Ego Actus to Present I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT

Ego Actus will present the World Premiere of Penny Jackson's dark comedy I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT at Theatre Row's Lion Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street, NYC, beginning performances on July 16th, opening July 18th at 8 PM and continuing through August 2nd. The Equity production will be directed by Joan Kane with scene design by David Goldstein, costumes by Caitlin Cisek, lights by Dennis Parichy, sound by Andy Evan Cohen, projections by Jim Marlow. The Stage Manager is Tyler Winthrop.

In this cautionary tale, a prep school girl discovers that this week's internet sensation is a video of her having sex. Her feminist mother wants to help but Vicky insists she can handle the crisis alone. Can Vicky free herself from the curse of social media or will she always be caught in its web?

The cast features Olivia Scott (title role in Susan Stroman's Little Dancer workshop), Lué McWilliams (Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks), Alex Esola, Kelsey Wang, Charlotte Frøyland, Alexander Nifong and Jesse Shane Bronstein (Pillowman on Broadway). Also appearing in I Know What Boys Want are Molly Collier, Lori Lusted, Joshua Spencer, Meghan St. Thomas and Phoebe Torres.

Author Penny Jackson's play Safe won Outstanding Playwriting of a New Script at the Planet Connections Theater Festivity at the Bleecker Street Theater in 2012 and was also produced at 59e59 Theatre and at the Edinburgh Fringe at the Space/North Bridge Theater in August, 2013. I Know What Boys Want was presented at The Workshop Theater in 2013. Bitten, a play that takes place in an Irish bar in Queens, was recently a finalist for the Kenneth Branagh Award for new drama from the Windsor Fringe Initiative. All of the above were produced by Ego Actus. Her one act plays have been produced in Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Orlando and NYC, and have been included in The New York Madness Theater and Manhattan Oracles reading series. Penny's screenplays include Becoming The Butlers, based on her prize-winning novel published by Bantam Books, and Girl Talk, optioned by Hit and Run productions. Her plays have been published in Indie Theater Now and Next Stage press, and her novel, Becoming The Butlers, was voted as one of the best novels of the year by The New York Public Library and optioned for film by American Zoetrope and Warner Brothers. Her prize-winning short story collection, LA Child was recently published by Untreed Reads.

Director Joan Kane is the founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus. She recently returned from directing a production of Six Characters in Search of an Author in Oslo, Norway and Kafka's Belinda in the Prague Fringe Festival. She directed both Safe and what do you mean at 59e59 and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe getting four star reviews for each. Joan was named one of the People of the Year in indie Theatre by nytheatre.com. She has directed plays and readings at the Lark Play Development Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theater for the New City, Urban Stages, the Bleecker St Theater, the Workshop Theater, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, Planet Connections Festivity, the Midtown International Festival, the Dramatists Guild, NY Madness, Neighborhood Playhouse, the Players Club, the Lambs Club and the Actors Studio. She has been nominated for an Outstanding Direction Award in the MITF three times and Planet Connections twice.

Ego Actus is Latin for "My Way." Joan Kane and Bruce A! Kraemer created this independent theatre company in 2009, producing either in Manhattan or in Europe. Ego Actus productions include Play Nice! at 59e59, Safe and what do you mean, both in the East to Edinburgh Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They have also presented shows in the Prague Fringe, the Planet Connections Festivity, and the Midtown International Festival. In NYC, Ego Actus has presented Equity productions at Theater for a New City, the Bleecker Street Theater, Urban Stages, the Dorothy Strelsin Theater and the WorkShop Theater. Ego Actus is affiliated with the League of Independent Theater, A.R.T/NY and Fractured Atlas.

Producer Bruce A! Kraemer has produced all the Ego Actus shows and created lighting design for the Roundabout Theatre, Soho Rep, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 59e59 Theaters, the NYC Fringe, the Bleecker Street Theater, and many others. Bruce also provided technical assistance for the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, the World Cup, three Super Bowls, two Papal visits, the Commonwealth Games, the Goodwill Games, six Tony Awards, the Grammys, three Video Music Awards, the WNBA All Star Game, the NBA All Star game, the NBA Draft, four NFL Drafts, the MLB Draft, ten Christmas Tree Lightings at Rockefeller Center, on Broadway, off Broadway, off off Broadway, for dance, fashion shows, art installations and hundreds of corporate events.

I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT begins previews on Thursday, July 16th at 8 PM, opens on Saturday, July 18th at 8 PM, and continues through Sunday, August 2nd.

The performance schedule for I Know What Boys Want at the Lion Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street, is Wednesday to Saturday at 8 PM, with matinees Saturdays at 2 PM and Sundays at 3 PM (with no matinee on July 18).

Tickets at $19.25 are available via TeleCharge at 800 432-7250, via www.TeleCharge.com or at the Theatre Row Box Office (12 noon to 6 PM daily).

For more information about I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT visit http://ow.ly/HUjdu.