Dan Lauria to Lead Private Theatre's A QUEEN FOR A DAY Reading, 1/6

The Private Theatre and director John Gould Rubin will present an invitation-only reading of the play A Queen For A Day, written by Michael Ricigliano, Jr and directed by John Gould Rubin, at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Centerb (kaufman-center.org) at 129 West 67h Street in Manhattan on Monday, January 6th, 2014.

Acclaimed actor Dan Lauria, who's currently starring on Broadway in A Christmas Story and drew raves for his performance in the hit play Lombardi at Circle in the Square Theatre, will head up the cast in the role of Nino in this very special reading.

Joining Dan Lauria are LAByrinth Theater Company member David Deblinger (Remember Me, Club Land) playing the defense attorney, Sanford Weiss, Anthony De Sando (Magic City, The Sopranos) in the role of Nino's brother Pasquale and actress Rachel Spencer Hewitt (stage productions The Seagull, A Civil War Christmas, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof at the English Theater in Vienna) playing Assistant US Attorney Patricia Cole. John Gould Rubin, Artistic Director of The Private Theatre, has also been Co-Artistic and Executive Director of LAByrinth Theater Company, with an extensive list of theatre credits.

"A Queen for a Day" is a term of art used to describe written "proffer agreements" between federal prosecutors and individuals under criminal investigation. One day proffer sessions permit these individuals to tell the government about their knowledge of crimes, with the understanding that their words will not be used against them in any later proceedings.

Ricigliano's play takes place in the winter of 2011, shortly after the largest coordinated sweep of organized crime in history. The lead character, Nino, is a Captain in a NY crime family. He reluctantly agrees to a "proffer session" to speak about his younger brother who is the acting boss of his "family." In the play, we learn of Nino's Brooklyn upbringing, his personal demons and ultimately the reason he agrees to become "A Queen for a Day."

Michael Ricigliano, Jr. currently has four other scripts being developed including the motion picture The Interest of Justice and the feature length version of his award winning short film, Lily of the Feast, which begins filming in May 2014 with Federico Castelluccio directing.