Casting Announced for Stripped Scripts' Production of STUPID F##KING BIRD

Directed by Adam Knight, performances of STUPID F##KING BIRD are on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM, July 6th through July 21st. Tickets ($25) are available online at www.strippedscripts.com or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at: 212-352-3101.

The play, written by Aaron Posner, reimagines Chekhov's classic text as a contemporary artist's journey attempting to find new forms of art by living in this present moment. The characters' stories are at once hysterical, tragic and cathartic as they desperately attempt to find out what it means to be an artist. This meta-theatrical experience, grounded in the disappointment inherent in growing up in the world we live in today, asks the question: Art, Love Happiness... can we have it all?

The cast, just announced, will feature Olivier Renaud (Cirque du Soleil), Jay William Thomas ("Dementia 13"), Mary Ruth Baggott ("Brokers"), Tana Sirois ("Broad Comedy"), DAVID LEEPER ("At The Flash"), Allison Threadgold ("Tomorrow In The Battle") AND DONAL BROPHY ("Sleep No More").

Aaron Posner (Playwright) is an American playwright, theatre director, and co-founder of the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia. He has previously adapted The Chosen based on a novel of the same name, My Name Is Asher Lev, based on Potok's 1972 novel. He has adapted Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (titled Life Sucks) and Three Sisters titled (No Sisters).

Adam Knight (Director) is co-founder of the Off-Off Broadway Slant Theatre Project, where he has produced 25 world premieres and worked with artists such as Lucy Alibar, Bekah Brunstetter, Adam Rapp and Mat Smart. NYC credits include projects with Cherry Lane, Ensemble Studio Theatre, aMios Theatre, Poetry Project, Drilling Company, The Tank, 59E59, Roust Theatre Company and HERE Arts Center. Regionally, he has worked at Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Warehouse Theatre, Millbrook Playhouse, PURE theatre, WaterTower Theatre and Williamstown Theatre Festival.

The design team includes art by Paola Martinez Fiterre taking place in the form of a solo show titled Mine, And Always, Only Mine, (on view July 5th-August 5th), lighting design by Eric Goodman, and stage management by Didi Marrero and Marissa Riggs.

LIC-A will curate a LIC-A member's exhibition specifically themed to Stripped Scripts' Stupid F##king Bird titled Yours, And Always, Only Yours. The exhibition will take place in The Plaxall Gallery's 12,000 sq ft warehouse space. This unique artistic experience will couple visual art with Aaron Posner's dynamic play, Stupid F##king Bird. Yours, And Always, Only Yours will open on July 5th, and will be on view until August 5th. Gallery hours: Thursday from 6pm-10pm, Saturday and Sunday from 12pm-6pm.

Stripped Scripts' strives to identify and cultivate exceptional new and previously produced works, hoping to explore unexpected approaches as well as new spaces for presenting theatre. Stripped Scripts' was founded by Allison Threadgold in 2014, and hosts unrehearsed reading series stripped of elaborate sets, stage directions and costuming in order to focus on the actor's spontaneous choices and the words of the text. In September of 2017, Stripped Scripts presented its first full-length production, with the NYC premiere of Kieron Barry's Tomorrow In The Battle as part of the Ars Nova Fling.

LIC Artists, Inc. (LIC-A), is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts advocacy organization founded in 1986 by artists in Long Island City. In October of 2016, Plaxall, a plastics manufacturing company, generously donated a 12,000 sq ft warehouse space to serve as an art gallery and performing arts venue with the intention of creating an exciting and vibrant community fine arts center. LIC-A presents monthly exhibitions, art classes, theatrical productions, dance and music performances special events. (www.licartists.org)