Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company Presents THE FOLLOWERS At Access Theater

Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company is honored to announce the public presentation of its 2018 Dr. R.J. Rodriguez Emerging Playwrights' Contest winner: 'The Followers,' by William Johnson. This will happen at Access Theater (380 Broadway, 4th floor, NYC) on Saturday, April 27th, 7pm.

'The Followers,' is the harrowing, but ultimately uplifting, tale of two people struggling for connection in a world dominated by social media. Depicting the relationship between a public school English teacher and his precocious student, 'The Followers' reflects and challenges our misconceptions about what it is to teach, learn, and remain human in the 21st century.

The play follows the paths of SARAH, a verbally precocious high school student, and MR. HARRIS, a struggling first-year English teacher, as they try to find meaning and connection in an alienating high school environment. To embody the pressures facing both students and teacher, The Followers uses a unique and innovative theatrical device called THE CROWD, six performers with shifting identities who function alternately as the play's chorus and antagonists. As The Crowd pressures both Sarah and Mr. Harris to conform to their proscribed roles in school society, the play builds towards its explosive conclusion. The Followers alternates between teen and adult perspectives, examining both the brutal dynamics of adolescent social life and the absurdity of school as a social environment.

The Followers had its first workshop at Theaterlab in August 2015 and a public reading at IRT Theater in November 2016. It has not yet had a full theatrical production.

Directed by PCTC member, Kenny Wade Marshall, the cast includes Michael Grew, Corinne Britti, Matthew Napoli, Amy Lee Pearsall, Penelope Cushman, Emarya Montgomery, Belma Purisic, Emma Dunn, Julia Vioun, and He Yu Feng.

The reading will take place at Access Theater, 380 Broadway (4th floor), in NYC, and is open to the public and free.