Theater For The New City On Air Presents Live Reading Of ORVILLE STATION By Frank J. Avella

Theater for the New City presents - TNC "On The Air," a live reading of Orville Station by Frank J. Avella (Vatican Falls, Lured, Consent) on Wed., April 15 at 7PM. This will be the first in a series of Live readings on Theater for the New City's Facebook page.

The show must go ON...LINE! During this time of social isolation, Theater for the New City (TNC) continues to keep arts alive with performances from the TNC community and abroad featured on TNC's Website, and Facebook and Instagram channels.

The cast includes Alice Barrett Mitchell, John DiMino, Michael Ford, Cali Gilman and Marc Lombardo as Chizzy, with Technical Direction & Narration by John David West.

Orville Station delves into that dark, festering world that lies beneath the picture-perfect suburban towns in America where boredom and the false promises of a better life have left some folks feeling "cheated and betrayed," to quote Nathanael West from THE DAY OF THE LOCUST.

Lenny is a 25-year-old screenwriter wannabe whose one script was met with universal rejection. He and his friends travel to NYC each weekend to alleviate some of the dullness of life in the fictional town of Orville, NJ. Into their complacent lives burrows the mysterious Chizzy who convinces Lenny that he must do, "something drastic" if he wants to succeed. Orville has the dubious distinction of most train deaths per year in the Garden State (stats based on a real Jersey town). Orville Station is set post-COVID-19 and examines the fear and anxiety that comes with potential change. Dreaming is safe but actively pursuing that dream can often provide the ultimate terror.

Frank J. Avella is the recipient of a 2019 International Writers Residency at Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Assisi, Italy and a 2018 Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship. Lured, his play about the Russia persecution of gays, was a 2018 O'Neill semifinalist and had its World Premiere at Theater for the New City in November, 2018. The play was featured in the OnStage! American Theater Festival in Rome, Italy in January 2019 and selected for the 2020 Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival (The Fest has been canceled but Lured is invited back for 2021). Frank was awarded a 2015 NJ State Arts Council Fellowship Award and a 2016 Helene Wurlitzer Residency Grant & Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Playwright Award for his play Consent (a 2019 O'Neill semifinalist). Other plays include: Vatican Falls, Catamitus, Iris, Orville Station, For Mamma and Mad. His screenplay adaptations of Screw The Cow and Consent have received multiple awards. Frank is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. https://newplayexchange.org/users/5582/frank-j-avella

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY was founded in December 1970 by Crystal Field. It is a unique Cultural Institution that has earned a nationwide reputation for its dedication to nurturing established and emerging playwrights who experiment with new forms and to presenting other experimental and developmental theaters with a very active program of Community Art Services and Festivals which continue to expand theater accessibility. Since its inception, TNC has been welcoming to LGBT artists, including Maria Irene Fornes, H.M. Koutoukas, Moises Kaufman, Harvey Fierstein, Bina Sharif, Barbara Kahn and Charles Busch.

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