HB STUDIO To Shine Light On Urgency Of Climate Change With Two Upcoming Events

This fall HB STUDIO is shining its spotlight on the urgency of climate change with two upcoming events: the American Scoreboard performances of verbatim readings of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on The Need for Leadership to Combat Climate Change for two performances only on Wednesday, November 20 and Thursday, November 21 at 7pm; and a staged reading of playwright José Rivera's fanciful Maricela De La Luz Lights the World, directed by David Debinger, on Friday, December 6 at 7pm and Saturday, December 7 at 2pm. All performances, which are free of charge, take place at HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street. Reservations can be made at hbstudio.eventbrite.com.

In The Need for Leadership to Combat Climate Change American Scoreboard, the highly popular series of actor-performed, verbatim readings of actual U.S. Congressional hearing transcripts, will bring to life a hearing conducted last April 9 by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, featuring a cast of characters that will include former Senator and Secretary of State John Kerry, former Senator and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (Ohio - R) and the late Elijah Cummings, the recently deceased Chairman of the committee. The evening will also feature a reading of an excerpt of the young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg's recent address to this year's United Nations General Assembly.

The evening will be performed by current and former students, as well as faculty, of the HB Studio.

Conceived by two-time Tony Award winning producer Fran Kirmser, and produced by Ms. Kirmser and Christopher Burney, Artistic Director of New York Stage and Film, AMERICAN SCOREBOARD is an ongoing series which, through timely verbatim readings of U.S. Congressional hearing transcripts performed by stage and screen actors, reflect the issues that face the current administration, President Trump and the American people today.

José Rivera's wild and fanciful holiday play Maricela De La Luz Lights the World, directed by David Deblinger, co-founder of the LAByrinth Theater Company and HB faculty member, follows the adventures of Maricela and her brother Riccardo as they save the world from weather catastrophe. Rivera is a two-time Obie Award-winner and Oscar nominated playwright whose other works include the plays Marisol, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot and Cloud Tectonics; and the screenplays for the films The Motorcycle Diaries and On the Road.

Maricela De La Luz Lights the World will feature Vanessa Aspillaga (Broadway's Anna in the Tropics; Off-Broadway's Amy and the Orphans, underneathmybed, The Clean House) in the title role. The cast will also feature Johnny Rivera, Jorge Guevara, Sara Koviak, Satoshi Deleanu, Kevin Hobaichan, Maria Fontanals, Mike Faccioli, and Agnes Chrakowiecka.