Atlantic Theater Company Slates 2016-17 Amplified Reading Series; Names Commissioned Writer

Atlantic Theater Company has announced the 2016-2017 selections for its annual Amplified Reading Series.

Curated by Director of New Play Development Abigail Katz, the Amplified Reading Series presents six bold new plays throughout the season with an expanded rehearsal process for more meaningful engagement with the material and the playwright.

Along with Amplified, Atlantic announces the second 2016-2017 Launch commissioned writer, Amy Staats. Staats is a writer, actor, filmmaker, and founding member of DODO: A Theater Collective. Her full length plays include Eddie and Dave: A Fictionalized Tale of Van Halen; Hands; and Move. Her short play Throws of Love was a winner at the 2015 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Her plays have been developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, The New Group, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, and SPACE at Ryder Farm.

She joins Jocelyn Bioh whose Launch commission was announced earlier this year. Launch commissions are offered to early career playwrights who have not yet received an Off-Broadway production and have fewer than three commissions from mid to large size theater companies.

To RSVP for the Amplified Reading Series, visit atlantictheater.org/amplified and specify which reading(s) you would like to attend. Admission is free.

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READINGS SCHEDULE:

Monday, September 19th, 2pm, Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street)

King of the Yees

By Lauren Yee

Directed by Joshua Kahan Brody

King of the Yees is an offbeat and electric joy ride about living in the contemporary world while honoring one's rich ancestral heritage-and the conflict that ensues. The affable Larry Yee remains a driving force in the San Francisco Chinese-American community as the head of the Yee Family Association, a seemingly obsolescent men's club dedicated to the preservation of the Yee line. His daughter Lauren, however, is dismissive of its patriarchal culture policy, despite her father's lifelong dedication to the group. When Larry suddenly goes missing, Lauren's desperate search drops her into a strange but familiar world where she will have to embrace the past if she wants to get her father back. Explore the vivid history of America's largest Chinatown through the eyes of a new generation in Lauren Yee's hilarious and touching theatrical quest to connect with her family lineage.

Friday, October 7th, 4pm, Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street)

Everything is Wonderful

By Chelsea Marcantel

Directed by Walter Bobbie

When an Amish couple's two sons are killed in a car accident, the family struggles to maintain their faith and cling to their way of life. In an act of unfathomable forgiveness, they take in Eric, the wayward young driver of the car. But Eric's mistake cracks open the family's dark history and brings back their eldest daughter, excommunicated five years earlier.

Friday, October 14th, 4pm, Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street)

Welcome to Fear City

By Kara Lee Corthron

Directed by Elena Araoz

It is July 1977 and the South Bronx is HOT: from a heat wave, from this new thing that would come to be known as "hip-hop," and from an astounding number of fires burning the borough to the ground. E, a young African-American man, dreams of being a poet, but unemployment, a raging fiscal crisis, and a family on the brink of disaster drive him to ask a dangerous question: Can you love your 'hood if you take part in its destruction? Welcome to Fear City is about a community trying to get by in the midst of crime, social apathy, poverty, and a whole new art form that's about to electrify the world.

Monday, December 5th, 2pm, Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street)

Kokomo

By Lindsey Ferrentino

Directed by Leigh Silverman

Two people have chosen to vacation together on a boat in the middle of the ocean. They are tourists to Key West and to each other, knowing only the best parts and nothing deeper. Kokomo - a place where lost people can get lost - is a humorous and heartbreaking look at relationships with unclear boundaries, reaching their expiration date.

Monday, January 30th, 2017, 2pm, Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street)

Times Square Psychic

By Ted Malawer

Neil Jones is a mess. After his girlfriend dumps him, there's no reason to go on-until he encounters a storefront psychic named Amna who claims she can reunite them. As Neil and Amna's relationship deepens, the line between predator and prey begins to blur as they spiral toward destruction. An exploration of love, loss, faith, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Monday, March 20th, 2017, 2pm, Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street)

People Sitting in Darkness

By Clarence Coo

Magdalena dreams of being anything other than a housemaid. But luckily for her it's 1901 and the Americans have arrived in the Philippines, bringing along the English language and the possibility of change. When she discovers the American governor is coming to town, she knows what she has to do - convince the others to help her mount a theatrical adaptation of a book about self-determination called "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

For more information, visit www.atlantictheater.org.

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