Ari'el Stachel, Lauren Molina & More to Star in LIGHT UP THE SKY Benefit Reading

Keen Company Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein today announced the first cast members for the Gala Benefit Reading of the beloved Broadway comedy Light Up the Sky by Moss Hart, directed by Mr. Silverstein and featuring an all-star cast. The one night only event will take place Monday April 25th at 7 PM at Theatre 3 at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues). Tickets are on sale now! Light Up the Sky will run 2 hours including a 10 minute intermission.

Tickets to this fundraiser event support Keen Company's 22nd Season celebrating new work, as well as Keen's Playwrights Lab for mid-career writers, and Keen Teens which serves students in all five boroughs of NYC.

Leading the cast will be Arnie Burton (Broadway: Peter and the Starcatcher, Machinal - Roundabout, A Free Man of Color - Lincoln Center Theater; Off-Bway: The 39 Steps; The Temperamentals; Lewiston/Clarkston - Drama Desk nomination; The Mystery of Irma Vep - Drama League nomination, The Government Inspector - Red Bull Theater); Jasminn Johnson (Keen Co: Blues for an Alabama Sky; New York Classical Theatre: King Lear; Netflix's "The Politician"); Lauren Molina (Keen Co: Marry Me a Little; Bway: Rock of Ages, Sweeney Todd; Off-Bway: Desperate Measures - Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations; The Skivvies); Reg Rogers (Bway: Tootsie, The Royal Family - OCC nominations; The Iceman Cometh, Present Laughter, The Big Knife, Holiday - Tony and Drama Desk nominations; The Dazzle - OBIE and Lucille Lortel Awards); Ari'el Stachel (Tony, Grammy and Emmy awards for The Band's Visit, as well as Drama Desk and Lortel Award nominations); Jason Tam (Broadway: Be More Chill, If/Then, Lysistrata Jones, and the revival of A Chorus Line; NBC Live "Jesus Christ Superstar;" Off-Broadway: KPOP - Lortel Award; Keen Company's Marry Me A Little). Additional casting will be announced shortly.

"Keen Company is thrilled to be presenting a reading of Light Up the Sky with some of the theater's finest actors and favorite Keen Company alumni. As a way to celebrate the theater's return, we are so excited to present Moss Hart's hilarious love letter to the theater. Throughout our history, Keen has produced many 20th Century classic comedies (The Second Man, The Voice of the Turtle, The Hasty Heart, among others) and Light Up the Sky is one that has always been near and dear to our hearts. This one night only benefit will raise funds for Keen's 22nd Season as well as Keen Teens, our unique educational program," said Silverstein.

An outstanding hit of the Broadway theater, Moss Hart's Light Up the Sky is a gorgeously amusing comedy about show folks. The comedy revolves around a group of New York theater-folk who attend the opening of their new play in Boston. The lead actress, the backer, and several others, are in seventh heaven at the prospect of a tremendous success which they hope for in the work of a young unknown writer. Gathered in a hotel room, these people go through their paces with tremendous gusto and many exhibitions of temperament. The opening of the play, which is a very earnest and experimental work, is such as to lead the cast, director and backer to believe it a flop. Instantly they turn against themselves, the production, the author and savagely proceed in what looks like an attempt to destroy themselves and all their former hopes. It turns out, however, that in spite of the curious reception by the first night audience, the play has made a deep impression, and when news spreads that the reviews are on the whole favorable, the tables are turned. But the playwright who has suffered both from the enthusiasm and pessimism of his associates has decided that he is through with the theater, and he is captured by the backer only at the moment he is about to take a plane back home. He is persuaded to play ball with his associates, but he is so disgusted with the temperamental shenanigans of those who were presumably his friends that he turns on them and lays down the law to them.

Moss Hart (1904 -1961) began his career as a playwright, director and producer in 1930 when, with George S. Kaufman, he wrote Once in a Lifetime. Subsequent Kaufman and Hart successes include Merrily We Roll Along, You Can't Take It With You and The Man Who Came To Dinner, among others. In collaboration with Irving Berlin, he wrote Face the Music and As Thousands Cheer. In solo efforts, he scored personal triumphs with Jubilee, The Great Waltz, Light Up the Sky and Lady in the Dark, which he also directed. His directorial credits include My Fair Lady, Camelot and Winged Victory, which he also wrote. Among his screen credits are A Star Is Born, Gentleman's Agreement, and Hans Christian Anderson. His autobiography, Act One, topped the best-seller list for 40 weeks.

"A whirlwind lampoon which is funnier than anything the dramatic stage has spawned this season. Light Up the Sky works, which is the hallmark of the knockabout comedy. It is also vastly entertaining, and it helps a lot to light up the Broadway sky," said Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times.

The performance will be at Theatre 5 of Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues). This is a one-night only fundraiser event, and benefit tickets are available from $100. (Theatre Row charges an additional $2.50 restoration fee on all tickets, plus a $4.00 fee for orders placed online or over the phone). To purchase tickets to Light Up the Sky, visit the Theatre Row Box Office (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues), order online at KeenCompany.org, or order by phone at 212-714-2442 - ext. 45.

Keen Company's World Premiere of the new comedy This Space Between Us by Peter Gil-Sheridan (The Rafa Play), directed by Silverstein, recently completed its acclaimed run at Theatre Row. This Space Between Us is a new comedy about trying to change the world while admitting home could use a little change too. Nobody understands why Jamie wants to leave his cushy law office to work for a non-profit. His boyfriend is concerned, his best friend is confused, and his conservative Cuban-American family are sure they know what's best. As Jamie announces his plans to serve those less fortunate, one shocking afternoon at the racetrack sparks unexpected and irreversible consequences for them all. This intergenerational comedy follows a raucous attempt to reach for something more without leaving the people you love behind. Elysa Gardner, in NY Stage Review, declared "Gil-Sheridan, who has explored the intersection of personal and societal quandaries in plays such as Topsy Turvy Mouse and What May Fall, approaches Jamie's dilemma with a mix of empathy and whimsy that's extended equally to all his characters-so that under Keen Company artistic director Jonathan Silverstein's cogent guidance of an excellent ensemble, their motley foibles emerge as endearingly, frustratingly human, and often quite funny as well."

Keen Company is an award-winning Off-Broadway theater creating story driven work that champions identification and connection. In intimate productions of plays and musicals, the company tells stories about the decisive moments that change us. Recently, Keen has brought such acclaimed productions to the stage as Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage (NY Premiere, AUDELCO and Antonyo Nom), Surely Goodness and Mercy by Chisa Hutchinson (NY Premiere), Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon (Drama League Nom), Tick, Tick...BOOM! by Jonathan Larson (Drama Desk Nom), Boy by Anna Ziegler (World Premiere, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award), and Marry Me a Little by Stephen Sondheim (Drama League Nom). Through our educational arm, Keen Teens, we raise the quality of plays written for the high school stage and provide a free professional training program for teens. Through the Keen Playwrights Lab, we bring together three mid-career playwrights to develop new work and facilitate that work's exposure to a greater audience. Keen Company thrives through our welcoming ethos and community commitments. We believe that a good process makes great art, and that we are responsible for our impact both on and off stage.

For more information, visit KeenCompany.org

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