Eric Bogosian, Rory O'Malley and More Set for LITTLE MURDERS Benefit Reading, 5/19

On Sunday, May 19, Jules Feiffer's Little Murders arrives at The New Group @ Theatre Row in a one-night-only benefit reading. Directed by Cynthia Nixon, this benefit reading features Eric Bogosian, Kevin Cahoon, John Doman, America Ferrera, Charles Grodin, Rory O'Malley, Caroline Rhea and Michael Stuhlbarg.

This one-night-only event takes place Sunday, May 19 at 6:00pm. Tickets: $350 premium seating & exclusive reception with cast immediately following performance / $150 general reserved seating. For tickets & information, please contact: Jamie Lehrer at Jamie@thenewgroup.org or 212-244-3380 x308.

In The New Group's tradition of giving under-produced masterpieces their due, Jules Feiffer's scathing and hilarious satire Little Murders gets the royal treatment in this reading directed by Cynthia Nixon, in her directing debut. The Newquist family gathers to meet daughter Patsy's new boyfriend, Alfred, against the backdrop of New York City awash in random acts of violence. Little Murders premiered on Broadway in 1967; the production played seven performances. The play was revived Off-Broadway in 1969, directed by Alan Arkin (this production played over 400 performances and Jules Feiffer was honored with an Obie Award). A film version (screenplay by Feiffer, directed by Arkin) opened in 1971.

Jules Feiffer is a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter and children's book author & illustrator. He has had a remarkable creative career turning contemporary urban anxiety into witty and revealing commentary for over fifty years. From his Village Voice editorial cartoons (Explainers: The Complete Village Voice Strips, 1956-1966) to his plays and screenplays including Little Murders and Carnal Knowledge, Feiffer's satirical outlook has helped define us politically, sexually and socially. The first cartoonist commissioned by The New York Times to create comic strips for their Op-Ed page, Feiffer has since shifted his focus towards writing and illustrating books for children and young adults including The Man in the Ceiling, A Room with a Zoo and Bark, George! He won a Pulitzer Prize and a George Polk Award for his cartoons; an Obie for his plays; an Academy Award for the animation of his cartoon satire, Munro; an NYC Literary Honor for his humor; and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Writers Guild of America and the National Cartoonist Society. Feiffer has taught at the Yale School of Drama, Northwestern University, Dartmouth, and presently at Stony Brook Southampton College. He has been honored with major retrospectives at the New York Historical Society, the Library of Congress and The School of Visual Arts. His recent memoir, Backing into Forward (Doubleday), relates how persistent failure inspired him to reinvent himself as an artist over and over.

Last Spring, in a one-night-only benefit reading, The New Group presented the uproarious Women Behind Bars by Tom Eyen.

The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Geoff Rich, Executive Director) began its 2012-2013 season with the Francine Volpe's The Good Mother directed by Scott Elliott, and followed with Jonathan Marc Sherman's Clive, directed by & featuring Ethan Hawke in the title role. The company is currently represented Off-Broadway by the new musical comedy Bunty Berman Presents... with book & lyrics by Ayub Khan Din, music by Ayub Khan Din & Paul Bogaev, and featuring Din as "Bunty Berman" (limited engagement through June 1). Last season, The New Group presentEd Thomas Bradshaw's Burning, the extended run of Erika Sheffer's Russian Transport (both directed by Scott Elliott), and David Rabe's An Early History of Fire directed by Jo Bonney. Other recent productions include Tommy Nohilly's Blood From A Stone featuring Ethan Hawke (Obie winner); the revival of Wallace Shawn's Marie and Bruce starring Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley; One Arm by Tennessee Williams, adapted and directed by Moisés Kaufman; A Lie of the Mind; The Kid; Groundswell; The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; Hurlyburly; Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years, Abigail's Party, Smelling a Rat, Goose-Pimples and Ecstasy; Wallace Shawn's The Fever and Aunt Dan and Lemon; Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger featuring Matthew Broderick and This is Our Youth; Kevin Elyot's Mouth to Mouth and My Night With Reg; and Ayub Khan Din's East is East and Rafta, Rafta.... The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q). The New Group and Artistic Director Scott Elliott were honored with a Special 2010-11 Drama Desk Award "for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions."

In addition to the company's work on stage, The New Group administers a Theater Education program, Life Stories, now in its eighth season. Run in collaboration with the Urban Arts Partnership, Life Stories is an innovative year-round program that is free for students from Title 1 (high poverty) New York City public high schools.

The New Group also operates a thriving new play development program called NewGroup/NewWorks that supports emerging New York-based playwrights and presents over 20 free readings and up to 3 workshops open to the public every year. In addition, Dark Nights at The New Group is a free cultural discussion series aimed at fostering an artistic dialogue with the public. Past Dark Nights guests include Tony Kushner, Hal Prince, David Henry Hwang, Wallace Shawn and Matthew Broderick. The New Group is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) cultural arts organization.
Tickets to the one-night-only benefit reading of Little Murders are extremely limited. Tickets: $350 premium seating & exclusive reception with cast immediately following performance (all but $30 tax deductible) / $150 general reserved seating (fully tax deductible).