Ephraim Birney, Melissa Errico and More to Star in JACOB'S LADDER Reading

On Monday, October 6, 2025, Jim Cooney will direct a staged reading of Dennis Bailey and David Mixner’s play JACOB’S LADDER. The intimate reading will star Ephraim Birney (“Gotham”), Tony Award nominee Melissa Errico, Mark Mackillop (Anastasia), Mary Page Nance (A Beautiful Noise) and Rob Sutton (Beauty and The Beast) and will take place at 7pm at Theater 555. Alex Mustelier will read the stage directions. The one-night-only reading will benefit The David Mixner Memorial Fund at The Ali Forney Center, a favorite non-profit of the late Mr. Mixner. Additional casting to be announced at a later date.

In the spring of 1944, at the height of World War II, a highly sensitive, top-secret debate was being waged within the Roosevelt Administration. An unassuming young staffer to FDR, Jacob Greenstein (Ephraim Birney), discovers a daring and controversial proposal that has been set forth to divert Allied forces to bomb the concentration camps in Eastern Europe. Jacob is then thrust into a moral firestorm that pits politics against humanity, loyalty against conscience, and silence against action. With insight, wit and a dash of 1940s panache, JACOB’S LADDER recounts the unforgettable story of an ordinary man faced with an impossible choice — and how that choice could change the course of history.

The Ali Forney Center’s mission is to protect LGBTQ+ youths from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently. In 2002, the AFC became the nation’s first homelessness services agency dedicated to serving LGBTQ+ youth in memory of Ali Forney. Ali Forney was a BIPOC LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness who was a performer, artist, and community activist who dedicated his life to advocating for himself and his peers up until his murder in 1997. Since AFC’s launch with just six beds in a church basement, the organization has grown to become the largest agency dedicated to LGBTQ+ homeless youths in the country — assisting over 2,200 youths per year through a 24-hour Drop-In Center, “Ali’s Place,” which provides over 70,000 meals annually, medical and mental health services through an on-site clinic, and 17 housing sites with over 160 beds.

 When David Mixner passed in 2024, it was one of his final wishes to establish the David Mixner Memorial Fund to support the lifesaving work of the Ali Forney Center. Both Ali Forney and David Mixner dedicated themselves to bettering the lives of those in the LGBTQ+ community, and whose passions led them to the performing arts and social justice. David’s legacy will live on in the countless lives of LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness who will go on to enjoy wonderful, proud, full lives thanks to the support of the David Mixner Memorial Fund.