Annual East Village Play Festival Kicks Off This Weekend

The Obie Award- winning Metropolitan Playhouse presents a live-streamed readings of two new plays, free of charge, with a talkback to follow: EAST SIDE STORIES: UNMASKED, WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD, new plays by Michael D. Dinwiddie and Armand Ruhlman.

Streaming June12, 2021 at 8:00 pm (Eastern) through June 16, 2021 at 10:00 pm (Eastern). Available at: www.MetropolitanPlayhouse.org/ESS2021. The program will be available for four days following its premiere on the Playhouse webpage, YouTube channel, and Facebook page.

"Welcome to the Neighborhood" includes POPPYSEED by Michael D. Dinwiddie--a story of an unexpected reception at an old-school bakery in 1976, and TALL BLONDE WITH A TOY GIRAFFE, by Armand Ruhlman--a nightmarish first night in a new neighborhood in 1981.

Beginning in 2003, Metropolitan has presented new one-act plays celebrating the theater's neighborhood, Manhattan's East Village, and has premiered over 100 one-act plays inspired by its history.

"Welcome to the Neighborhood" is the first of two evenings as part of this year's East Side Stories festival. The second, airing June 19th, 2021, is "Stick Around" and includes new plays by Nina Howes and Rex McGregor.

The reading will be followed by a question and answer with the playwrights.

POPPYSEED is directed by Linda Kuriloff and features Adrian Baidoo and Rosina Fernhoff; TALL BLONDE WITH A TOY GIRAFFE is directed by Rachael Langton and featuring Amanda Jones, Michael A. Jones, and Jed Peterson.

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