With a Shrug Made Semi-Finalist In Samuel French Off Off B'way Short Play Fest

Chosen from over 1,030 submissions by playwriting workshops, university theatre programs, and professional companies nationwide, With a Shrug by Playwright Nicholas Priore (MFA '10, The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University) and produced by Pamela Scott/Aching Dogs Theatre Company will be presented at the 36th Annual Samuel French Inc. Off Off Broadway (OOB) Short Play Festival at 8 pm on July 22nd at The Lion Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, NYC).

The week-long festival features a full program of 40 selected plays performed for a panel of judges comprised of established playwrights, agents and Samuel French editorial staff. Six finalists are chosen to have their plays licensed and published by Samuel French, Inc.

"It's a great honor to be involved with the Samuel French OOB Festival this summer...our team is very excited to share this work," said Priore. "Everyone involved With a Shrug is associated in some way with The Actors Studio, "he added. "Gina Bonati, a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio, stars as Shelley, who is cleaning out her old childhood home after the death of her reclusive father when David Holmes, currently an intern at The Actors Studio who plays Chris, pays a visit to retrieve something he had her father borrow. With a Shrug is directed by Robert Haufrecht, a member of The Actors Studio's Playwright Directors Workshop."

For additional insight into the play and Priore's thought process in creating it, go to http://oob.samuelfrench.com/index.php/the-final-forty/with-a-shrug-by-nicholas-priore

About the Playwright

Nicholas Priore was born and raised in Utica, NY, where he endured a Catholic education and graduated from Notre Dame High School. He studied fiction and poetry for four years at SUNY-Purchase, earning a BA in Creative Writing, and went on to study playwriting at The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University, where he graduated with an MFA (May '10). He spent the past year as a finalist at The Actors Studio, and as a member of their Playwright Directors Workshop and Playwright Directors Unit. Some of his plays include Unearthing the Tramp (ASDS Rep), Better than Nothing (Manhattan Rep), Beanie (Actors Studio PDU), Stuck (American Global Theatre), With a Shrug (Gallery Players) and Broken Record (Actors Studio PDW).

About the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival

For more information about the festival, plays, playwrights and participating companies, please visit the official festival website at www.samuelfrench.com/oobfestival. By requiring authors to collaborate with a producing organization and present their work in performance, Samuel French seeks to encourage the collaborative and creative process of playwriting.

All tickets are $18. For more information and ticket purchase, call Telecharge 800-432-7250 or log onto www.telecharge.com. The 36th Annual Off Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival will run July 19th - July 24th at The Lion Theatre, Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY).

The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University is the only MFA theater program officially sanctioned by The Actors Studio. The entire faculty is chosen and approved - and the curriculum is designed and supervised - by the leadership of The Actors Studio through its Curriculum Advisory Committee, including the Presidents of The Actors Studio, Ellen Burstyn, Harvey Keitel and Al Pacino. All students -actors, directors, playwrights - train side-by-side as actors. All students participate in the Craft Seminars known to the world as the Bravo Network television series, "Inside The Actors Studio," hosted by James Lipton.

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