James Lecesne Reprises Role for EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES Benefit This Weekend at Abingdon

Abingdon Theatre Company, in association with Music-Theatre Group, presents James Lecesne in Eve Ensler's Extraordinary Measures for three performances only: this weekend, December 1, 2 and 3 at 7PM at The DR2 Theatre, 101 E. 15th Street.

Featuring original music by William Harper and directed by Tony Speciale, proceeds from the event will be shared with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Ticket price $100. For reservations and information e-mail tickets@abingdontheatre.org or call 212-868- 2055 X5.

Extraordinary Measures debuted off-Broadway in 1995, starring Lecesne. "23 years ago, at the height of the AIDS crisis in NYC I had the honor of performing in Eve Ensler's powerful play, Extraordinary Measures," says James Lecesne. "At the time many of us were facing the untimely deaths of loved who were dying way too soon. This experience showed me what theater is capable of - how it can create value even out of the most dire of circumstances and how it allows us as a community to come together and transform our pain into power. But the message of Extraordinary Measures is not for that time alone. AIDS, though not the scourge it was in 1994, is still with us, dying is something each of us must face and the need for community has never been greater."

Each performance of Extraordinary Measures will be followed by a post-show discussion, each with a special guest speaker: playwright Eve Ensler (Dec. 1), Koshin Pailey Ellison and Robert Chodo Campbell from NY Zen Center for Contemplative Care (Dec. 2), and Tristan Layton from Dream Foundation (Dec. 3).

Eve Ensler (Playwright) is the Tony Award winning playwright, activist, performer and author of the theatrical phenomenon and Obie Award winning, The Vagina Monologues, which has been published in 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. Ms. Ensler's plays include Floating Rhoda and the Glue Man, Extraordinary Measures, Necessary Targets, OPC, The Good Body, and Emotional Creature. Her books include Insecure at Last: A Political Memoir, New York Times best-seller I Am An Emotional Creature and her critically acclaimed memoir In the Body of the World. Eve adapted In the Body of the World into a play that she performed and debuted at the American Repertory Theater, directed by Diane Paulus. In January 2018, she will be premiering it in New York at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Her play, Fruit Trilogy was performed at the Women of the World Festival in London and The West Yorkshire Playhouse. Her film credits include an HBO film version of her performance of The Vagina Monologues (2002). She also produced the film What I Want My Words to Do to You, a documentary about the writing group she led at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, which premiered and won the Freedom of Expression Award at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered nationally on PBS's "P.O.V." in December 2003. Ms. Ensler is the founder of V-Day, the almost 20-year-old global activist movement to end violence against women and girls which has raised over 100 million dollars for grassroots groups. V-Day led Ms. Ensler to also found One Billion Rising, the biggest global mass action campaign to end violence against women in human history in over 200 countries. She writes for The Guardian, Time Magazine, the International Herald Tribune and many other outlets. She was named one of Newsweek's "150 Women Who Changed the World" and The Guardian's "100 Most Influential Women.

James Lecesne (Performer) wrote the short film Trevor, which won an Academy Award and inspired the founding of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide 24-hour suicide prevention and crisis intervention lifeline for LGBTQ youth. He created The Road Home: Stories of Children of War, which was presented at the International Peace Initiative at The Hague. He adapted Armistead Maupin's Further Tales of the City for Showtime (Emmy Award nomination), and he was a writer on the series "Will & Grace." He has written three novels for young adults and created The Letter Q, a collection of letters by Queer writers written to their younger selves. As an actor, he has appeared on television in "Sex and the City"; on Broadway in Gore Vidal's The Best Man; and Off Broadway in The Boys in the Band, Cloud 9, One Man Band, and Word of Mouth (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards). Mr. Lecesne won awards from the Off-Broadway Alliance, United Solo Theatre Festival, and Outer Critic Circle for his performance in The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey. The New York Times ranked him "among the most talented solo performers of his (or any) generation." Visit jameslecesne.com for more information.

William Harper (Music) is a Chicago photographer and composer. His photography is concerned with natural form and line and his music is theatrical, technology-based work sourced from liturgical and folk traditions. Harper first earned critical acclaim for his work defining a Chicago style of new music theater and opera as the creator and producer of many full-length original works for theAmerican Ritual Theater Company (ARTCO). Concurrent with these projects, and subsequently, Harper's opera, music theater, dance, orchestra, chorus, and electro-acoustic works have been commissioned and performed by companies including The Minnesota Opera, The New Music Theater Ensemble of Minneapolis, INTAR Hispanic American Cultural Center, The Goodman Theater, Hartford Stage and The Music-Theatre Group. Harper teaches photography and music courses at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.

BORA YOON (Music Director/Singer) Described by the New York Times as "mesmerizing" and by KoreAm Journal as "totally unique ...expect the unexpected," Korean-American composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Bora Yoon is an interdisciplinary artist who conjures audiovisual soundscapes using digital devices, voice and found objects and instruments from a variety of cultures and historical centuries - to formulate an audiovisual storytelling through music, movement and sound. Yoon's music has been presented at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Singapore Arts Festival, the Nam Jun Paik Museum (South Korea), MADE Festival (Sweden), Festival of World Cultures (Poland), Park Avenue Armory, and Walker Art Center, among others. She is a TED2014 fellow, 2010 New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in Music/Sound, United Artists fellow with the Asian American Arts Alliance, has been an artist-in-residence at the Park Avenue Armory, Ringling Museum, the Hermitage, HERE Art Center/PROTOTYPE, and with the Sorel Organization - and is currently a doctoral fellow in Music Composition, at Princeton University. Go to borayoon.com.

Tony Speciale (Director) joined Abingdon Theatre Company as its Artistic Director in October 2015. Abingdon directing credits: The Boy Who Danced on Air, music by Tim Rosser, book and lyrics by Charlie Sohne; The Mother of Invention by James Lecesne; Jason O'Connell's The Dork Knight; and Stet by Kim Davies. Other directing credits: Unnatural Acts (Classic Stage Company-Drama Desk Award nominee, GLAAD Media Award nominee); James Lecesne's The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (Off-Broadway: Dixon Place, Westside Theatre; National Tour: Old Globe, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Hartford Stage, Bay Street Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Laguna Playhouse); Harmony, musicby Barry Manilow, book and lyrics by Bruce Sussman (ALLIANCE THEATRE, Ahmanson Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream featuring Bebe Neuwirth (Classic Stage Company); Matthew-Lee Erlbach's Handbook for an American Revolutionary (The Gym at Judson) and Romeo and Juliet (Actors Theatre of Louisville).

Music-Theatre Group (Producer) is a non-profit organization, led by Producing Director Diane Wondisford, dedicated to helping artists turn creative inspiration into dramatically compelling music-theatre works. For 40 years, MTG has been helping inspiration take flight by creating a collaborative community that enables artists to tap into the collective imagination and generate original works that tell stories driven by music. Internationally renowned for its commitment to the creation of work that embraces different art forms, MTG has produced a stunning roster of fully integrated music-theatre works -ranging from chamber-sized to full-scale operas and productions. Learn more at musictheatregroup.org.

BROADWAY CARES/EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS is one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $285 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington DC. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS helps men, women and children across the country and across the street receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance. Go to broadwaycares.org for more information.