RUNTS by Melvin Jules Bukiet & Finnegan Shepard To Have World Premiere at New York Theater Festival

Runts, a new play by Melvin Jules Bukiet and Finnegan Shepard will have its World Premiere as part of this year's "Spring/Summer Festival" produced by the New York Theater Festival. There will be three performances: Monday, May 15 at 9pm; Wednesday, May 17 at 9pm; and Saturday, May 20 at 6:45 at Teatro Latea (120 Suffolk Street). For more information, please visit www.newyorktheaterfesitival.com.

Runts is loosely based on the so-called "Sarah Lawrence cult" which developed after the father of a student moved into his daughter's college housing unit. Gradually, he charmed her roommates. He shocked them in ways that enticed and excited them until they believed that he alone understood them. Then he led them into Hell.

"Writers sometimes receive a 'gift' from the world, a narrative that arrives complete and compelling," says Mr. Bukiet. "And writers accept that gift, even if it's an evil one. When I heard of the awful sequence of events that started at the school I love, the lure of the drama was irresistible. It showed how a strong, amoral monster was able to convince a group of vulnerable young people to follow him. This happened in one small, "safe" campus, but similar events have occurred on a large scale throughout history. For example, America. Runts is not a parable. It's a story. But still..."

Directed by Oliver Conant, the cast includes: Jack Coggins (Zander Bay), Carson Marie Earnest (Jane Bay), Arianna Wellmoney (Eggles), Chelsea Clarke (Lauretta), and Louis Rocky Bacigalupo (Leo). Original music by Anteo Fabris.

Tickets are $25 (General Seating) and $45 for (Premium Seating) may be obtained online here and in person ($30 cash only) at the theater box prior to curtain for each performance.

Runts will have three performances: Monday, May 15 @ 9pm; Wednesday, May 17 @ 9pm; Saturday, May 20 @ 6:45pm at Teatro Latea (120 Suffolk Street - NYC).

Bios

Melvin Jules Bukiet

(Playwright) is the author of eight books of fiction, including After, Strange Fire and Signs and Wonders. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review (three times) and elsewhere, his non-fiction in the American Scholar (five times) and elsewhere. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. Runts is his first play.

Finnegan Shepard

(Playwright) is a writer, entrepeneur, and ex-classicist with 1/3 of a PhD in political philiosophy and 3/4 of an MFA in fiction. He is the founder and CEO of Both&, the creator of Limns, and a proud graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.

Oliver Conant

(Director) is a NYC based actor/director, writer, dramaturg and playwright with (as a youngster) Broadway and Hollywood credits.✶ A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College with concentrations in History Literature and Philosophy, he holds advanced degrees in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and taught English and Humanities in colleges and secondary schools for fifteen years before returning to the stage in 2000, taking on the role of Hamm in Samuel Beckett's Endgame and directing outdoor Shakespeare. He served as a dramaturgical consultant for The Man in the Newspaper Hat, a play about Elizabeth Bishop's visits to Ezra Pound, for a new translation of Danton's Death by Georg Buchner, and for Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble, where he also acted and directed Main Stage and Jump Start readings. He has worked with a variety of other companies in the non-commercial theatre scene in New York, including Queens Shakespeare, Frog & Peach, and the now sadly defunct Nicu's Spoon and Judith Shakespeare. His playlet What's Up Bro Where You At, about pot dealing in Harlem in the twilight of illegality, was put on at Dixon Place in 2016. He co-wrote and directed a one-woman show about Marlene Dietrich, Dietrich Rides Again, that has been revived in various venues in upstate New York. ✶Early Acting Credits 1971-1974: Kevin, an ecology minded teen, Finishing Touches by Gene Kerr, Plymouth Theatre (now Walter Kerr). Benjie, grown up and off to war, Class of '44, Warner Bros, directed by Paul Bogart. Benjie, third wheel of the "terrible trio," Summer of '42, directed by Robert Mulligan.

Anteo Fabris

(Composer) is a Swiss-American sound artist and composer whose work takes root in data transformation. Having used source material ranging from statistics to malfunctioning hardware, Fabris explores music automated by design and the ambiguity of process-based expression. His work has premiered at Carnegie Hall and in various places around the US and Europe. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Boston University and two Master's degrees from the Yale School of Music.

New York Theater Festival

We strongly believe that self-producing a play or a musical can offer a very important tool for the growth of every playwright's work. Once a playwright sees their work onstage, it provides an opportunity for the playwright to improve or modify their story. It's also a great opportunity to invite people from the industry to see your production. People are more likely to go see a show than to read an unsolicited script, as some industry people receive on average thousands of submissions per month, and they understand that the journey for a show to be successful often goes through several productions. Our team is completely dedicated to help get your work seen. We are always with you to help, from the first moment of your tech rehearsal to the closing of your last show. You will never be left alone during the process. We will help you to choose some of the 85 set/furniture props we offer to dress your stage for your run and give you a complete crash course on how to use the audio/light/video system, which are intentionally very user friendly. After we show you how to use the tools we provide and how to utilize the space, you will be able to rehearse your tech rehearsal with whatever plan works best for you and your production. A team member will be present to provide prime responses to every inquiry, as well as a telephone # you can call anytime during relevant hours throughout the run of your show In 11 years and 19 seasons we have successfully hosted 1,400 plays and 300 musicals and rewarded with cash prizes over 300 artists who participated in our Festival.

For more information visit: www.newyorktheaterfestival.com