Mary Testa Joins Cast of BREAD AND ROSES at NYMF

What would you sacrifice for your American dream? Must the American dream come at the cost of human dignity? These are the questions at the center of The New York Musical Festival's Developmental Reading of BREAD AND ROSES, a new musical with book and lyrics by Jill Abramovitz music by Brad Alexander, and direction by Melissa Crespo,inspired by true events and based on the film by Paul Laverty and Ken Loach.

The cast, now featuring Mary Testa (Queen Of The Mist, Xanadu), features Gerianne Pérez (Vocalosity), Nick Blaemire (Godspell, The SpongeBob Musical), Mandy Gonzalez (In The Heights, Wicked), Mary Testa , Jon Rua (Hamilton), Ta'Rea Campbell (Book of Mormon, Little Shop), Wally Dunn (West Side Story, All Shook Up), Danny Bolero (In The Heights), Diomargy Nuñez (Frida Liberada), Forest Van Dyke (Crush, Goddess), Desiree Rodriguez (Tricks The Devil Taught Me), Martin Sola (On Your Feet), Federico Rodriguez (Pygmalion - Williamstown), and Blanca Camacho (In The Heights).

Bread and Roses is a free Developmental Reading and will be performed July 22nd at 11:30 am and 3:30 pm at 416 W 42nd St, Playwrights Horizons Rehearsal Studios. For information please visit http://nymf.org/breadandroses

Maya is a 25-year old Mexican woman who illegally crosses the U.S. border to work with her sister Rosa cleaning Office Building 646 in downtown LA. Witnessing firsthand the corruption and abusive working conditions, Maya joins Sam from Justice for Janitors in an attempt to unionize the workers. Alliances are formed, backs are stabbed, and the sisters' relationship is brought to the brink. For more information visit www.breadandrosesmusical.com.

Jill Abramovitz (Lyrics/Book) is a contributing lyricist on Broadway's It Shoulda Been You and the lyricist/co-bookwriter of The Dogs of Pripyat, which garnered the Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, the Jerry Bock Award, was a NAMT selectee and part of Goodspeed's Festival of New Artists. She is the lyricist of TheatreworksUSA's Martha Speaks and a past Dramatist Guild Fellow and member of the BMI Workshop, where she won the Harrington Award for excellence. jillaonline.com

Brad Alexander (Music) is the composer of See Rock City & Other Destinations (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, Richard Rodgers Award, Jerry Bock Award). His credits include music and orchestrations for TheatreworksUSA's Click Clack Moo (Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Just So Stories, Martha Speaks; and songs for Duck for President, Fly Guy, We the People (Lortel nomination). TV scoring: VH1's "Celebreality" campaign, PBS's PEG + CAT. Member of NAMT, Dramatists Guild and BMI Workshop. bradalexander.com

Melissa Crespo is a NYC based director. Recent credits include Vid Guerrero's ¡FIGARO! (90210) (The Duke on 42nd Street & LA Opera), Desiree Burch & Dan Kitrosser's TAR BABY - Scotsman Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival & Pick of the Week at the Vault Festival in London, Suzan Lori-Parks' VENUS (LIU Post), 2015 ABC Talent Showcase and 2014 Drama League Fellow. She received her MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama. www.melissacrespo.com

The New York Musical Festival nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theater.

Now in its thirteenth year, the Festival is the premier musical theater event in the world. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theater fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 24 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2015 is sponsored by The City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Fuzzrocket, PRG, TheaterMania, and Clear Channel Spectacolor, and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

The NYMF PASS is a great way to experience The New York Musical Festival. With a NYMF PASS, you can get into the theater before individual ticket holders. Passes also offer the exclusive ability to book tickets before they go on sale to the public. NYMF Passholder ticket booking begins June 6. Individual tickets go on sale June 20.

The 2016 New York Musical Festival will take place July 11 - August 7. For more information, please visit: www.nymf.org.