Photo Flash: Ground UP Presents LETTER FROM ALGERIA

Ground UP Productions (Kate Middleton, Producing Artistic Director) will present the world premiere of Michael I. Walker's Letter from Algeria, which plays at the June Havoc Theatre at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex (312 West 36th St., 2nd Floor) October 29 through November 20, 2010.

Three young Americans meet while studying abroad in Belgium. When their wit, charm, and sex appeal casts a spell on a wealthy older gentleman, it seems like a golden opportunity to explore a new world. Letter from Algeria reveals the class envy and emotional manipulation that dwell just below the surface of the ex-pat life, where everyone is trying to reinvent themselves.

Sex. Drugs. Imperialism. Everybody's got something to write home about.

Rufus Collins; whose Broadway credits include The Royal Family, To Be Or Not To Be and An Ideal Husband (1996 Theatre World Special Award for Ensemble Performance); plays Hugo, a seductive wealthy gentleman. Amanda Jane Cooper (Bunked! - A New Musical, 2010 FringeNYC), Patrick Murney and JD Taylor (The Dream of the Burning Boy, O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference) round out the cast as the trio of American ex-pats.

Letter from Algeria will be directed by Adam Fitzgerald, a founding member of kef productions. His directing credits include Lyric is Waiting, Corpus Christi and Michael Pesce's Old Fashioned Piano Party. Fitzgerald was the Directing Resident at Playwrights Horizons assisting Wilson Milam, Bartlett Sher and Kate Whoriskey on plays by Nicky Silver (Three Changes with Maura Tierney), Craig Lucas (Prayer for my Enemy with Victoria Clark and Jonathan Groff) and Christina Anderson (Inked Baby with LaChanze).

The production team includes Travis McHale (set and lighting design), Amanda Jenks (costume design), Kate Middleton (assistant director), Dan Wheeless (technical director), Wade Dansby 3 (graphic designer) and Devan Elise Hibbard (stage manager).

Performances of Letter from Algeria run October 29 through November 20, 2010. The schedule is Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $25 at http://www.theatermania.com or (212) 352-3101.

Ground UP Productions produced the New York premiere of the smash hit musical The People vs. Mona by Jim Wann and Patricia Miller. The production was hailed as "good natured, down home fun" by the New York Times, "consistently inventive" by the New York Post and a "hootin' good time" by Variety. The company has also produced the world premiere of Jason Chimonides' The Optimist ("deliriously entertaining" - New Yorker) as well as the acclaimed revivals of Barefoot in the Park, Baby with the Bathwater, Proof and Burn This. Ground UP Productions continues to break ground with the new classics, reviving well-known theatre in unique ways and producing new works destined for greatness. For additional information, visit www.groundupproductions.org.