FLESH & SPIRIT with Broadway Stars & More Make 2016 New York New Works Theatre Festival Finals

The third annual New York New Work Theatre Festival at the Times Square Arts Centre (300 West 43rd Street) announced today the 2016 finalists including Flesh & Spirit, Most Likely To, Palin Live, Trashman's Dilemma, World Without End and The Love Junkie. Each show will be presented at the Gala, October 5th at 7:00 PM when the winner of the Festival will be selected.

"We are proud that our seasoned Broadway panelists donated their time to mentor our writers and then worked to narrow down the finalists to these six productions, despite the enormous amount of talent we've seen throughout the Festival," said Gene Fisch Jr., the Festival's Founder & Director. "Each show represents the diversity and quality we strive to showcase and we think this will make for an outstanding evening of theatre."

October 5th's performances will include:

All shows start at 7 p.m.

Flesh & Spirit (Written by Steven Skeels & Sara McDermott Jain): Michael, a priest, begins a journey of self-discovery that connects his life to that of Daphne, a drug addict and a prostitute. In trying to help Daphne and come to terms with his own sexuality, Michael incurs the wrath of his most devout parishioner, the scorned and jilted Mary. Starring WICKED's Jenny DiNoia (Elphaba on Broadway) as Daphne and Betsy Werbel; Richard H. Blake (Star of A BRONX TALE); and Jonathan Ritter (FINDING NEVERLAND).

Most Likely To (Written and performed by Ryan Vincent Anderson): The recent barrage of tragic events regarding the deaths of unarmed black men splatter our news and social media feeds. With each new victim there's another statistic. Another hashtag. Another protest. But how often do we get to see the humanity behind the incident?

Palin Live! (Written by Erica Vlahinos): See Sarah like you've never seen her before - voluntarily! It's 2016 and Sarah Palin is back, but this time she's a MUSICAL! Spend an evening with the self anointed "Maverick of Melody" as she dances down the yellow brick road to the White House in America's first ever musical campaign.

Trashman's Dilemma (Written by Bruce Gooch): Ten years after The Purge, Words are feared, not spoken. Thoughts are tele-communicated. Memories monitored by CORP satellites. In a structure CORP monitors can't reach, a warrior and a disposable soldier encounter two refugees of The Purge. Language is reborn and with it hope for humanity. Of the four, two will live. Two will die.

World Without End (Written by Allison Zajac-Batell): In the new play World Without End, a grieving mother meets her widowed daughter-in-law for the first time. The two women struggle to find solace in one another despite what their disparate faiths might allow.

The Love Junkie (Written by Bridget Barkan): The Love Junkie is the story of one woman's journey on the road to recovery from sex and love addition. It's a roller coaster ride of musical numbers, characters, comedy, spoken word, costumes, dancing and unapologetic truth.

The 2016 panelists include Larry Freitag (Broadway Producer), Lucia Kaiser (Emmy Award Winner), Sjon Dowell (Disney Empire Disciple), Paul Sladkus (Emmy Award Winner), Vincent Morano (Emmy Winning TV Series), Lauren Class Schneider (Broadway Producer), Lizabeth Zindel (Broadway Producer), Stu Sternbach (Agent / Broadway Producer), Carol Ostrow (Broadway Producer), Ben Cameron (Broadway Veteran), Craig "muMs" Grant (Emmy Winning TV show), Matthew Lombardo (Broadway Playwright), Ben Simpson (Broadway Producer), and more to be announced.

Throughout the Festival, casting agents, investors, and producers are in attendance. In the past two years, many of the Festival winners and participants were able to garner investment or representation.

The festival is presented in association with Bear in Mind Creative www.bearinmindcreative.com.

Tickets are available online at www.nynwtheatrefestival.com/book-tickets. Find The New York New Works Theatre Festival on Facebook @nynwtheatrefestival, Twitter: @nynwtheatrefest | #nynwtheatrefest and online at www.nynwtheatrefestival.com.

Founded by Gene Fisch Jr., The New York New Works Theatre Festival has created a self-funded environment that allows talented writers of any financial means to present their work to the Broadway and television communities with resources that parallel most any Off-Broadway production. Each panelist donates their time to provide notes, support, and a valuable learning experience to our participants.