'A SEASON OF NOTABLE BROOKLYN PLAYWRIGHTS' Opens In January

Plays written by notable Brooklyn playwrights-four of whom are still alive, well and living in Brooklyn-make up the roster of five works to be presented as part of the Sixth Annual Play Reading Salon Series from Brave New World Repertory Theatre. Based in Brooklyn, Brave New World is known for its bold, critically acclaimed productions of Fahrenheit 451, The Great White Hope and Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, based on Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (all for Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park bandshell); and To Kill a Mockingbird, staged on the front porches of a tree-lined Ditmas Park street.

Now in its sixth season, the Brave New World Salon Series features Brooklyn-based Equity actors performing rehearsed, intimate and evocative readings of classic plays-all of them penned by notable Brooklynites Arthur Miller, Lynn Nottage, David Lindsay-Abaire, Charles Mee and Budd Schulberg.

Highlights of the season include Pulitzer Prize-winner Lindsay-Abaire (with Shrek The Musical currently on Broadway) directing his own play, Fuddy Meers. Claire Beckman, Producing Artistic Director says: "We are thrilled to be celebrating some of the great playwrights this borough has produced, and delighted that Ms. Nottage, Mr. Mee, Mr. Lindsay-Abaire and Mr. Schulberg, (now in his 90's) have agreed to participate in talkbacks with the audience. Our book-end staged readings of The Crucible and On The Waterfront will be somewhat site-specific, in the spirit of our 2005 production of To Kill a Mockingbird."

The readings-set in notable Brooklyn locations (the Old Stone House, the Akwaaba Mansion, the Waterfront Barge Museum, etc.) include dinner catered by Red Hook's Fairway with wine courtesy of T.B. Ackerman Wine Merchants in Ditmas Park. Individual event tickets are $18 and seating is limited. Further information/tickets are available at theatre@bravenewworldrep.org.

Brave New World Artistic Director Claire Beckman oversees a company that includes actors Chris Lindsay-Abaire, Cynthia Babak, Ezra Barnes, Nixon Cesar, Alice Barrett-Mitchell, Tara Bast, William Brenner, David Frutkoff, John Edmond Morgan, Eleanor Ruth, Caroline Ryburn, Joe Salgo, Franny Silverman, Christine Siracusa, Timothy Smith, Scott Voloshin and Stuart Zagnit, as well as designers, directors and playwrights who are residents of Brooklyn. Brooklyn Guest Artists, actors Paul Hecht, and Michi Barrall, (wife of playwright Charles Mee) will join Brave New World this season for the first time. The Brave New World 2009 Play Reading Salon Series is sponsored by The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the Brooklyn Arts Council.

Brave New World Repertory Theatre 2009 Play Reading Salon Series

THE CRUCIBLE
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Claire Beckman
The Old Stone House
Park Slope, 5th Avenue
http://www.theoldstonehouse.org
Saturday January 24th; Dinner 7:30pm, Reading 8:00
Sunday January 25th; Brunch 12:30pm, Reading 1:00

FABULATION, OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Alvin Hippolyte
Akwaaba Mansion
Bedford-Stuyvesant
http://www.akwaaba.com/brooklyn/
Saturday February 21; Dinner 7:30pm, Reading 8:00
Sunday February 22 Brunch 1:30pm, Reading 2:00

A PERFECT WEDDING
By Charles L. Mee
Directed by Ezra Barnes
BRICstudio in Fort Greene
http://www.briconline.org/bricstudio/default.asp
Saturday March 14; Dinner 7:30pm, Reading 8:00
Sunday March 15; Brunch 1:30pm, Reading 2:00

FUDDY MEERS
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by David Lindsay-Abaire
Prospect Park Rooftop in Park Slope/7th Avenue
http://www.ymcanyc.or/index.php?id=1088
Saturday April 18; Dinner 7:30pm; Reading 8:00
Sunday April 19; Brunch 1:30pm; Reading 1:00

ON THE WATERFRONT
By Budd Schulberg
Directed by Timothy Smith & Claire Beckman
Waterfront Museum Barge in Red Hook
http://www.waterfrontmuseum.org/
Saturday May 16; Dinner 7:30pm, Reading 8:00
Sunday May 17; Brunch 1:30pm, Reading 2:00

About Brave New World Repertory Theatre
Brave New World Repertory Theatre draws from Brooklyn's rich artistic community to create dynamic and engaging theatre on the Brooklyn side of the bridge. Founded by a group of local theatre professionals, the company produces classic and neglected works, as well as new works by its members. Brave New World Repertory Theatre provides its actors, directors, designers, playwrights and stage managers the opportunity to work in and for their own community.