Barefoot Theatre's 70/70 Project Concludes with UNEXPECTED TENDERNESS, 3/31

Barefoot Theatre Company will present the closing event of the 70/70 Project, a yearlong, worldwide festival showcasing 70 plays by the soon-to-be 71-year-old playwright. The celebration features a reading of Unexpected Tenderness, one of Horovitz's most personal plays, live music, a surprise guest host and more. This special evening will take place at the Bleecker Street Theatre (45 Bleecker between Lafayette and Mott streets) on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010. Cocktail hour is at 7pm; curtain rises at 8. Tickets are $25 per person.

Few living playwrights have had a career as storied and varied as Israel Horovitz. The founder of the New York Playwrights Lab (and still its Artistic Director), Horovitz has enjoyed a lengthy career writing for the stage and screen. His 1968 play The Indian Wants the Bronx earned him his first of two Obie Awards for Best (Off-Broadway) Play, while also thrusting into the spotlight two unknowns named Al Pacino and John Cazale.

Line, now in its 37th year at the 13th St. Theatre, is New York City's longest-running play. Some of Horovitz's 70+ plays have been translated and performed in as many as 30 languages, worldwide, most notably France, where he is the most produced American playwright in French theatre history - and recently decorated by the French government as Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters. His screenplay for the semi-autobiographical Author! Author! solidified his place as one of Hollywood's most sought after talents. To honor this legendary man's works-and birthday- Barefoot Theatre Company is throwing a party!

The reading of Unexpected Tenderness, directed by Terry Kinney, a founding member of the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company, will feature performers including Lynn Cohen, Anna Chlumsky and Sol Freider, as well as members of Barefoot Theatre Company. A study of family dysfunction, the play examines the relationship between a father and son and presents, in the character of Archie Stern, one of Horovitz's most complex characters.

Based in New York City, Barefoot Theatre Company leads over 50 theater companies across six continents, in countries such as France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Israel. The opening of the 70/70 Horovitz Project was held at the Bleecker Street Theatre on March 31, 2009 with the reading of Sins of the Mother, directed by Jo Bonney and featuring Bobby Cannavale, John Doman, Michael Stuhlbarg and Barefoot artistic director Francisco Solorzano.

Sponsored by the Bleecker Street Theatre, Samuel French Play Publishers, Dramatist Play Service, Inc, Smith & Krauss Publications, Theatre Communications Group, East 3rd Productions, Zyr Vodka, Cape Ann Brewing Company and Two Boots Pizza, Barefoot Theatre Company will use the proceeds to produce thought-provoking theater within a nurturing environment for emerging artists.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit
www.smarttix.com or www.barefoottheatercompany.org.

Barefoot Theatre Company was founded in 1999 and has since produced over sixty plays as well as readings, workshops and fully staged productions. In 2002, the company gained further exposure within the theatre community when they received the OOBR Award in excellence for Mary Gallagher's political drama ¿De Donde?

After joining their Advisory Board in 2007, Horovitz and Barefoot Theatre Company have enjoyed a strong collaborative effort, with them developed and produced Israel Horovitz's New Shorts, nominated for three Innovative Theatre Awards in 2007. In 2008, Barefoot's Producing Artistic Director, Francisco Solorzano, developed and mounted the stage adaptation of Sidney Lumet's 1975 Oscar-winning film Dog Day Afternoon at NYC's Theatre Row Theatres. Dog Day Afternoon played to sold-out audiences and rave reviews. In addition to having work published by Samuel French Play Publishers (A Mother's Love and Security), French Publications (Beirut Rocks), Smith & Krauss Publications (20 Short Plays by Israel Horovitz), Barefoot Theatre Company revived monumental ensemble pieces such as Lanford Wilson's Balm In Gilead featuring company member Anna Chlumsky (30 Rock, My Girl); Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? (First revival since its 1969 run that introduced Al Pacino); as well as the 35th anniversary production of The Indian Wants the Bronx that later transferred to the Gloucester Stage Company.

In 2009, the bareNaked Reading Series (no sets, no props, just words) started to present works in progress in front of a live audience in a safe and festive environment. While keeping admission at the lowest cost possible, the Reading Series also features live music from emerging musicians. The Bleecker Street Theatre has welcomed the series into its home. In its first year, bareNaked presented plays by established playwrights alongside emerging playwrights Joseph Sousa, Stephen Gracia and students of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, NY.

In May of 2009, Advisory Board members, Yvonne Marceau and Pierre Dulaine of American Ballroom Theatre took part in presenting three short plays with Barefoot for the 70/70 Horovitz Project. Due to the success of the 70/70 Horovitz Project presentation, American Ballroom Theatre offered their space in midtown Manhattan for Barefoot Theatre Company's first ever workshop series, Saturday Night Special (a festive evening with a new play, live music and dancing!)

For more information, visit www.barefoottheatercompany.org.

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