Photo Flash: New Drama SHOOTER Opens Off-Off Broadway

ManyTracks presents the World Premiere of SHOOTER by Sam Graber. Directed by Katrin Hilbe, previews begin performances run though March 31 at TheaterLab.

In an era rife with gun violence perpetrated by men, SHOOTER is the story of a shooter-massacre stopped before it can happen. When Jim sees a teenage boy with two shotguns beneath his trench coat nearing the entrance of the local high school, Jim pulls his own firearm and stops a potential massacre. Jim is a hero. But as more details on the incident are uncovered, what really happened becomes a lot less clear. It is a human tale focusing on the fallout between three friends, each of whom may have contributed some way to the would-be shooting.

"I began thinking about what became SHOOTER after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting," notes playwright Sam Graber. "I was horrified and angry and carried so much outrage that it took me years before I figured out the right story to tell. What initially was a revenge tale, became a story that explores the relationship of gun violence to the male identity."

SHOOTER stars Ean Sheehy (NYTW's Red-Eye to Havre de Grace, Theresa Rebeck's What We're Up Against), CK Allen (Good Boys and True, Composure), David Perez-Ribada (Change at HERE), Michael Gnat (The Navigator, 2009 nytheatre.com Person of the Year) and Nicholas-Tyler Corbin (Lili Marlene at St. Luke's Theater). The production team includes Chava Curland (assistant director & associate producer), Sarah Edkins (set), Cheyenne Sykes (lighting and projection design), Andy Evan Cohen (sound design), Cathy Small (costumes) and Charles C. Casano (stage manager).

Sam Graber is an American playwright currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2001. In 2016 his play Modern Prophet was awarded to the Broadway Producer List (NYC). His plays have performed in some shape or form by theater companies from NYC to LA with many stage stops in between. He is an associate artist of Swandive Theatre and Board Member at Arts Nest. His plays Detainee, Lottery Play, Everything's Free! and Shooter have been published in the Smith and Kraus 'Best Plays' anthologies from 2015 through 2017. He currently teaches at The Playwrights' Center. He has never owned a gun.

Katrin Hilbe is a director of Liechtenstein-Kansas origin, working in the US and in Europe. Her production of R. Strauss' Salome for New Orleans Opera won "Best Opera Production", and her production of Julia Pascal's St Joan won the Hilton Edwards Award for best direction and adaptation at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. Katrin is a member of SDC, LPTW, TRU, DG and the PDU of The Actors Studio. For more info, visit www.Katrinhilbe.com.

Since its inception in 2009, ManyTracks has steadily generated projects of varied subjects, themes and ambitions that have been seen in New York, Seattle, Edinburgh, London, Dublin, and Liechtenstein. Past productions include a revival of The Savannah Disputation by Evan Smith, a new translation of a Georg Büchner's Danton's Death, the World Premiere of Hayley Heaton's The Man in the Newspaper Hat, Rivka Bekerman-Greenberg's Breaking the Silence starring Jan Leslie Harding, and an award-winning production of St Joan by Julia Pascal. For more info, visit www.manytracks.org

SHOOTER runs March 8 - 31, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm. TheaterLab is located at 357 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues -- accessible from the A,C,E trains at 34th Street. Tickets are $25 available at 212-352-3101 or www.ShooterThePlay.com.