WELCOME TO THE WATERFALL Play by Deborah A. Picone Debuts at the New York Theater Festival

The New York Theater Festival will be the first home to Welcome to the Waterfall, the first play by the fiction writer Deborah A. Picone.

Performances are at Teatro Latea on January 6 at 9 p.m., January 7 at 6:30 p.m., and January 10 at 4:30 p.m.

In 1816, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley travelled to Lake Geneva and stayed near the Villa Diodati, where Lord Byron and Dr. John Polidori were staying. Traveling with them was Mary's stepsister Claire, with whom Percy was said to have had an affair. On this fateful trip, Mary conceives the idea for the novel Frankenstein; Claire conceives Lord Byron's baby. John Polidori writes The Vampyre, which was originally credited to Lord Byron. Welcome to the Waterfall is a modern, very loose interpretation of that fateful trip.

Picone is a writer, writing instructor and librarian based in New York. While pursuing her MFA, she was twice the winner of the Donald Everett Axinn Award for Fiction. Predominantly a fiction writer, she is currently working on a new novel. Welcome to the Waterfall is her first play.

The production counts with a strong and diverse team, brought together by The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

The cast includes Ammunikee Gomez, Aaron Going, Elian Wigisser, Isabel Jaramillo, Will Lerberg, and Aliza Ciara. Ciara is also responsible for the original music presented in this production.