The Second Edition of United Solo Goes Twice As Long 10/20-11/20

United Solo, the world's largest solo theatre festival, has announced the official dates for this year's edition. A broad selection of both local and international one-person shows will be presented between October 20 - November 20, 2011 at the Theatre ROW in the heart of the New York City theatre district on 42nd Street. Over four weeks, the Festival will celebrate the uniqueness of solo forms, including storytelling, puppetry, dance, multimedia, improv, stand-up, magic, tragedy and comedy. Audiences will be invited to choose among shows that sold out and won awards last year, as well as new solo pieces. Submission will be open to all interested artists in March and the final selection will follow.

The recent edition of United Solo concluded at the Theatre ROW in a closing ceremony during which Anna Deavere Smith was awarded for her outstanding achievements in solo performance. Four-time Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason joined the event to present the award. There were also other reasons to celebrate, such as high attendance and the impressive donations that were collected to support The Actors Fund. In the selection of forty-seven shows coming from six countries and seven states, audiences could appreciate the work of emerging talents as well as respected artists, such as Austin Pendleton (a director who brought three solo performances), Jelena Stupljanin (European movie star, a lead in "Cirkus Columbia" by Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic), Suzen Murakoshi (an actress directed by Obie Award winner Ching Valdes-Aran), Bill Bowers (NYU professor of pantomime, also popular from his Broadway appearance as Zazu in "The Lion King"). Ten shows were sold out at the Festival. Cherry Jones, Sarah Paulson, and other well-known figures came to watch the art of solo performance on stage.