Ballybeg Presents EMPANADA FOR A DREAM, 4/21-29

Ballybeg today announced its debut production, EMPANADA FOR A DREAM, the story of a boy growing up on the Lower East Side, written and performed by Juan Francisco Villa*.  Alex Levy will direct six performances to be held at the TBG Studio Theatre, 312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues) from April 21-29, 2012. *Member, Actors' Equity Association.  AEA Showcase.

Downtown on Allen Street -- Everybody’s blasting – Bacchata. Merengue. Salsa.  Everybody’s cooking – Plantains. Paella. Empanadas.  Boys play Baseball, Football, Skully, Johnny on the Pony.  And this girl – the most beautiful girl – watches from a window.  EMPANADA FOR A DREAM is a poignant and entertaining portrait of family and neighborhood – set against the secret that destroys it all.  It’s a story about growing up.  It’s a story about getting out. And coming back -- to one boy’s Lower East Side.

Founded in 2012, Ballybeg is a new non-profit theatre company committed to working in spaces where the barriers between the show and the audience can be eliminated. By presenting new plays (and American classics) in intimate venues, it’s Ballybeg’s goal to make the deepest possible connection with its audience.

Regarding this project, Producer John Adams says: “This extraordinary piece is in development – in fact, it’s going on to a major Latino Theatre Festival in Chicago this summer. It was Juan who graciously offered to provide us with this, our first show. Ballybeg is proud to be part of the journey of the play and to share it with our audience.”

Tickets for EMPANADA FOR A DREAM are $18 and can be purchased by visiting www.smarttix.com or by calling 212-868-4444.  For more information, visit www.ballybeg.org.

Performances for EMPANADA FOR A DREAM will be held at TBG Studio Theatre, 312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor, between 8th and 9th Avenues, NYC 10018. Performances dates are: Saturday, April 21st @ 8pm; Sunday, April 22nd @ 3pm; Friday, April 27th @ 8pm; Saturday, April 28th @ 8pm; Sunday, April 29th @ 3pm; Sunday, April 29th @ 7pm.

The runtime is approximately 85 minutes with no intermission.

EMPANADA FOR A DREAM is presented by Ballybeg.  Artistic Director: Alex Levy; Managing Director: John Adams;Associate Director: Paul Deines; Sound & Lighting Design: Greg Goff; Publicist: Paul Siebold/Off Off PR.

Juan Francisco Villa (Playwright/Performer) grew up on the Lower East Side the son of first generation immigrants from Columbia. He is a recovering Catholic after 8 years at Our Lady of Sorrows Elementary, 4 years at the Jesuit All Boys High School La Salle Academy,  and 4 ½ years at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY (that’s 8 years of Jesuits).  Juan made his acting debut in 4th grade, when recess was rained out, performing his solo staged reading of The Emperor’s New Clothesin the school cafeteria.  Later on, he was hoodwinked into choosing Pippin over Varsity Baseball, and he hasn’t looked back since. Like a good native New Yorker, at age 25, he left town -- for Chicago -- where he honed his skills at Improv Olympic, Second City, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Lookingglass Theater and American Theater Company. He has had the honor of working with esteemed playwrights Laura Eason and Ifa Bayeza and has acted in El Grito del Bronx by Migdalia Cruz and Massacre or Sing to Your Children by Jose Rivera, both for the Goodman Theatre.  His Chicago Steppenwolf credits include Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue by Quiara Alegria-Hudes and Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg.  Juan moved back to NYC and graduated from Maggie Flanigan’s Meisner Conservatory.  He has performed Off and Off Off Broadway at Rattlestick, Mabou Mines/SUITE, INTAR, Monarch, HERO Theater, Lark Play Development, Collaberaction Town, BAX and 59E59. Juan has worked as a Teaching Artist with Manhattan Theater Club, and in Chicago, Pegasus Players, Salsation and Teatro Vista.  Through the Peoples Theater Project, he currently teaches English skills through Acting Shakespeare to Harbor Heights 8th graders in Washington Heights. He has been an ensemble member of SALSATION, Chicago's first Latino Sketch/Improv Group and is a current ensemble member of InViolet Theater Company in NYC and Teatro Vista, Chicago’s largest, non–profit–equity, Latino theater company producing full scale, Latino oriented, theatrical productions in English. He will be doing a full production of Empanada for a Dream this summer in Chicago as a co-production with Teatro Vista and Collaberaction. Juan is a proud member of AEA/SAG/AFTRA.

Alex Levy (Director) Alex’s work has been seen throughout the United States and around the world.  He recently developed and mounted the national tour of America Amerique for The JENA Company.  In Los Angeles he has directed the premiere of In the Red for the ARK Theatre and Copenhagen, Home Front and Dead Man’s Cell Phone for UCLA.  Alex served as Artistic Director of Pegasus Players in Chicago for five years. His directing credits there include Continental Divide, Golda’s Balcony (Joseph Jefferson Award for “Outstanding Solo Performance”), The Upper Room (Joseph Jefferson Citation for “Best New Work”), Black Caesar (Three Black Excellence Nominations), Still Life, and Broadway Bound (Joseph Jefferson nominated for four citations including “Best Production” and winner of the After Dark Award for “Best Ensemble”) and The One-Eyed Man is King, as well as nine productions for the Chicago Young Playwrights Festival. His production ofMy Soul is a Witness was featured in the Hindu Metro-Plus InterNational Theatre Festival in Chennai, India and toured several cities throughout India.  Alex twice led international tours through the Middle East sponsored by The United States State Department.  In 2010, Alex was selected to participate in Dah Theatre’s International Research Center for Actors and Directors in Belgrade, Serbia. He has also worked with the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Red Twist Theatre, Smoke and Mirrors, Serendipity Theatre Collective, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Building Chicago, Oakton College, Loyola University, The Studio Theatre in Washington D.C. and Geva Theatre in Rochester, N.Y. Alex holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Rochester. Earlier this year, he directed an ensemble created piece called Dark Sun at the University of California Los Angeles.  A member of their graduate theatre program since 2009, Alex will receive his Masters in Directing this June.

John Adams (Managing Director) for four decades has been a director, producer and/or manager for national tour productions serving performing arts centers and universities nationwide. For his own company, Daedalus Productions, he produced, managed, and/or directed 35 productions including Home by Samm-Art Williams, The Blood Knot by Athol Fugard, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and for colored girls…Other highlights include the Royal Shakespeare Company program Sylvia Plath and the first Equity National of From the Mississippi Delta. For Encore Attractions, John served as Associate Producer and Director of Marketing for ten national tours, with credits ranging Master Class starring Charlotte Cornwall from the Royal National Theatre and Unforgettable: The Nat King Cole Story to two tours of Mahalia, A Gospel Musical. For the past ten years, John has been the producer and managing director for The JENA Company, which he also founded. His productions have included Unsinkable Women: Stories and Songs from The Titanic, and Black Broadway.  More recently JENA mounted Rejoice Dear Hearts, An Evening With Brother Dave Gardner, and My Soul Is A Witness and Jackie, Vi & Lena, two chronicles of the Civil Rights Movement by award- winning Chicago playwright, David Barr III. For Winter/Spring 2010, the company offered America Amerique.  Highlighting stories of American Immigrants, 1845 to the present, this new piece was written by John in collaboration with historian Thomas Jessen Adams.  The production was developed and directed by John’s partner in Ballybeg, Alex Levy.