Abingdon Theatre Company's A ROOM OF MY OWN Opens Tonight

Abingdon Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tony Speciale, presents the world-premiere run of A Room of My Own. Written and Directed by Charles Messina, the new play has sold-out its run prior to opening tonight, February 25.

Off-Broadway performances conclude March 13 at Abingdon's June Havoc Theatre (312 West 36th Street), featuring Tony Award-nominee Mario Cantone (Sex and the City, Laugh Whore, Steve) and Ralph Macchio (Dancing with the Stars, The Karate Kid, My Cousin Vinny).

Joining Cantone and Macchio in the company are newcomer Nico Bustamante, Kendra Jain (New Year's Eve), Johnny Tammaro (Tony n' Tina's Wedding), Joli Tribuzio (Tony n' Tina's Wedding), and Liza Vann (The Road to Damascus).

In A Room of My Own, playwright and director Charles Messina recounts growing up with his eccentric Italian-American family in Greenwich Village. Ralph Macchio is Carl Morelli, a writer who reminisces about his adolescence and childhood dreams of the world outside his crowded downtown tenement. Wishing for his own room-and an Atari-Little Carl (Bustamante) shares the tiny studio in a five-flight walk-up with his unemployed father Peter (Tammaro), older sister Jeannie (Jain), and strong-willed mother Dotty (Tribuzio). Other relatives include Carl's high-strung uncle Jackie, portrayed by Mario Cantone, and estranged aunt Jean (Vann). Messina's new Off-Broadway comedy takes a hilarious and heartfelt look at New York City in the late 1970s.

The production includes set design by Brian Dudkiewicz; lighting design by Mike Megliola; costume design by Catherine Siracusa; sound design by Ian Wehrle; props design by Addison Heeren; and casting by Lori Malkin. Production Stage Manager is Deidre Works.

Note: A ROOM OF MY OWN contains strong language and is not recommended for ages under 13.

Charles Messina's playwriting credits include An Honest Woman, The Wanderer, Actor Found Dead, and Homeland. As a director, his most notable stage work includes the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway plays Cirque Jacqueline, Andrea Reese's play about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; and Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God, a one-man show about Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury, portrayed by Khalid Conclaves, and later, Amir Darvish. Other directing credits include Richard Vetere's Rockaway Boulevard and Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Story; Art Metrano's Accidental Comedy; and Andrew Goffman's long-running comedy The Accidental Pervert, now in its eighth year Off-Broadway. Messina's screenplays include 'Twas the Night Before a Brooklyn Christmas (co-written with Vincent Gogliormella). He is the author of several one-act plays, including Klepto, Merging, and Fugazy. A Room of My Own was presented last season as part of Abingdon's reading series, with Cantone, Jain, Macchio, Tammaro and Tribuzio. Messina's other readings at Abingdon include his latest full-length play, Calm the Light, and collections of one-act plays, Fairies, 3 From the Neighborhood, and Moonlight in Greenwich Village. Messina was born and raised in Greenwich Village and that is still where his heart resides.

Now in its 23rd Season, Abingdon Theatre Company is dedicated to developing and producing new American plays by emerging and established playwrights. Under the artistic direction of Tony Speciale, who joined Abingdon in October 2015, the company provides a safe home where playwrights, directors and actors can collaborate within a supportive and nurturing environment. Abingdon searches for stories about the human experience that reflect our social, political, historical and cultural diversity. To date, the company has collaborated with more than 200 playwrights, produced 85 New York and world-premiere plays, presented more than 700 readings, staged 175 ten-minute plays, and commissioned 6 one-act plays. Notable artists who have worked with Abingdon Theatre Company include Carl Andress, Bryan Batt, Robert Brustein, Maxwell Caulfield, Dick Cavett, John Epperson, Jane Greenwood, Roberta Maxwell, Iddo Netanyahu, Nancy Opel, Austin Pendleton, Sam Pinkleton, Marcia Rodd and Mark Waldrop. Abingdon's 2014 production of Brian Richard Mori's Hellman v. McCarthy, directed by founding artistic director Jan Buttram, was filmed and presented by WNET as part of its inaugural Theatre Close-Up series.

Photo Credit: Ben Strothmann