Award-Winning Team Set for NYC Reading of New Musical THE BEACHCOMBER BOYS

On January 9, 2015 in New York City, Obie Award winner David Drake will direct the inaugural reading of the new musical The Beachcomber Boys, with book and lyrics by Myra Slotnick and music by Grammy Award-winning composer Peter Stopschinski, whose contribution to Madeleine George's The Curious Case Of Dr. Watson was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

With a cast of twelve, the reading will feature the acclaimed actress Irene Glezos (Orpheus Descending, Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival; Master Class, Music Theatre of Connecticut, CT Outer Critics Circle nominee for outstanding lead actress), as well as Broadway performers Tom Riis Farrel (Chicago, Coram Boy, Disaster! The Musical), Lori Ada Jaroslow (Grease, Fiddler On The Roof), and TV and film stars Sean O'Connor ("Another World," "All My Children") and Aaron Tone ("Bear City 2"). Rounding out the cast is Scott Douglas Cunningham, Harley Harrison, John Long, Clyde Shelby Mellert, Chelsey Jo Ristaino, Patrick Riviere, and Nathaniel Hall Taylor.

The Beachcomber Boys is a fictional tale inspired by the true-life fraternity of painters, poets, novelists, and playwrights who, since 1916, have gathered each and every Saturday night in a not-so-disclosed decrepit location on a spit of sand jutting out into the sea known as Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Set in 1953 amidst the Hollywood Blacklist, major themes are art, literature, fame, family, and the challenges of success (and failure) in work and love.

Seemingly driven by the male-dominance of this historic Cape Cod artists' collective, The Beachcomber Boys is also powered by the forceful women who orbit and confound their lives. It is an age-old fishing village "love storm" and, like many, has an emotional riptide, where some swim safely to shore, and others are pulled under.

The reading will take place on January 9th at 7:30pm at St John's Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher St, NYC. Admission is free.

Myra Slotnick (Book & Lyrics) is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and is an award-winning playwright whose work has been produced across the ?country. Most notably, Songs My Brother Sang (Cape Cod Theatre Project), The Last Thing (Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival) and Forget Me Not (Mergatroyd Productions, NYC). Of the 2011 world premiere of her play, The Weight of Water, the Cape Cod Times said: "Myra Slotnick's play, The Weight of Water, opened at the historic Provincetown Theater with echoes of the great American playwrights who plied their craft in the small urbane town...she and Director David Drake have built a subtle and fascinating play in the American tragic style first created by Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller and others", prompting a New York premiere of the play off-B'way in 2013. Myra is also known as the Founding Artistic Director of Universal Theatre in Provincetown, an annual winter melting-pot of original short plays from around the country.

Peter Stopschinski (Composer) composed and recorded string arrangements and organ on Grupo Fantasma's 2010 Grammy Award winning album La Existential. He also composed the music for Madeleine George's play The Curious Case Of Dr. Watson that was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His musical with creator E.J. Stapleton, The Calico Buffalo, was chosen top 10 in the 2014 New York New Musical Theater Festival. Peter is Composer for Rude Mechs' production I've Never Been So Happy, a western musical which was developed as a selection in the NEA New Play Development Program and played in Washington D.C. and Austin, TX and was picked up by Centre Theater Group for a 4 week run in L.A. at the Kirk Douglas Theater. Peter's opera, Bum Phillips All-American Opera, with librettist Kirk Lynn about Bum Phillips and the Houston Oilers premiered at the La Mama Experimental Theater Space this year to rave reviews: "Watching a staged depiction of the 'Luv Ya Blue' era is like biting into a deep-fried madeline. " - Texas Monthly. "...even Rigoletto would have to doff his cap." - NY Times. The opera was attended by Bum's son, NFL coach Wade Phillips, and former Houston Oiler Quarterback Dan Pastorini. "I was moved to tears in the end," Mr. Pastorini said. "I lived with the man and I knew the man and they depicted him to a T." Peter's concerto for Harp, strings and percussion was featured at the 2014 Orchestra Gala Night at the gathering of the American Harp Society in New Orleans in June. Members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra were conducted by Peter Bay and the solo harp part was performed by Elaine Barber. peterstopschinski.com

David Drake (Director) has staged new plays and musicals in NYC at HERE (Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge; Obie Award), The Public's "Under the Radar" Festival (The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac), Rattlestick (Star Struck), Theatre for the New City (Jesus & Mandy), Manhattan Theatre Source (That Woman: Rebecca West Remembers), Players Club (Cover), Producers Club (The Weight of Water) and productions in the NYC Fringe Festival, NYMF, and Frigid Festival. Twice a Directing Fellow at the Sundance Theatre Lab, David has directed regionally and internationally. As a playwright/performer, David is the creator of one of the longest-running solo shows in New York theater history, The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, for which he won an Obie Award. daviddrakeproductions.com