Cast of LITTLE WARS Set for Reading, Signing at Drama Book Shop

The Drama Book Shop welcomes an acclaimed cast, comprised of actors from the original New York production and from the play's Bermuda premier, for a reading of Steven Carl McCasland's play Little Wars. The 12:30pm reading will take place in the shop's downstairs Arthur Seelen Theatre. It will be followed by a signing with the playwright.

In 1980, Mary McCarthy told Dick Cavett that "everything Lillian Hellman says is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'." She also claimed to know a woman who could prove it. And with those words, a legendary literary feud began. In Little Wars, it's France, 1940. Tensions are high. The booze is flowing. War is coming. Inspired by one of the literary world's most famous scandals, Steven Carl McCasland's Little Wars features Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein, Agatha Christie, Alice B. Toklas and Muriel Gardiner having the best what-if dinner party imaginable. Together they'll drink, scoff and face their demons. Everyone has a confession. Someone has a secret. It's France, 1940. Tensions are high. The booze is flowing. War is coming. Inspired by one of the literary world's most famous scandals, Steven Carl McCasland's Little Wars features Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein, Agatha Christie, Alice B. Toklas and Muriel Gardiner having the best what-if dinner party imaginable. Together they'll drink, scoff and face their demons. Everyone has a confession. Someone has a secret.

Steven Carl McCasland is the founder and Artistic Director of The Beautiful Soup Theater Collective. A Pace University graduate, Steven's critically acclaimed plays have been seen in New York and Bermuda. In 2009, Steven was commissioned to adapt poet Jack Wiler's anthologies into a solo performance about Wiler's struggle with HIV. That play, Fun Being Me, was workshopped with Jack in the title role before his passing in 2009. Steven's other plays include: When I'm 64, Hope & Glory, Opheliacs Anonymous, Blue, Pulchritudinous, Huntington Award in Playwriting - First Place), and Billy Learns About Captain Kirk have all received productions regionally and in Manhattan. In June of 2011, Steven premiered his original adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Setting Wonderland in the heart of Paris, he also directed and was featured in the cast as the Mock Turtle. After its one week workshop, Alice Au Pays Des Merveilles was picked up for an extended run at The SoHo Playhouse through September. His acclaimed play neat & tidy made a splash on the Bowery in May of 2012, with critics hailing McCasland as a new Thornton Wilder and the play as one of the Top Dramatic Plays of the year. After critically acclaimed workshops of Steven's plays Little Wars and What Was Lost in 2014, Beautiful Soup partnered with The Clarion Theatre to present five of his plays in repertory. Those five plays began on May 7th, 2015 and ran through the end of the month. Also featured in rep were 28 Marchant Avenue, Der Kanarienvogel (The Canary) and a revival of neat & tidy. His writing has been acclaimed by New York critics as "brilliant", "riveting", "mesmerizing" and "extraordinary".

Featured in the June 4th, 12:30pm reading are original New York cast members Kristen Gehling as Muriel Gardiner, Kimberly Faye Greenberg as Lillian Hellman, Samantha Hoefer as Bernadette Polly McKie as Gertrude Stein and PennyLynn White as Alice B. Toklas. They are joined by Karen Stroeder as Agatha Christie and Deborah Pharoah-Williams as Dorothy Parker, both of whom originated their roles in the Bermuda premiere. The Tony Award-winning Drama Book Shop, now celebrating its 99th year, is located at 250 West 40th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. The reading will last approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes. For more information on this and other events, please visit www.dramabookshop.com.