Cherry Lane Theatre Announces Casting for The First Play Of The 2018 MENTOR PROJECT

Cherry Lane Theatre has announced casting for the first production of the Obie award-winning MENTOR PROJECT now in its 20th season. Kate Cortesi's A PATRON OF THE ARTS, is being presented at Cherry Lane (38 Commerce St.) from March 1- 10, 2018, it has been announced by Seri Lawrence and Janio Marrero, Cherry Lane's Co-Artistic Directors. Angelina Fiordellisi is Cherry Lane's Founding Artistic Director. Ms. Cortesi is mentored by Guggenheim, a Whiting, an Alpert, PEN/Laura Pels award winner Anne Washburn.

Directed by Mike Donahue, the cast of A PATRON OF THE ARTS features Jordon Bolden (TV/Film: BizKid$, Bushwick Beats), Harrison Bryan (Regional: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, BWW Award), and Peter O'Connor (The Flick at Barrow Street).

In A PATRON OF THE ARTS, a high school drug dealer dropping off at a new address, he is unexpectedly reunited with the father of his childhood best friend. The laid-off father is holed up to re-start the painting career of his youth; this young entrepreneur wants to help. So they make an unusual arrangement.

This is the 20th season of MENTOR PROJECT, which annually pairs new playwrights with seasoned writers for a season of play development, casting, rehearsals and a fully-staged production. The next Mentor Project production will feature Sam Chanse's play THE OPPORTUNITIES OF EXTINCTION presented March 28 - April 7, 2018, she will be mentored by NEA Fellow Migdalia Cruz.

A PATRON OF THE ARTS creative team includes Matthew Iacozza (Scenic Design), Isabelle Coler (Costume Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design), Matt Otto (Sound Design), J. Allen Suddeth (Fight Director), Nicole Van Denburg (Casting Director), Carrie Mossman (Properties) and Hannah Woodward (Production Stage Manager).

A PATRON OF THE ARTS plays March 1-10, 2018, Tuesday - Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 3pm & 7pm, Sunday at 1pm & 5pm. Single ticket $25, $40 for 2-Show Membership, available at cherrylanetheatre.org / or by calling Ovationtix at 866-811-4111, or in person at the box office during box office hours.

Who's Who:

One of the most renowned theatres in the country, Cherry Lane Theatre has produced a large succession of plays by leading writers from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee and Harold Pinter. Cherry Lane remains devoted to developing and producing new works for the stage through its various programs including the award-winning Mentor Project, which each year pairs established playwrights with emerging writers for a season of dramaturgy, rehearsal, casting and production. Mentor Project recently concluded its 19th season with mentors Lucy Thurber, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Angelina Fiordellisi is Founding Artistic Director of Cherry Lane Theatre; Seri Lawrence and Janio Marrero are Co-Artistic Directors, and Diane Alianiello is General Manager.

KATE CORTESI (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright from Washington, D.C. Her plays include One More Less (2017 Relentless Award Finalist, 2017 O'Neill Conference Finalist, 2016 NYFA-award-winning submission, Playwrights Horizons New Works Lab directed by Robert O'Hara), A Patron of the Arts (2018 Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project, mentored by Anne Washburn, directed by Mike Donahue; South Coast Rep 2016 New SCRipts Series), Great Kills (2014-2015 Princess Grace Award-winning submission, 2016 Kilroy's List Honorable Mention, Premiere Stages 2015 New Play Festival Runner Up), and Is Edward Snowden Single? (2017 Colt Coeur Play Hotel, New Dramatists 2018 Creativity Fund). Her work has been developed or produced at Playwrights Horizons, Cherry Lane Theatre, South Coast Rep, Colt Coeur, Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, terraNOVA Collective, The Lark, New Dramatists, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Premiere Stages. Kate is a playwright in residence at New Dramatists (2016-2023) and at Colt Coeur (artistic director Adrienne Campbell-Holt). Kate has taught writing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Riker's Island, and lots of places in between. For more, please visit katecortesi.com.

Anne Washburn (Mentor) Her plays include 10 out of 12, Antlia Pneumatica, Apparition, The Communist Dracula Pageant, A Devil At Noon, I Have Loved Strangers, The Internationalist, The Ladies, Little Bunny Foo Foo, Mr. Burns, The Small and transadaptations of Euripides' Orestes & Iphigenia in Aulis. Her work has been produced nationally and internationally and has premiered with 13P, Actors Theater of Louisville, The Almeida, American Repertory Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, Dixon Place, Ensemble Studio Theater, The Folger, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, Two River Theater Company, Vineyard Theater and Woolly Mammoth. Honors include a Guggenheim, a Whiting, an Alpert Award, a PEN/Laura Pels award for artist in mid-career, a NYFA Fellowship, a Time Warner Fellowship, and residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo. She is an associated artist with The Civilians, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Chochiqq, and is an alumna of New Dramatists.

Mike Donahue (Director) NYC: world premiere of Matthew Lopez's The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC and Denver Center); Jen Silverman's Phoebe in Winter (Clubbed Thumb) and The Hunters (Cherry Lane Mentor Project); Ethan Lipton's Red-Handed Otter (Playwrights Realm). Regionally: world premiere of Jen Silverman's The Roommate (Humana); world premiere of Rachel Bonds' The Wolfe Twins (Studio Theatre D.C.); world premiere of Lauren Feldman's Grace, or The Art of Climbing (Denver Center); Annie Baker's adaptation of Uncle Vanya (Weston); Shostakovich's Moscow, Cheryomushki with new libretto by Meg Miroshnik (Chicago Opera Theatre); Antony & Cleopatra (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis); and Assassins, Henry IV & V (co-director) and A Number (Playmakers Rep, 2011/12 Distinguished Guest Artist). Readings/workshops: MCC, Roundabout Underground, NYTW, Soho Rep (Writer/Director Lab), Williamstown, McCarter, The O'Neill, Clubbed Thumb, Labyrinth, Denver Center, The Lark, Ars Nova, Dramatists Guild, The York, Chautauqua, Cape Cod Theatre Project and Studio 42. Mike is recipient of a Fulbright to Berlin, the Drama League Fall Fellowship, The Boris Sagal Fellowship at Williamstown, an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, winner of the Inaugural Opera America Director-Designer Showcase Award, winner of the Joe A. Callaway Award from the SDC Foundation for Georgia McBride, and was the artistic director of the Yale Summer Cabaret for two seasons. Mike is a graduate of Harvard University and the Yale School of Drama. Upcoming: 4000 Miles (Actors Theatre); world premiere of Rachel Bonds' Swimmers (Marin).