Sebastian Arcelus to Star in Midtown Direct Rep's THE SUBJECT Reading Next Month

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR), the company that brought New Jersey the award-winning Rated P for Parenthood and Listen to Your Mother: North Jersey, returns to the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) with Theatre in the Loft, a series of staged readings of new plays and musicals. Chisa Hutchinson's The Subject, directed by Jade King Carroll, premieres on Sunday, October 12 at 7 pm at SOPAC (One Sopac Way, South Orange, NJ, 07079). The reading is $15 and open to the public. Tickets can be purchased online http://www.sopacnow.org/504/mdr or by calling 973-313-ARTS (2787).

About The Subject: An upstart documentarian builds his success on the death of one of his teenage subjects, and wrestles with the consequences in this thrilling new play that deals with race, privilege and ambition. Playwright Hutchinson, a true product of New Jersey, grew up in various situations in Newark, Short Hills, Millburn, Montclair and Maplewood -- in that order. She currently resides in Perth Amboy and is a resident playwright at New Dramatists.

The cast is led by MDR members Sebastian Arcelus (House of Cards, The Leftovers) and Janeece Freeman (Diddydoodle Works), with more casting to be announced.

About Theatre in the Loft - Midtown Direct Rep presents Theatre in the Loft at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) in South Orange, New Jersey. This series of public readings of new plays and musicals showcases new work in development in an elegant and safe setting in front of a sophisticated and engaged audience. The series focuses on works that reflect the complexities of a uniquely diverse community; writers or subjects with a local connection; and roles that can be cast significantly from the MDR ensemble. Recent projects include work by Jeremy Desmon, James Hindman, David Johnston, Kara Lee Korthron, David Myers, Sandy Rustin, John Walch, and others. In January, Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis joined company members Sebastian Arcelus, Jenny Bacon, Stephanie Kurtzuba and others in Absence, a new play by Peter Flaherty.

About Midtown Direct Rep - With perhaps more professional theater artists than any suburb of NYC, Maplewood/South Orange (NJ) is ?where Broadway comes home to sleep.? MDR, a theatre company created by and for these NJ-based artists, develops and presents relevant, world-class theatre for its community.

Midtown Direct Rep company members include two-time Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz, Tony Award nominee Stephanie J. Block, Tony Award nominee Christiane Noll, Sebastian Arcelus, Joel de la Fuente, Bradley Dean, Michele Pawk, and many others. The Company is led by Managing Director Jeffrey Shubart, Artistic Advisor Sandy Rustin, Producing Director Evan Fleischer, Artistic Producer Steven Tabakin, and Literary Manager Marni Raab. For more information, visit www.middirrep.org.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride