Todd Bartels, Nicholas Galbraith Lead VERITAS at Laurie Beechman Theater

The award-winning "Veritas" by Stan Richardson will be presented on Thursday, June 16th at 7:00 pm at The Laurie Beechman Theater (West Bank Café), 407 West 42nd Street (@ 9th Ave) as part of the New York International Festival presents THE FringeBENEFITS SERIES; which is offering a taste of 15 of the most beloved shows from the past 15 years of FringeNYC. Adam Feldman, Time Out NY critic and the president of the New York Drama Critics Circle will introduce the reading. "Veritas" is the story of a group of young men at Harvard in 1920 whose promising futures fell prey to Harvard's "Secret Court": a gay witch-hunt conducted by school administration to purge Harvard of all homosexuality. The reading is directed by Mr. Richardson. The Musical Director is Matthew Aument. 1hr 40mins www.VeritasThePlay.com

Veritas made New York Fringe history by selling out its entire run a week before opening night last year. At the Fringe's closing night ceremony, Veritas was awarded the Fringe's Overall Excellence Award for Best Ensemble. In September the play was profiled in the Harvard Crimson-the student newspaper that eight years ago originally broke the story of the Secret Court. Veritas also received a 2010 Summer Festivals citation from Talkin' Broadway recognizing "new plays and musicals selected by our panel of jurors as ready to move to the next level of production and development, and to performers of demonstrated excellence." Sam Underwood also receives a citation for his performance as Joseph Lumbard.

The cast will be: Todd Bartels (Edward Say) credits include Bingo With The Indians by Adam Rapp, and Just Exactly Like You at The Flea Theater; Church (Public Theater); Echo In Silence, and If The Cushion Fits, Sit (McCarter Theater); Shrink (Dixon Place); to name a few. Nicholas Galbraith (Kenneth Day) starred as Zac Finn on CBS' As the World Turns, the first regional production of Grey Gardens as Joe Kennedy, Jr./Jerry, and most recently returned from Lincoln Center's National Tour of South Pacific. Grant Gerard (Stanley Gilkey) NYU Grad Acting: The Emperor Antony; Sueñ; The Henry Box Brown Play; Romantic Roulette; HmatrixH; The Ruby Sunrise; Macbeth. Daniel Eric Gold (Lester Wilcox) NYC credits include Beautiful Things, for Craig Lucas in This Thing of Darkness, A Small Tragedy and a role written especially for him in The Singing Forest; as well as The Paris Letter and Eric Bogosian's suburbia. He was Matt Hartley in ABC TV's "Ugly Betty." Alex Herrald (Eugene Cummings) credits include Just Cause, Future Anxiety, #serials@theflea (all at Flea Theatrer), and numerous shows at Planet Connections, Prospect Theatre Company, Gallery Players, Urban Stages with the Milk Can Theatre Company and many others. Mat Hostetler (Joseph Lumbard) some of his films are: "The Utopian Society"; the Ang Lee directed "Ride With The Devil"; "Blue Bloods". TV credits include "Family Ties"; :the recurring role of Agent Keener on the award-winning "Boardwalk Empire"; and "White Collar." Alex Hurt (Lester Wilcox) performed in Tony Kushner's world premiere, Henry Box Brown, as well as working on leading roles in Perestroika, Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Rivals. Past credits include Unrequited (Public Theater), Traps (Wilma) and The Lion In Winter and Othello. Matt Steiner (Keith Smerage) Off-Broadway: Jane Eyre, The Three Musketeers, and Macbeth with The Acting Company. A.R. Gurney's Indian Blood (Studio Arena),Tartuffe (Two River Theater), Peach Blossom Fan (REDCAT), and most recently as Guildenstern in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead. Theo Stockman (Ernest Roberts) Broadway: American Idiot; HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical; TV: ABC's "Cupid" and NBC's "30 ROCK". He is also a DJ in NYC, spinning at such venues as Black & White Bar, Le Poisson Rouge, Crash Mansion, and the "Mondo Indie Rock Dance Party!" Joseph Yeargain (Harold Saxton) is excited to be telling these boys' story again! He is a graduate of The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center. He's also a graduate of NYU, where he trained at the Atlantic, in Dublin, and at RADA in London.

Stan Richardson is a playwright and director from St. Louis, Missouri living in New York City. His plays, which include Veritas, The Children (New York Musical Theatre Festival; with composer HAl Goldberg), The Tale of the Good Whistleblower of Chaillot's Caucasian Mother and Her Other Children of a Lesser Marriage Chalk Circle (with composer Rachel Peters), wHormone and All the World's Problems, have received workshops and readings at such venues as Second Stage, Ars Nova, Classic Stage Company, Dixon Place, PS122, The Brick Theatre and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. His play, Another Brief Encounter, was published in Plays & Playwrights 2007. An alumnus of NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, the Upright Citizens Brigade, and Edward Albee's Playwrights' Workshop, and a former resident of Albee's "Barn," Stan is a contributor to nytheatre.com and a proud member of The Dramatists Guild of America. He is also a founding member of Key Party, creating apartment theatre in collaboration with actor/director Matt Steiner.

Tickets are on sale: $20 plus a $15 food/drink minimum. To purchase tickets please call 212-352-3101 or purchase on line at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/8966125;jsessionid=97E3A10900F799F0935884C37CFB6FB4.