BARKLEE By Tom Cavanaugh To Have Open House Staged Reading

Award-winning writer/director/producer Tom Cavanaugh is hosting an open house, staged reading of his new play BARKLEE at A.M.T. Theater, 354 W. 45th Street, NY, NY, on Monday, October 21st, 2024, at 7 p.m. The cast includes talent from The Actors Gym, Naked Angels, and New Ambassadors Theatre Company, all three companies where the play was developed over the last two years.

BARKLEE, written by Tom Cavanaugh, is inspired by a real court case in New Jersey, in which a high school refused to allow a student to bring his protection service dog to class.

The full-length play has been developed over the last two years in workshops at the 2023 National Playwrights Symposium, Naked Angels NY, New Ambassadors, We Make Movies Writers Lab, and extensively in weekly meetings of The Actors Gym under the guidance of Bobby Moresco (Crash, Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend) and the membership. Vincent Piazza (Tulsa Kings, Jersey Boys & Boardwalk Empire) has been with the project since the first reading and will read the lead role of BARKLEE.

Tom Cavanaugh received his M.F.A. in playwriting from The Actors Studio Drama School-NY in 2000. Tom's full-length play, BEHOLD, was a 2010 finalist in the New American Playwrights Program at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and won a 2011 Pickering Award for Excellence in Playwriting. ADAM & YOSHI was a finalist in the McKinney Repertory Play Competition in Texas, a finalist in the 2013 New American Playwrights Program Utah Shakespearean Festival, and won the 2012 Make the House Roar Prize at the Lionheart Theater, Georgia. 2014, INLAND EMPRESS, Tom's full-length play, World Premiered, at The Lounge Theatre, Los Angeles. 2017 MISTER PICMAN premiered at the Short & Sweet Play Festival, Hollywood, CA, & Theatre of Note's Alternative Acts in Los Angeles. THE FIELD, a short play by Cavanaugh, premiered at The C.T.I. Theatre Festival in Independence, MO. In 2018, the Theatre of Action in Los Angeles Plays About Immigration listed Tom's short play, COYOTE. Tom won the Artists & Playwright Festival at The Know Theatre in Binghamton, NY, in 2018 with his short play, ROCKS ON THE PLAYA. Tom has been a member of the Dramatist Guild of America since 1998. BEDBUGGERS, a screenplay by Tom Cavanaugh, is the winner of the 2024 Fade In Award for Best Drama in Hollywood, California.

"Theater space in New York is so hard to find, and under the current environment, playwrights are not getting in front of audiences enough to fully develop plays. "Getting chosen by existing companies is so hard to get that I have taken matters into my own hands! I want to see how an audience reacts! I want to hear what the audience hears and do another rewrite! I must do this! I know it's what the script needs, and I can't wait in the hope that someone will pick this play for a reading." says Cavanaugh.

Admission is FREE, and seating is first come, first served. Please come and participate in the development of this new stage play. Following the reading, there will be a Q&A with the cast, writer Tom Cavanaugh, and director Steven Ditmyer.

BARKLEE, A STAGED READING

October 21st, 2024, at 7:00 pm
A.M.T. Theater
354 W. 45th St., New York, NY 10036