Desi Moreno-Penson's OMINOUS MEN Gets Staged Reading in NYC This Fall

There will be a one-night only staged reading of OMINOUS MEN, a new, full-length play by Latina playwright Desi Moreno-Penson.

The reading will be directed by MultiStages Artistic Director, Lorca Peress, and will feature the all-male acting talents of Esteban Carmona, Russell Jordan, Sandor Juan, Ron Cohen, and Gus Scharr.

It will take place on Wednesday, October 26 at 7pm in The Bruce Mitchell Room, 3rd Floor, at A.R.T/NY, 520 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10018. A brief wine and cheese reception will immediately follow.

OMINOUS MEN is the third installment of a play cycle Ms. Moreno-Penson has been currently developing called, "Nuyorican Gothic," dark, stylized, and fantastical plays taking place in The Bronx, and featuring highly poetic language, gothic themes, as well as "Nuyorican" characters (Puerto Ricans born and raised in New York City).

The first play of the cycle, DEVIL LAND, an adult fairytale of child abduction and Taino mysticism set in the boiler room of a Bronx apartment building, received its premiere production in New York City as part of the 2007 SPF-Summer Play Festival, produced by Arielle Tepper Madover, directed by Jose Zayas, and featuring Vanessa Aspillaga, Bryant Mason, and Jenny Seastone Stern. Most recently, the play received its Midwest premiere in 2014 at Urban Theater Company in Chicago, directed by Hank Hilbert, and featuring Jasmin Cardenas, Christian Castro, and Tricia Rodriguez. In the same year, the play was produced as a student showcase production with the graduate acting program at the University of Georgia, directed by Seth Valentine. The play is published by Broadway Play Publishing, www.broadwayplaypub.com.

The second play, COMIDA DE PUTA (F#%king Lousy Food), is a gritty, inner-city adaptation of Euripides' HIPPOLYTUS, that tells a dark tale of gentrification, unrequited lust, and urban witchery set in a rundown Bronx bodega. The play is the winner of the 2013 MultiStages New Works Contest, was selected as a finalist for the 2014 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, received Honorable Mention on The Kilroys List for 2015, and received its world premiere production at the West End Theater in New York City, produced by MultiStages Theater Company and directed by Lorca Peress. The play featured actors Mariana Parma, Alejandro Hernandez, Marcos Sotomayor, Darlenis Duran, Gustavo Heredia, and Roseanne Almanzar. Video performers included Jane Velez-Mitchell, Mykal Monroe, Suni Reyes, Venuz Delmar, Dennis Gagomiros, and the late-great Anita Velez.

The synopsis for OMINOUS MEN is as follows: On the night of July 13, 1977, three men meet in the basement of the abandoned Concourse Plaza in The Bronx for a night of drinking, male camaraderie, and an enduring game of Dominos. The sudden sound of falling pebbles on the steps, the ghostly sobs of a woman long dead, and a shadowy, angry apparition, will be among the highlights of their supernatural night of the soul. And then of course, there's the blackout.

The reading is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5. All those interested in attending must RSVP at actorswithoutspaces@gmail.com.

Desi Moreno-Penson (Playwright) is a New York-based playwright/actor. Her plays have been developed and/or produced at Ensemble Studio Theater, New Georges, INTAR, Perishable Theater (Providence, RI), SPF-Summer Play Festival, Urban Theater Company (Chicago), Teatro Coribantes (San Juan, PR), Henry Street Settlement, The Downtown Urban Theater Festival @the Cherry Lane, the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, among others. Her play, BEIGE is the winner of the 2016 National Latino Playwriting Award sponsored by the Arizona Theater Company, a finalist for the 2016 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, as well as a semifinalist for the 2016 Princess Grace Award for emerging artists. Another play, COMIDA DE PUTA (F%&king Lousy Food), was a finalist for the 2014 O'Neill NPC, received Honorable Mention on The Kilroys List in 2015, and the play was given its world premiere production by MultiStages Theater Company at the West End Theater (NYC), directed by Lorca Peress. In addition, she is a semifinalist for the 2007 Princess Grace Award for her play, DEVIL LAND. Her plays GHOST LIGHT, DEVIL LAND, LAZARUS DISPOSED, and 3 TO A SESSION: A MONSTER'S TALE are all published by Broadway Play Publishing, and a ten-minute play, SPIRIT SEX: A PARANORMAL ROMANCE was selected for the short plays anthology "Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2010," published by Smith and Kraus. Desi is a member of the Dramatists Guild, SAG-AFTRA, as well as a member of the GTTRiver Writers Unit at the Lark.

Lorca Peress (Director) Ms. Peress specializes in developing multicultural and multidisciplinary theatre. She is Founding Artistic Director of MultiStages. Recent credits include: Desi Moreno-Penson's "Comida de Puta (F#%king Lousy Food," HOLA Award); Theresa Rebeck's "What We're Up Against" (Life Force Arts); Leonard Bernstein's "MASS" (QC-CUNY Colden Center); Puerto Rican/Taino musical "Temple of the Souls" by Velez-Mitchell, music by Landon & Paris (6 Innovative Theatre Nominations, 4 HOLA Awards); Nichole Thompson Adams' "Black Girl You've Been Gentrified" (Joe's Pub, Public Theatre). She is a former co-president of the League of Professional Theatre Women, and member of the Creative Network for the Governor's Office of Puerto Rico, SDC, NTC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA.