Michael Cullen and Maja Wampuszyc to Star in PARK SLOPE QUARTET Staged Reading

29th Street Playwrights Collective New Works Series will present a staged reading of PARK SLOPE QUARTET, written by Catherine Rogers and directed by Kathy Gail MacGowan, on Friday and Saturday, November 14 at 7pm and Sunday at 3pm at The Actors Theatre Workshop.

Obie-Award winner Michael Cullen* (ORPHEUS DESCENDING / Theatre for a New Audience, KING LIZ / Second Stage Theater, BUG / Barrow St. Theater - Obie Award), leads the cast as Harry Michaels, a man who believes he may be at the end of his life. As he prepares to cross over, he receives hints of a world beyond. Harry hires a poetry tutor, Elsie, to help him put words to his visions. As they work, Elsie finds his willingness to let go of life transforms her own deep fear of living fully. Together they create an age-defying love affair with life and death.

The role of Elsie is played by Maja Wampuszyc* (ZAGŁADA by Richard Vetere opposite Len Cariou in NYC premiere; LAST DAY opposite Dan Lauria, Durango New Play Festival).

The cast includes Dana Mazzenga* (THE ANTI-MARY'S MAP TO MOTHERHOOD, The Chain Theatre's 2026 Summer of One Acts); Ron Brice (Luke Bond's STILL WAITING FOR LEFTY at Teatro Latea), and Isabel Ginsberg (COYOTE, 29th Street Playwrights PWC New Works Series). Production Stage Management by Jay Chacon (TRU).

Playwright Catherine Rogers' play IOWA CAUCUS was last seen in a 29PWC staged reading directed by Kathy Gail MacGowan (2025). The premiere reading of her play LOVE TRIANGLE, directed by Gia Forakis, was presented by 29PWC in Athens, Greece (2022). Catherine's other plays have been seen at Dixon Place, Women's Project, Manhattan Theatre Source, Salvage Vanguard, Hyde Park TX, Caffe Lena, Marlene Meyerson JCC, Cleveland Public Theatre, Athens Centre, and others. Active in Naked Angels Tues@9, she is a member of SAG/AFTRA, Dramatists Guild, and holds an MFA from U Texas. Catherine is a creative writing lecturer in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University and a James A. Michener Fellow.

Director Kathy Gail MacGowan is a New York-based director and dramaturg specializing in new work. Kathy has directed NYC premieres, many developmental workshops, and productions at venues like 59E59, The Flea, Workshop Theater, HERE Arts, The Sheen Center, La Mama, Symphony Space, ATG, EST and others. She has been a frequent guest director at The Stella Adler Studio/NYU Tisch. UPCOMING: Up the Down Hill a new episodic series shot in NYC, and the premiere of AGELESS at the brand new The People's Theater in Washington Heights. AEA, SDC, MFA. Actor's Studio, PDW. Kathygailmacgowan.com

Now in its 11th season, the 29th Street Playwrights Collective develops the voices of emerging mature playwrights through weekly writing sessions, craft discussions and presentations.

'29PWC fills a niche in the playwriting landscape by focusing on emerging artists who begin writing later in life, often after a career outside the arts,' says Melissa Bell, 29PWC founding playwright and producer of the New Works Series. 'While numerous theater programs rightly encourage young artists, programmatic support for older playwrights is much less common, despite the unique and valuable perspective these playwrights offer based on their lived experience, personal history and past careers.'