On Thursday, April 2, The Cherry Lane Theatre (located at 38 Commerce Street) celebrated its acclaimed Mentor Project with MENTOR PROJECT: THE NEXT DECADE, a cultivation event featuring guest-speaker Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee.
In addition to Mr. Albee, guests included Tony Award-winning actress Judith Ivey; emerging playwrights Jakob Holder and RAJIV JOSEPH; director Daniella Topol, Cherry Lane Artisitic Director Angelina Fiordellisi; Cherry Lane Managing Director JAMES KING, and others.
Winner of a 2008 Obie Award and now in its 11th season, the Cherry Lane Mentor Project was founded by Ms. Fiordellisi, playwright Michael Weller and Susann Brinkley and is the cornerstone of Cherry Lane's development programs, matching, as it does, pre-eminent dramatists with aspiring playwrights in a one-to-one mentoring relationship. Each Mentor works with a playwright to perfect a single work during the season-long process, culminating in a showcase production.
The Mentor Project 2009 production, Jakob Holder's HOUSBREAKING, directed by Daniella Topol, concludes its run at the Cherry Lane Theatre on Saturday, April 4 with performances at 3pm and 7pm.
For more information about the Mentor Project or Cherry Lane's latest venture -- the Off-Broadway premiere of Deirdre O'Connor's JAILBAIT at the new 90-seat theatre The Cherry Pit, visit www.cherrylanetheatre.com.
Photos by Peter Zielinski
