Pandolfo & Witting's A BAD NIGHT Gets Free Reading at Abingdon

Abingdon Theatre Company presents a staged reading of A BAD NIGHT, a new play co-written by Nicole Pandolfo and Amy E. Witting, on Saturday, November 5 at 8:00 PM in the June Havoc Theatre (312 West 36th Street, New York City). Jackson Gay (These Paper Bullets!) is set to direct. The special one-night only engagement is free and open to the public.

A recipient of a 2015 Emerging Artists Jerome Fellowship, A BAD NIGHT is a complex portrait of acquaintance rape as told by real interviews from men and women, survivors, detectives, attorneys, and others affected by what is a problem of inconceivable proportions.

The company includes Meg Griffiths Anderson, J.Stephen Brantley, Glen Feinstein, Jamie Heinlein, Celestine Rae, and Evelyn Spahr.

Nicole Pandolfo is currently a 2016-17 Dramatist Guild Fellow and was recently selected for a 2017 commission with the NJPAC Stage Exchange with Premiere Stages at Kean University. Her work has been developed through the Jerome Foundation, The Actors Studio, The Lark Play Development Center, and NJ Rep among others and she was a finalist for the Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship and the Leah Ryan Fund for Emerging Women Writers. She is a member of The Actors Studio in the Playwright/Director Unit directed by Lyle Kessler and received her MFA at Hunter College. www.nicolepandolfo.com

Amy E. Witting, currently in-residence at Abingdon Theatre Company, is the author of The House on the Hill (Atlantic Theater Inaugural LAUNCH Commission, Abingdon Theatre New Play Reading Series, Kennedy Center ACTF/NNPN MFAPW Alumni, Semi-finalist O'Neill National Playwrights Conference), There's Never A Gavin: The True Story of a Disco Roller Skater (Atlantic Theater Amplified Reading Series, nominated 2016 Weissberger Award), The Midnight Ride of Sean & Lucy (Roundabout Underground Reading Series), Day 392 (Kennedy Center ACTF/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop, Honorable Mention Kilroy's List, Nominated Susan Smith Blackburn prize.) Her plays have been developed at Tofte Lake Center, The Lark Play Development Center, The Kennedy Center, NNPN and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She currently works as a Teaching Artist with Roundabout Theatre Company in New York, received her MFA at Hunter College and is a member of Mission to (dit)MARS, Propulsion Lab, and The Dramatists Guild. www.amywitting.com

Director Jackson Gay's credits include Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, France; Lisa Lampanelli's Stuffed (Women's Project); CHIX 6 by Lourds Lane (La MaMa); Chekhov's Three Sisters (Studio Theatre in association with New Neighborhood). Recent credits include Transfers by Lucy Thurber (New York Stage & Film); Much Ado About Nothing, adapted with Kenneth Lin (Cal Shakes); Workshop of Suzanne Vega's Lover, Beloved, An Evening with Carson McCullers with music by Vega and Duncan Sheik (Rattlestick West LA and upcoming at Alley Theatre); George Brant's Grounded (Alley Theatre); Jen Silverman's The Moors (Yale Rep); These Paper Bullets! Adapted from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by Rolin Jones, with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (Atlantic Theater Company, Geffen Playhouse, Yale Rep - Critics Pick Time Out NY, Best Production and Adaptation LA Sage Awards, Best of 2015 Time Out Los Angeles, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Best Production and Best Director); I Saw My Neighbor on the Train and I Didn't Even Smile by Suzanne Heathcote (co-production New Neighborhood / Berkshire Theatre Festival); Elevada by Sheila Callaghan (Yale Rep); The Insurgents by Lucy Thurber (LAByrinth Theater Company); 3C by David Adjmi (Rattlestick/piece by piece/Rising Phoenix); Lucy Thurber's Where We're Born - The Hilltown Plays (Rattlestick); Rolin Jones's The Jammer (Atlantic Theater Company) and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic and Yale Rep, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Outstanding Production of a Play); A Little Journey (Mint Theater Company, Drama Desk nomination Outstanding Revival of a Play). Other Desert Cities, August: Osage County, Red and Kenneth Lin's Intelligence-Slave (Alley Theatre). Jackson is a founding member of New Neighborhood. She is the Director of Artistic Programming for Fuller Road Artist Residency and teaches directing at Yale College. BFA University of the Arts. MFA Yale School of Drama. Jackson is from Sugar Land, Texas.

Abingdon Theatre Company is dedicated to developing and producing new American work by emerging and established artists. Under the artistic direction of Tony Speciale, the company provides a safe home where playwrights, directors and actors can collaborate within a supportive and nurturing environment. Abingdon searches for stories about the human experience that reflect our social, political, historical and cultural diversity. To date, the company has collaborated with more than 200 playwrights, produced 87 New York and world-premiere plays, presented more than 700 readings, staged over 175 ten-minute plays, and commissioned 6 one-act plays. Notable artists who have worked with Abingdon Theatre Company include Carl Andress, Bryan Batt, Reed Birney, Robert Brustein, Mario Cantone, Maxwell Caulfield, Dick Cavett, John Epperson, Jane Greenwood, Arthur Kopit, Ralph Macchio, Roberta Maxwell, Iddo Netanyahu, Nancy Opel, Austin Pendleton, Sam Pinkleton, Marcia Rodd and Mark Waldrop. Abingdon's 2014 production of Brian Richard Mori's Hellman v. McCarthy, directed by founding artistic director Jan Buttram, was filmed and presented by WNET as part of its inaugural Theatre Close-Up series.

A BAD NIGHT runs Saturday, November 5 at 8:00 PM at Abingdon Theatre Company's June Havoc Theatre (312 West 36th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). Tickets are FREE and can be reserved by emailing abadnight@gmail.com.