FringeNYC Announces Huppuch, Ngaujah & More Cast In ETHER STEEDS, Opens 8/14

Danielle Karliner is proud to announce casting for the FringeNYC debut of Ether Steeds, a new play by Jason Williamson. Directed by Niegel Smith (Rainy Days and Mondays, Fringe Encores 2008), Ether Steeds features performances by 2009 OBIE-winners Birgit Huppuch* (Telephone, Foundry Theatre), and Sahr Ngaujah, * star of the upcoming Broadway transfer of FELA! The Musical.

In this evocative, magical new play set in coastal North Carolina, cheap beer and anonymous gentlemen spur Mom and her venus-fly-trap obsessed daughter, Skeeta, toward the inevitable...

Ether Steeds features a dynamic ensemble cast comprised of Off-Broadway veterans, including: Todd d'Amour* (Pretty Theft, FLUX Theatre Ensemble, La Femme est Morte, PS 122), Sarah Lord* (King of Shadows, Working Theatre), Birgit Huppuch* (Telephone, Foundry Theatre, 2009 OBIE Award), and Sahr Ngaujah *. This fall, Sahr Ngaujah will reprise his OBIE-winning title role of the Nigerian composer Fela Anikulapo Kuti in the Broadway transfer of FELA! The Musical at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in October 2009 under the direction of renowned Choreographer Bill T. Jones. Ben Brantley of The New York Times exclaimed that Mr. Ngaujah's performance was "played with inexhaustible swagger...remarkable."

Ether Steeds comes to FringeNYC after a Lincoln Center showcase as a result of the 2007-2008 Dramatist's Guild Fellowship, and was partially published in The Dramatist magazine. Ether Steeds received an evening of development at the Public Theater's Director's Lab, was a finalist for the 2008 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and a workshop production at Carnegie Mellon in 2007.

Award-winning Playwright Jason Williamson returns to FringeNYC after his one-acts, Secrets Of Lamp Lit Blinds was produced by Tip My Cup Productions in 2008. Jason Williamson's original plays have been produced at Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Carnegie Mellon, the O'Neill Conference, NC Theatre Conference and The Kennedy Center, where a new commissioned piece celebrating the upcoming anniversary of JFK's inauguration will workshop this fall.

Ether Steeds also marks Director Niegel Smith's return to FringeNYC after directing 2008's award-winning Rainy Days and Mondays (2008 Fringe Encores, Best Costumes). He is the Artistic Leadership Associate at The Public Theater and a founding member of 425D, a director's lab. New York directing credits include: We Declare You a Terrorist (2009 Summer Play Festival), Maud- The Madness, One For The Road and LIMBS: A Pageant. He is Associate Director to Bill T. Jones on the new musical FELA! (Broadway, Fall 2009; Eugene O'Neill Theatre), and has assisted directors Richard Nelson, Jo Bonney, George C. Wolfe, Kristin Marting and James Lapine.

Ether Steeds' five-show FringeNYC engagement debuts at the Actors' Playhouse Friday, August 14th at 7pm and continues Sunday, August 16th at 12pm, Wednesday, August 19th at 7pm, Saturday, August 22nd at 4:45pm and Monday, August 24th at 2pm. The run time is 100 minutes without intermission.

The Actor's Playhouse is located at 100 Seventh Avenue South Between Grove & Bleecker Streets in downtown Manhattan, and is accessible by subway: 1 to Christopher St or A, C, E, B, D, F, or V to West 4th St. By bus: M20 to 7th Ave South & W 10th St, and parking is available at Barrow St Garage, 2-12 Barrow Street.

Tickets to Ether Steeds are $15, and are available by calling TicketWeb at 866-468-7619, or online at www.fringenyc.org.

*denotes member, Actor's Equity Association.