Jesse Manocherian and Jennifer Lorae to Lead PARADE at Gallery Players, 1/26-2/17

The Gallery Players, now in its 46th season, will start off the New Year with Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown's PARADE, running January 26 to February 17, 2013. Tony Award winner for Best Book and Best Score in 1999, PARADE is based on the true events of the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, a Jewish man from Brooklyn who runs a pencil factory in Marietta, Georgia. Frank is accused of the murder of 13-year old Mary Phagan, a factory worker under his employ. Already guilty in the eyes of everyone around him, a sensationalist publisher, determined district attorney and a janitor's false testimony seal Leo's fate. His only defenders are a governor with a conscience, and eventually, his assimilated Southern wife who finds the strength and love to become his greatest champion. 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the crime.

Jesse Manocherian (The Hidden Sky at Prospect Theatre Company) takes center stage and the stand as Leo Frank, joined by Jennifer Lorae (Fiddler on the Roof at St. Louis MUNY) as Lucille Frank and Jenavene Hester (The Sound of Music, Papermill Playhouse, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) as Mary Phagan. The cast also includes Mike Backes (Jersey Boys Las Vegas, Next to Normal national tour) as Hugh Dorsey, Bill Brooks as Older Soldier/Judge Roan, Elizabeth Burton (Elf national tour) as Iola Stover, Patrick Dunn as Britt Craig, Ashley Harris as Monteen, Leah Jennings (Gallery Players' Oliver!), as Mrs. Phagan, Lorinne Lampert (Gallery Players' A Man of No Importance, The Drowsy Chaperone) as Sally Slaton, Danny Lindgren as Tom Watson/Detective Starnes, Eric Morris (Gallery Players' A Man of No Importance) as Governor Slaton, Mark Mozingo (Golden Boy of Blue Ridge at Prospect Theatre Company) as Young Soldier/Frankie Epps, Spencer Robinson (Gallery Players' A Man of No Importance) as Luther Rosser/Officer Ivey, Emma Ruck as Essie, Crystal Sha'nae as Minnie McKnight/Angela and Anthony Wills, Jr. (Master Harold...and the Boys at Gloucester Stage) as Jim Conley/Newt Lee/Riley.

The Gallery Players' production of PARADE marks the third collaboration between director Hans Friedrichs, producer Robert Earle Jones and choreographer Christine O'Grady, and the second with the addition of musical director Julianne Merrill. Their production of A Man of No Importance in 2012 and The Drowsy Chaperone in 2011, both at Gallery Players, garnered numerous New York Innovative Theatre Awards.

Scenic design for PARADE is by Chris Minard, costume design by Mina Hyun-ok Hong, lighting design by Dan Jobbins, sound design by Julian Evans and hair design by Jon Jordan. The show is associate produced by Abby Wolbe, assistant directed by Max Gosman, assistant choreographed by Kristen Marie and stage managed by Hollace Jeffords.

PARADE will perform Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3pm, and two additional Saturday matinees on February 9 and February 16. Tickets to PARADE are $18 for adults, $14 for Seniors & Children 12 and under. Individual tickets and subscriptions to The Gallery Players' 46th season can be purchased by calling OvationTix at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.galleryplayers.com.

About The Gallery Players A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals.

Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret." The Gallery Players is the recipient of the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement and was the multi-recipient of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical for its productions of The Drowsy Chaperone in 2011, Like You Like It in 2009, Yank! A New Musical in 2008, and Urinetown! The Musical in 2007. Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein; Broadway regulars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman and Diedre Goodwin; New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky and many others.

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