NEURODIVERGENT NEW PLAY SERIES Announces First Play Readings For Fall 2023 & Winter 2024

The Neurodivergent New Play Series has announced its first five play selections to be presented at the Vino Theater, located at 274 Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. Beginning in September, performances will be held the 3rd Sunday of the month at 2pm EST. For in-person entry, a minimum donation of $10 can be made at the in-person box office or online at www.sourgrapesproductions.com/neurodivergent-new-play-series.html. Online attendees can donate any amount of $1 or more to watch either the livestream at 2pm EST or the On-Demand recording for up to two weeks after.

Produced by Piccione Arts in association with Sour Grapes Productions, the Neurodivergent New Play Series will officially debut on September 17th with a reading of The Flights of Migratory Birds, a full-length coming of age comedy by Andy Boyd. (Occupy Prescot, Theater in Asylum; The Trade Federation, Or, Let's Explore Globalization Through the Star Wars Prequels, IRT Theater) Directed by Maggie Dunn, (CONFIRMED, Daisy Theatricals; Ancestra, The Vino Theater) the story is centered around a local diner in a small Midwestern town, as 15-year-old Lucy learns important lessons of self-acceptance and care amidst a variety of colliding events.

Shortly afterward, the NNPS will continue on October 15th with a reading of Skinny Legend, a new dark comedy by Liv Shoup (The Box Play, Pittsburgh New Works Festival) that explores the topic of body image in the era of social media influencers, slated to be directed by Jaye Hunt. (Solarplexus: An Alternative Energy Play, Edinburgh Festival Fringe & 59E59 Theaters; As You Like It, Breaking & Entering Collective) On November 19th, the NNPS will close out 2023 with a reading of Impossible Theories of Us, a science-fiction dramedy by John Mabey (A Complicated Hope, Essential Theatre; The B is for Bullsh!t, Playwrights' Round Table) that explores themes such as futurism and transitioning from a trans genderqueer perspective, slated to be directed by Zinc Tong. (Enkidu, Lime Arts Productions; Playing the Other, The Wild Project)

After a holiday break, the NNPS is expected to resume in 2024 beginning on February 18th with Axioms by Aubrey Clyburn, (Axioms, MCS New Works Series) a dramatic character study of a lonely and hyperlogical mathematician to be directed to Abigail Gabor; (The First Unicorns Ever (and other stuff), The Players Theater) followed on March 17th by No Entrance by Courtney Taylor, (Lights in the Sky, Stony Brook Theatre Company; Ask Not: The True Story of the Kennedy Assassination, Stony Brook Pocket Theatre) an experimental queer comedy to be directed to Emma Cavage. (Taking Over Your Life, The Gallery Players; Untitled Middle School Play, The Tank) More details on these readings and additional 2024 performances will be released to the public toward the end of the year.

Founded by autistic playwright and producer Anthony J. Piccione, the Neurodivergent New Play Series is dedicated to presenting matinee readings on the 3rd Sunday of every month - with seasonal breaks in December, January, July, and August - of plays written entirely by neurodivergent and disabled playwrights (i.e autism, ADHD, dyslexia, OCD, Tourette syndrome, etc.) as part of a growing resident company of playwrights whose interests and specialties span a wide range of subjects, genres & structural approaches, with each play personally selected from a neuroinclusive resident company of directors.  

Mr. Piccione is an award-winning writer, producer & teaching artist whose eclectic canon of plays have previously been presented in NYC and regional venues such as The Tank, the New York Theatre Festival, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, Midtown International Theatre Festival, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, and more. His debut full-length play A Therapy Session with Myself premiered in January 2019 at the Hudson Guild Theatre before transferring in May to the Kraine Theater for an extended year-long run. Since then, his second full-length play One Empire, Under God made its live premiere at The Tank in November 2021 after previously premiering via Zoom earlier that year and is now published and available for licensing at Next Stage Press, while his next full-length play The Lone Wolf Society is slated to premiere at the Vino Theater in January 2024. Additionally, his short drama What I Left Behind was named the New York Theatre Festival's Best Short Play of Winterfest 2018, and his short film The Fire That Won't Stop was named an official selection at the Venice Short Film Awards, the Paris International Short Festival, and the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of the Talking It Out Virtual Arts Festival, which is dedicated to promoting mental health awareness through the arts and was nominated for Festival of the Year at the 2023 Young-Howze Theatre Awards. He has previously worked as a scriptwriter-for-hire whose work has been commissioned by Sesame Workshop and various other clients, as well as a contributing writer to OnStage Blog from 2015 to 2019, and he has taught playwriting at EPIC Players and Broadway Weekends. Visit www.anthonyjpiccione.com to learn more.

Located in East Williamsburg, the Vino Theater is run by Sour Grapes Productions. Founded in 2007 by Genny Yosco and Chris Weigandt, incorporated in New York in 2014, and turned into a non-profit in 2019, Sour Grapes Productions was a resident company of FRIGID New York from 2018 to 2021. In April of 2019 they created SILENT BUT DEADLY: A Mime Experience, and September of 2019 they launched CHEMICAL X: The Powerpuff Girls Improv Show. In 2021 they started THE ADDAMS PARODY Improv Show, and in 2022 they added JOKE & DAGGER: Dungeons, Dragons, and Improv to their monthly show roster as well. They started the So Many Shakespeares Festival, which has been running since 2019, and the Down to Clown theater festival, which launched in 2021. They continue to present monthly festivals at the Vino Theatre as of 2021. Visit www.sourgrapesproductions.com to learn more.

The Neurodivergent New Play Series is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.

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