Playwrights On Park Reading Series Presents THE RESSURECTIONISTS

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From: matkinson <matkinson@playhousetheatregroup.org>
Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 6:34 PM
Subject: Playwrights on Park Reading Series Presents: The Resurrectionists
To:

  For Immediate Release
Contact: Meredith Longo
Playhouse on Park
matkinson@playhousetheatregroup.org
Www.playhouseonpark.org
 
Playwrights on Park Reading Series Presents: The Resurrectionists
WEST HARTFORD - Join Playhouse on Park in designating the Greater Hartford area as a premiere destination for the cultivation of innovative theatrical work! The Playwrights on Park Reading Series was created for this very purpose, and our next evening in this exciting series is Tuesday, January 29 at 7:30pm with The Resurrectionists. This thrilling material is a collaboration of local creatives, Brian Jennings and Christopher Weed.  
The Resurrectionists is a grisly tale (based on true events) of how desperation can drive men to murder. Times are tough in 1820's Edinburgh, but two Irish immigrants discover a way to alleviate their poverty: selling dead bodies to a local anatomy school. Rather than stealing them from graveyards, they are killing people no one would miss. The freshest bodies command the highest price!   Brian Jennings is the Head of the Theater Department at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, the Chair of the Musical Theater program and the Center for Creative Youth and an adjunct faculty member in the Hartt School Theatre Division. As a member of Hartbeat Ensemble, he has directed Jimmy and Lorraine, and multiple productions of Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol. Most recently, he has worked with musician Samite Mulondo to develop his autobiographical solo show, Resilience. His adaptation, RAVE: The Bacchae of Euripides - Remixed was performed at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. From 1993-2001, he worked with the National Theater of the Deaf as a voicing actor and playwright. He has played the roles of Oberon, Malvolio and Macbeth as part of Artfarm's Shakespeare in the Grove. He has participated as a teaching artist in exchange programs in Cape Verde and South Africa. He holds degrees from Princeton University and the National Theater Conservatory.   Christopher Weed is a musician, coach, composer and arranger, working primarily in Connecticut. He holds a B.A. in music from Oberlin College and studied conducting Westminster Choir College. He has coached, accompanied and music directed for theatre groups in the Hartford area for thirty years, including the Kingswood-Oxford school and University of Hartford. For eleven years he was an accompanist and instructor in theater at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. A published choral arranger, he has also composed rags, a collection of variations on “Aberystwyth” as a primer on shape-note, 15th century polyphonic and florid vocal styles, and a set of free harmonizations on popular Protestant hymn tunes. Since 2004, he has composed two musicals with Brian Jennings: “Another Night in the Underworld”, based on the Orpheus myth, and “The Resurrectionists”, a telling of the Burke and Hare murders in 1820's Edinburgh.
The mission of Playwrights on Park is to produce original plays and musicals written by emerging playwrights. Each reading features a new work, where audience members participate in a talk back session with the playwright, director and cast members. Audience members are also provided with response cards at the end of each reading. Additionally, there is a talkback segment featuring the Playwright and cast after each reading.
All tickets are $10 each, general admission. For tickets, please call our box office at 860-523-5900 x10, or visit www.playhouseonpark.org. Playhouse on Park is located at 244 Park Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06119.
 
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Photos Attached: (1) Brian Jennings and (2) Christopher Weed       Meredith Longo Playhouse on Park Director of Marketing & Public Relations   + Peter and the Starcatcher + One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest + Curious George and the Golden Meatball + Murder For Two + The Revolutionists + stop/time dance theater's Reel to Real + My Name Is Asher Lev + The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley + The Scottsboro Boys +