Horse Trade Presents Less Than Rent's HOW LTR STOLE CHRISTMAS, Now thru 12/17

Horse Trade Theater Group will present Less Than Rent Theatre's World Premiere of HOW LTR STOLE CHRISTMAS, a late-night smorgasbord of short plays, musical guests, and variety acts from all over the city curated by the LTR staff. The show will run Tuesdays, today, December 3rd, 10th, & 17th at The Kraine Theater (85 E 4th St. between 2nd Ave and Bowery) at 9pm. Tickets ($10) are available online at www.horseTRADE.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

HOW LTR STOLE CHRISTMAS is a chaotic Christmas spectacular comprised of elf choirs, alien Christmas trees, holiday sweater stripteases, a reenactment of the Hanukah story, staged readings of the worst-ever TV holiday specials, and what will likely be highly unwholesome holiday magic.

Created by Less Than Rent company members James Presson, Patrick Dooley, and Nora McNally, How LTR Stole Christmas is directed by Rachel B Joyce (Friends Don't Let Friends), Jenna Grossano (Desire! A Varsouviana), and Nicole Ventura. Featured playwrights will include Michael Kimmel (The Last Goodbye), Ben Clawson (Claire Went to France), Ben Diserens (Beckett in Benghazi), and Tyler Grimes (Ahoy, Abel Brown!). Musical guests will include Alexander Sage Oyen, The Academy Blues Project, Adrian Bridges, and Brendan McDonough. The evenings will be hosted by RJ Vaillancourt, Emma March Barash, and Brandon Zelman. Additional playwrights and special musical guests will be announced in November.

JAMES PRESSON (Co-creator) is the recipient of the 2013/2014 Dramatists Guild Fellowship for the book of his musical, Outlaws (music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen). He is the founder and Co-Artistic Director of Less Than Rent. His commissioned play Words, Razors, and the Wounded Heart premiered at UNDER St. Marks in April 2013 to rave reviews and named by Frontier Psychiatrist as one the best off-off-Broadway plays of the spring season. Voices in Conflict (co-written with Bonnie Dickinson) made its New York debut at The Vineyard Theatre, and has since been adapted for television and performed over fifty times across the country and internationally. Other New York premieres include Friends Don't Let Friends (at Walkerspace) and Little Town Blues (at The Wild Project, subsequently at Penn State University), both of which have since been published on Indie Theater Now. Projects in development include Richard 3 (winner of two FringeNYC excellence awards) and Moneyshot (scheduled for two regional productions in 2014). Directing credits include Diva at United Solo, Beckett in Benghazi (Horse Trade), and The Crucible (Fordham University). He has also worked in a producerial capacity on numerous new plays including Independents (Soho Playhouse), Turn of the Screw (Lincoln Center), Cow Play (Dixon Place), and The Private Sector (Theater for the New City). Training: Fordham University, MXAT (Moscow Art Theatre), Sewanee Writers Conference.

PATRICK DOOLEY (Co-creator) is the Literary Manager for Less Than Rent Theatre. New York performance credits include High Upon the Gallows Tree (Manhattan Rep), Beckett in Benghazi, Words, Razors, and The Wounded Heart, and Philadelphia, Here I Come! for the NY/New Belfast conference under the direction of Geraldine Hughes, The Language Archive (dir. Tamilla Woodard, Fordham University), and For a Barbarian Woman, co-produced with Ensemble Studio Theatre (dir. Niegel Smith). Directing credits include Craig Lucas' Reckless and Brian Friel's Winners.

NORA MCNALLY (Producer) is a New York based producer of new theatrical works. She is currently the Executive Director of Less Than Rent Theater, where she has collaborated on world premiers such as The Private Sector, Little Town Blues, Desire! [A Varsouviana], and Cow Play (FringeNYC'11). Independently Nora produced Independents, Winner Overall Excellence Award FringeNYC'12, and 24 Hour Plays: Nationals. This fall she will join the producing team of 24 Hour Plays on Broadway. She also works as a freelance production manager, most recently at the Roundabout Underground.

LESS THAN RENT THEATRE is dedicated to new work by new artists for new audiences. A recent profile by Martin Denton in The East Villager proclaimed, "I am already a lifelong fan of LTR. If you care about the future of the American Theater, you need to become one too." In addition, they have received two Fringe Excellence Awards, as well as the support of the New York State Council of the Arts.