Cherry Lane Announces Performance Schedule for 'The Mentor Project', 3/16-5/29

Performance schedules for the three world-premiere Mentor Project plays have been announced by the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St.), where the new plays STRAY by Ruth McKee, THE BELLE OF BELFAST by Nate Rufus Edelman and PATERNITY by Winter Miller will be performed this spring from March 16 to May 29. All performances of Mentor Project plays are open to the public. Tickets are $18 ($11 with valid student ID), and can be reserved by calling Tele-charge at 212 239 6200 or online at www.cherrylanetheatre.org

Written by Ruth McKee, directed by Giovanna Sardelli and mentored by
David Henry Hwang, STRAY will perform as follows: Mar 16 at 7pm, Mar
17 at 7pm, Mar 18 at 7pm, Mar 19 at 7pm, Mar 20 at 3pm and 7pm, Mar
Mar 23 at 7pm, Mar 24 at 7pm, Mar 25 at 7pm, Mar 26 at 7pm and Mar 27
at 3pm and 7pm.

Written by Nate Rufus Edelman, directed by Eric Tucker and mentored by
Charles Fuller, THE BELLE OF BELFAST will perform Apr 27 at 7pm, Apr
28 at 7pm,Apr 29 at 7pm,Apr 30 at 7pm,May 1 at 3pm and 7pm, May 4 at
7pm, May 5 at 7pm, May 6 at 7pm, May 7 at 7pm and May 8 at 3pm and
7pm.

Written by Winter Miller, directed and mentored by Craig Lucas,
PATERNITY will perform May 18 at 7pm, May 19 at 7pm, May 20 at 7pm,
May 21 at 7pm, May 22 at 3pm and 7pm, May 25 at 7pm, May 26 at 7pm,
May 27 at 7pm, May 28 at 7pm and May 29 at 3pm and 7pm.

Winner of an American Theatre Wing Award, a Village Voice Obie Award
and the Dramatist Guild's James Kirkwood Award for fostering new work
by contemporary playwrights, Cherry Lane Theatre's Mentor Project each
year pairs a new writer with an established playwright for a season of
script development, casting, rehearsal and world-premiere productions
of their works for the stage. Mentor Project has become an important
national launching pad for new writers and their plays: later this
year, Mentor Project playwright Sheila Callaghan's play LASCIVIOUS
SOMETHING will be presented Off-Broadway in a co-production between
Cherry Lane Theatre and the Women's Project, and just last year Cherry
Lane presented an Off-Broadway engagement of Deidre O'Connor's
critically-acclaimed play JAILBAIT at its third and newest performance
space, The Cherry Pit in Greenwich Village.

STRAY by Ruth McKee

Mentored by David Henry Hwang - winner of the 1988 Tony Award for Best
Play for M BUTTERFLY, and a Tony nominee in 1998 for GOLDEN CHILD -
Ruth McKee's racially charged play STRAY concerns James and Rachel,
who seem like the perfect parents: well-educated, successful,
middle-class...white. But when their adopted son from Uganda is
threatened with expulsion from school, they are confronted with the
real challenges of parenting a traumatized child in suburban America.
Directed by Giovanna Sardelli, STRAY has a cast which includes Emily
Ackerman (ReENTRY, THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY), Brianne Bergson, Antony
Hagopian (FROST/NIXON), Petronia Paley (ON THE WAY TO TIMBUKTU,
"Guiding Light"), and Lisa Ramirez (EXIT CUCKOO).

THE BELLE OF BELFAST by Nate Rufus Edelman

Mentored by Charles Fuller, who won the Pulitzer Prize for A SOLDIER'S
PLAY and is the author of the plays ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN and THE
BROWNSVILLE RAID, Nate Rufus Edelman's sharp and darkly witty play THE
BELLE OF BELFAST is about seventeen-year-old Anne Malloy, who is lost
and angry after the tragic killing of her parents to a terrorist's
bomb. Like many who suffered and survived during Ireland's "Troubles",
she turns to the comforts of her local parish. However, her passion is
not for the Church, but for her confessor and confidant Father Reilly,
forcing both to re-evaluate where one finds solace and faith during a
time of conflict. Directed by Eric Tucker, THE BELLE OF BELFAST has a
cast which includes Evan Thompson (CITY OF ANGESL, 1776), Elvy Yost
("Bandslam" with Lisa Kudrow and Vanessa Hudgens), Katie Fabel (The
Irish Rep's ERNEST IN LOVE), Sam Redford (Academy Award-nominated THE
HURT LOCKER), and Terry Donnelly (THE YEATS PROJECT).

PATERNITY by Winter Miller

Mentored by Craig Lucas - author of the plays PRELUDE TO A KISS,
RECKLESS and THE DYING GAUL, and a Tony nominee for his book of the
musical A LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA - Winter Miller's chaotically funny play
PATERNITY is about a woman who wants to have a baby and be a single
mother, and the man who happens to love her madly and challenges her
decision. In addition to mentoring Ms. Miller's play, Mr. Lucas will
also direct PATERNITY. Two time Tony Award-nominee Daphne Rubin Vega
will portray Tina (the youg woman who wishes to become a single
mother), additional casting is TBA.

The design team for all three mentor project plays is: Kina Park and
John McDermott (Set Design); Rebecca Bernstein (Costume Design); Pat
Dignan (Lighting Design) and Daniel Kluger (Sound Design).

Chosen annually from scripts submitted by the Cherry Lane National
Nominating Committee, and selected by the 2010 Mentor playwrights
themselves, the Mentor Project fellows work one-on-one with their
advisers, have private and public readings of their plays, attend
workshops and receive 12 performance showcase runs at Cherry Lane
Theatre (38 Commerce St. in NYC) each spring.

Previous Mentor Project playwrights whose work has been produced
subsequent to their tenure at Cherry Lane: Rajiv Joseph, "Bengal
Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" (Center Theater Group); David Adjmi,
"Stunning" (Lincoln Center Theater 3); Katori Hall, "The Mountaintop"
(London's Battersea, West End); Jakob Holder, "Bedtime Solos" (Old Red
Lion Theater, England); Colin McKenna, "The Secret Agenda of Trees"
(Wild Project, NYC); Allison Moore, "Slasher" (Humana Festival);
Christopher Shinn and Sam Forman.

The Mentor Project continues Cherry Lane Theatre's long and rich
history of presenting works by both emerging and seasoned playwrights
that reveal the social consciousness of our ever-changing world. Now
83 years old, and New York's longest, continuously-running
Off-Broadway theatre, Cherry Lane is known as "the birthplace of
Off-Broadway," and since the 1920's has been home to such iconoclastic
writers as O'Neill, Saryan, Auden, Albee, Odets, Orton, Mamet, Lanford
Wilson, and many others.

Angelina Fiordellisi is Founder and Artistic Director of Cherry Lane
Theatre; James King is Executive Director..

Tickets to Mentor Project performances are $18 ($11 with valid student
ID), and are available by calling TeleCharge at 212-239-6200 or
visiting www.TeleCharge.com, at The Cherry Lane Theatre box office (38
Commerce Street) in New York or online at www.cherrylanetheatre.org

 

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