Katrina Lenk, Tony Shalhoub and THE BAND'S VISIT Cast to Present Scenes by John Cariani Benefitting Wintergreen Arts Center

Members of the original Broadway cast of the 10-time Tony Award-winning Best Musical, The Band's Visit-including Tony Award winners Katrina Lenk and Tony Shalhoub-will come together for a one-night-only benefit presentation of THE BAND VISITS CARIANI, an evening of scenes from John Cariani's plays. Tony & Olivier Award nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand To God,Present Laughter, Bernhardt/Hamlet) will direct. All proceeds will benefit the Wintergreen Arts Center, in Cariani's hometown of Presque Isle, Maine, which offers arts programs to children and adults in rural northern Maine.

The evening will take place on Monday, October 1st at 7:30pm at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street.

Shalhoub and Lenk will be joined by Bill Army, Layan Elwazani, Adam Kantor, Pomme Koch, Andrew Polk, Rachel Prather, Ahmad Maksoud, James Rana, Jonathan Raviv, Sharone Sayegh and Kristen Sieh. The Band Visits Cariani is produced by Pomme Koch and Sharone Sayegh.

"I'm overjoyed to be reunited with the cast of The Band's Visit, even for just one night," says Tony Shalhoub. "And I can't think of a better reason than to celebrate the work of John Cariani. Not unlike The Band's Visit, John's plays speak both to the present moment and the greater human condition-and they give voice to some people who are overlooked and aren't very well represented in contemporary American art and culture...oh, and they're also really funny."

On the connection between his plays and The Band's Visit, John Cariani says, "The Band's Visit is about love and loss and kindness and hope in a fictional town in the middle of nowhere in Israel. A lot of my plays are about love and loss and kindness and hope in a fictional town in the middle of nowhere in northern Maine. I'm intrigued by the intersection of these two make-believe worlds. And I'm excited to see the actors who appear in The Band's Visit every night tackle scenes from my plays-and raise some money for a good cause while they're at it."

The Band Visits Cariani will feature scenes from four of Cariani's plays, including the widely produced Almost, Maine, which explores love and loss among working class people in rural northern Maine. Almost, Maine has become one of the most popular plays in the United States with nearly 4000 productions to date. It recently unseated Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as the most frequently produced play in North American high schools. Scenes from three of Cariani's other plays-LOVE/SICK, Last Gas and cul-de-sac-will also be featured.

To purchase tickets ($35 - $100): click here

For additional information and to make a donation to the Wintergreen Arts Center directly, click here.

For more information about The Band's Visit on Broadway, visit: TheBandsVisitMusical.com

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy