Metropolitan Playhouse Founders Festival to Present YOUR COLONEL, Beginning 1/18

The world premiere of YOUR COLONEL, presented as a part of the Metropolitan Playhouse Founders festival, begins January 18, 2013 at the Metropolitan Playhouse, 220 East 4^th Street, between Avenues A and B.

Written by Montgomery Sutton and directed by Joshua Luria, YOUR COLONEL recounts the collision of young Aaron Burr (Chris Ryan)'s illicit relationship with Margaret Moncrieffe (Jessica Renee Russell*), the teenaged daughter of a British major, and his longstanding battle of principles with George Washington (Kevin Gilmartin*) in the summer of 1776. The first reading of the Declaration of Independence in New York, the arrival of the British fleet at Staten Island, and the first semi-successful military deployment of a submarine serve as the backdrop to a story of first love, ambition, and betrayal that sheds new light on the people and ideas that forged the United States.

The cast features: Chris Ryan (Westport Playhouse's Twelfth Night), Jessica Renee Russell* (Watertower Theatre's The Diary of Anne Frank), Kevin Gilmartin* (Marvell Rep's Professor Bernhardi), Heather Cunningham* (Retro Productions' The Runner Stumbles), Lauren Sowa* (Metropolitan Playhouse's The Great Divide), and Kelsea Baker (Connecticut Repertory Theatre's Our Town). The stage manager is Michele Connolly*, and the show features lighting design by Christopher Weston, costume design by Katja Andreiev, sound design by Michael Feld, art direction by Sara Slagle, speech and dialects by Charley Layton, and fight choreography by Turner Smith.

*denotes membership in Actors' Equity Association. An AEA Approved Showcase.

The limited engagement begins with a 7pm performance on Friday, January 18 and continues Sunday, January 20^th at 4pm; Wednesday, January 23^rd at 7pm; and Saturday, January 26^th at 9pm. Running-time is 70 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $18 for Adults, $15 for Seniors and Full Time Students. Festival passes are also available at $50 for any four different programs in the Founders Festival. To purchase tickets, please visit www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/founders or call 1 (800) 838-3006.

Metropolitan Playhouse, Obie Award winner for exploring American culture through theater, explores America's theatrical and cultural moment. Metropolitan has earned accolades from The New York Times, The Village Voice, BackStage, and nytheatre.com. Notable productions include The Boss, Both Your Houses, The House of Mirth, The Jazz Singer, From Rags to Riches, One-Third of a Nation, The Great Divide, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Drunkard, Dodsworth, The Return of Peter Grimm, Year One of the Empire, The Pioneer: 5 plays by Eugene O'Neill, and Denial.

For more information on YOUR COLONEL, including our "Geek Out" blog for fun facts, images, and anecdotes from the world of the play, visit www.yourcolonel.com. For more information on the Aaron Burr Cycle, including a video introduction with Sutton and Luria, visit http://igg.me/p/299722/x/31291.

For more information on the Metropolitan Playhouse Founders Festival, please visit www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/founders.