Actor Erik Liberman To Headline DROWNING At 7th Annual Durango PlayFest

New York-based actor, director and producer Erik Liberman will headline one of four plays featured at the 7th annual Durango PlayFest, a play development festival that brings well-known and emerging playwrights to Durango to incubate new plays and present staged readings for local audiences.

Liberman will star in "Drowning," a play by Bill Capossere about Roger, a grieving father who rebuilds his drowned son's bedroom in an empty backyard pool, drawing neighbor Simon into his sorrow. As guilt consumes them both, they find themselves haunted-perhaps literally-by the boy's presence. Play readings take place June 28 at 3 p.m. and June 29 at 7 p.m. at the Durango Arts Center.

Capossere is a writer and teacher from Rochester, N.Y. His full-length plays have been given staged readings as part of GEVA Theatre's developmental Regional Writer's Showcase and its New Plays Festival, while shorter works have been performed as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival.

Most recently, Liberman assisted writer Marco Pennette on Broadway's 10-time Tony-nominated musical, "Death Becomes Her." He has originated roles on and off Broadway ("War Paint," "The Band's Visit," "Lovesmusik," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), appeared in revivals ("Merrily We Roll Along," "Into the Woods," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Minnie's Boys"), and on film and TV ("Transparent," "Modern Family," "Vinyl").

The cast also includes:

• Durango-based Matt Bodo, who won a 2024 Broadway World Denver Award for Best Actor in a Play ("Book of Will," Merely Players).
• Denver-based Christina Norris, who won a 2018 Broadway World Denver Award for Best Actor in a Play ("Proof," Thingamajig Theatre Co.).
• Luca Sandoval McCallum, member of the award-winning Durango High School Troupe 1096, which recently presented "Hadestown."

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