Dana Tarantino's GRAVY Plays at Laurie Beechman Theatre 4/25-28

"Gravy", described as a one woman tour de force written and directed by Dana Tarantino will run at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in the Westbank Café for a limited engagement from April 25 thru 28. Angela C. Vuolo is producer. The cast includes Marianne Ferrari and Chandler Bishop.

Subtitled "A Passive-Aggressive Italian American Comedy", Gravy revolves around an afternoon in the life of Angela, an Italian American housewife. With no family members around to help her Angela invites the audience to keep her company as she prepares dinner, generously sharing recipes of gravy and meatballs and revealing the secrets of what makes her version of this classic dish so special. As she demonstrates each step of the recipe, Angela shares more family secrets and explains the significance of various Italian customs for everything from the intricacies of preparing for Christmas to which saints to ask for favors and, very importantly, how to thwart someone who's cursed you with the "evil eye".

Dana Tarantino is a recipient of the Madolin Cervantes Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation at Lincoln Center. Among her many New York directing credits areThe Swede, Hamlet, Cabaret, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Sweeney Todd, the off Broadway comedy Lady L and the 50^th Anniversary of West Side Story at the Gerald Lynch Theater. Her musical staging has been featured for the Coca Cola concert series at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden, Westbury Music Fair and Town Hall. Her playwriting credits includeChiaroscuro (later revised as Renata), and Lady L (published 2012 by Bechavn Press). Her playGravy was also written as a potential pilot for a cable network series. It was recently chosen as a finalist in the prestigious Downtown Urban Theater Festival at the HERE. She holds a Ph.D in theatre from NYU and is a member of the Dramatists Guild (DG) and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC).

Marianne Ferrari (Angela) has appeared in The God of Carnage at Theatre By The Sea andInto The Woods at Twin Tiers Theater Festival. She has been seen Off-Broadway in Guido Girl(her solo play) at Emerging Artists Theatre and at The Prospect Theater Company. Other theatre credits include the title role in Mrs. Warren's Profession at 78^th Street Theatre Lab as well as numerous productions in New York, Los Angeles and regionally including Williamstown Theatre Festival. She has been recently seen on TV in Without a Trace and on film in Stage II directed by Lara Gallagher.

Gravy will run at the Laurie Beechman Theatre (407 West 42^nd Street between 9^th and 10^th Avenues-inside the Westbank Cafe) from Thursday April 25 thru Sunday April 28. All performances are at 7:30PM. The running time is 70 minutes. Tickets are $15 plus a $15 food/drink minimum per person. To order tickets: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/34276 or call the Westbank Café at (212) 695-6909 for reservations. For further information go to https://sites.google.com/site/gravythecomedy/home.