' NEW PLAY READING SERIES. The readings will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout March at 6PM and are FREE to the public. Each reading will be followed by a Q&A with the playwright and cast. For reservations please email urbanstages@gmail.com or call 212-695-5131, Urban Stages is located at 259 West 30th Street.

Thursday, March 12th: ReEntry written and directed KJ Sanchez, (commissioned by Two Rivers Theatre Company, Aaron Posner, Artistic Director.) ReEntry is an unflinching look at the lives of Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an honest, moving and surprisingly funny play based on hundreds of interviews with privates and colonels, combat vets and clerks. ReEntry tells the stories you haven't heard, the stories of coming home.

Tuesday, March 17th: Wonderful Counselor by Kathyn Grant, directed by Ed Setrakian. Vincent Heffernon, a public defender, attempts to mount an effective legal defense for a young woman accused of killing her baby. As the argument spills over from the courtroom into the community, Vincent must come to terms with his preconceptions about the capacities of mothers. Ms Grant has won the Berilla Kerr Award.

Thursday, March 19th: An Accident by Lydia Stryk directed by Roger Danforth starring Austin Pendleton and Amy Warren. In An Accident, a terrible traffic accident results in an unexpected life altering encounter between the two people involved. The play asks how and why we end up where we do and what role fate and chance play in our lives as the body becomes the scene of rage and redemption. Ms. Stryk's plays have been seen in festivals all over the country and in Europe. She is the recipient of a Berrilla Kerr Playwright Award.

Tuesday, March 24th, This Way to Your Ritual Lobotomy by Guillermo Reyes starring Felix Pire. The play brings together the L.A. Ovation and New York Outer Critics Award winning team of Pire and Reyes ("Men on the Verge of a Hispanic Breakdown") in a brand new solo performance that travels 3000 years into the future. This elegant sci-fi premised play, is laced with political satire, and laughingly points to our lack of human communication, technology notwithstanding.

Thursday, March 26th: Jackson Heights by Jade Wu. Jackson Heights - a place where you can travel around the world in ten blocks. Multicultural generations deal with changes in their neighborhood while battling the changes in their personal lives. A fun evening with a twist. Jade Wu is an award winning actor, writer and director in stage, film and TV. She was last seen on stage in Central Park's production of Mother Courage with Meryl Streep, and in Michael Kang's Sundance Pedigree film, The Motel. She has been a Jerome fellow, a Disney/ADC writing fellow, a film/video arts fellow, and has received grants from NYSCA and other foundations for her writing. JACKSON HEIGHTS originated as a screenplay which placed in the acclaimed Blue Cat screenplay competition as well as the Page International screenplay competition. Jackson Heights has been adapted to the stage for Urban Stages.

Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning March 12 - 26
Urban Stages is located at 259 West 30th Street
Tickets are FREE
For reservations please email urbanstages@gmail.com or call 212-695-5131.
For more information about Urban Stages please visit www.urbanstages.org