Diana Rissetto's Acclaimed Comedy-Drama WARMTH,Will Make New York City Premiere in October

WARMTH, a new play written by Diana Rissetto and directed by Lionel Ruland, will make its New York City premiere with the Midtown International Theatre Festival.

The play will run October 26-28 at the Jewel Box Theatre (312 West 36th Street.)

WARMTH was one of three finalists in 2013's New Jersey Playwright's Contest and went on to a publicly-acclaimed, sold-out and extended run at the Grange Playhouse in Howell, New Jersey.

In 2014, a special one night only performance of the play raised $25,000 for the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey's Holocaust Education Center.

Sweet, innocent, well-meaning Gemma (Diana DiCostanzo) has a happy and wholesome life as a Catholic kindergarten schoolteacher, a hilarious sidekick in her cousin and roommate Luke (Lev Harvey), plenty of Jewish moms trying to set her up with their sons, and a heart of gold...even though it gets her into trouble sometimes. When she finds herself volunteering with a foundation which helps (and makes scarves for) rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, Gemma wants to do more than good deeds from overseas and arranges for Magdelone (Stacey Lightman), an 88-year-old Polish woman, to stay with her for two weeks. As Gemma grows close to Magdelone and her long-lost Jewish-American grandson, Victor (Matthew Dean Wood), she becomes obsessed with the atrocities of the past and struggles with an odd form of Christian guilt, intent on healing all the world's problems. WARMTH also stars Taylor Henkin.

WARMTH balances out a lot of heart and modern comedic dialogue with the heartbreaking memories of one old woman's past as one young woman tries to fix the future and, along with her friends, figure-out their identities and where they stand in this world.

Tickets are $20. For more information, visit http://www.midtownfestival.org/