EST Presents 34 Annual New One Act Fest 'MARATHON 2009', 5/22 - 6/27

Ensemble Studio Theatre (William Carden, Artistic Director, Paul Alexander Slee, Executive Director) will present MARATHON 2009, E.S.T.'s 31st annual festival of new one-act plays, at E.S.T. (549 West 52nd Street). Performances begin Friday, May 22nd, and continue through Saturday, June 27th.

MARATHON 2009 offers nine World Premieres and one Off-Broadway premiere of one-act plays in two separate evenings. The two series will run in rotating repertory (a detailed schedule of the series follows below). The playwrights, both established and emerging, contributing to MARATHON 2009 are Billy Aronson*, Leslie Ayvazian*, Maggie Bofill, Garrett M. Brown*, Kia Corthron, Jeanne Dorsey*, Christine Farrell*, Cassandra Medley*, M. Z. Ribalow*, and Tommy Smith.

"For this year's Marathon we selected 10 plays out of the over 350 submitted," says E.S.T. Artistic Director, William Carden. "As we looked at all those scripts it was clear that the state of America and the world were very much on the minds of today's playwrights. And I think that is clearly reflected in the final cut because interesting times make compelling plays. So while this year's selection covers a broad spectrum of themes we definitely will be hearing about Iraq and the economy. We will also be hearing about growing up in the 1950's and growing older in 2009. We will see confrontations between father and daughter, a nun and her student and the fastest guns as they square off in a western saloon. Once again established writers like Kia Corthron, and Leslie Ayvazian share the stage with emerging playwrights like Tommy Smith and Maggie Bofill to create a program that is stimulating, challenging and full of surprise."

Ensemble Studio Theatre is a not-for-profit developmental theatre founded in 1972 with two primary goals: to nurture individual theatre artists, and to develop new American plays. Among E.S.T's members are winners of accolades and higher awards including Pulitzer Prizes, Oscars, Tonys, Emmys, and Obies. E.S.T. is a lifelong artistic home for its member playwrights, directors, actors, designers, technical personnel, and administrators.

Each year, The Ensemble produces over 300 projects, including readings, staged readings, and fully produced mainstage full-lengths. For more information, visit www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org.