Bobby Steggert, Michael Chernus, et al. Set for HOWL-O'WEEN (W)RITES, 10/23

HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 and The Actors Fund present HOWL-O'WEEEEEN (w)RITES -- an evening of scary short plays inspired by the works of Allen Ginsberg and his beat contemporaries - on Sunday, October 23 at 8pm at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place).

Spooky riffs on Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "A Coney Island of the Mind," Frank O'Hara's "Lana Turner Has Collapsed," and "Pull My Daisy," a collaborative poem by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Neal Cassady, and other beat poems inspire the six short plays set for HOWL-O'WEEEEN (w)RITES.

One-act plays included in the evening are: Toy Box Theatre Company's "John McClure's Peyote Poem" by Jay Geneske, David Michael Holmes and Ryan Reilly, directed by Jonathan Barsness; "Halfass Drunken Sailors" by Courtney Baron, directed by Michelle Bossy; "Like" by Kellie Overbey, directed by "True Blood" star Carrie Preston; "We Love You, Get Up" by David Caudle, directed by Preston; "Song" by Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Allison Troup-Jensen; and "The Suitcase Play" by Susan Eve Haar, directed by Abigail Zealey Bess.

The ensemble of HOWL-O'WEEEEEN (w)RITES features Elisabeth Ahrens, Anna Andersen, Michael Chernus ("Men in Black 3"), Ryan Colwell, Deanna Henson, David Michael Holmes, Nicole Mangi, Annie O'Sullivan, Kellie Overbey (COAST OF UTOPIA), Ryan Reilly, Samantha Shane, and Tony-nominee Bobby Steggert (RAGTIME, YANK!). Comedienne Amy Stiller hosts.

The evening also features live music by NYIT award-winner Colonna Sonora, a musical ensemble comprised of Brady Bagger and James Sparber.

Presenting wildly diverse programming at affordable costs to the whole family, HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 delivers artists of all disciplines along with a new emerging playwrights series showcasing developing and finished work. This month-long series of non-stop music, film, theater, performance art, burlesque and drag entertainment, HOWL! ARTS PROJECT was conceived as a vehicle to benefit H.E.L.P. (Howl! Emergency Life Project), the newly established emergency assistance fund supporting East Village artists of all disciplines, which also provides all services offered by parent administrator: The Actors Fund.

HOWL-O'WEEEEEN (w)RITES runs Sunday, October 23 at 8pm at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place). Tickets are $20. Cash only at the door or purchase online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/200438

For more information, visit www.howlfestival.com

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos