Laura Dreyfuss, Kathleen Chalfant, and Geneva Carr Join Benefit Reading of New Play JANE BURGOYNE

Dear Evan Hansen's Laura Dreyfuss and Tony-nominated actresses Kathleen Chalfant and Geneva Carr join National New Play Network (NNPN) for a 20th Anniversary benefit reading of a new play Jane Burgoyne by Robert Moulthrop, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, at Westside Theatre on April 30th at 7:00 pm. Hosted by Richard Winkler and Jane and JB Harrison, the reading will support NNPN as it continues to revolutionize the new play landscape through its nationally recognized programs and services for artists and organizations. Tickets for the reading can be purchased at TodayTix.

One family, three generations of women. A bad fall. Former English teacher, Jane Burgoyne, must move to an "independent living" facility and her granddaughter and daughter are helping her pack. As they seal away the last of her belongings, the empty living room fills with truth spoken across years of silence and lies.

Laura Dreyfuss originated the role of Zoe Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway, Second Stage, and Arena Stage. Other credits include Once (Broadway), Hair (Broadway/1st National tour), What's it all About? (New York Theater Workshop), and Glee (Fox). 2018 Grammy Award winner.

Kathleen Chalfant- Broadway: Angels in America (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), City Center Encores Bloomer Girl, Racing Demon. Off-Broadway: For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, A Walk in the Woods, Red Dog Howls, Painting Churches, Prophecy, Vita & Virginia, Deadman's Cell Phone, Wit (Drama Desk, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics), Spalding Gray:?Stories Left to Tell, Guantanamo: Honour Bound To Defend Freedom, The Last Letter, Talking Heads (OBIE), Nine Armenians (Drama Desk Nomination), Henry V (NYSF, Callaway Award), Endgame (OBIE for Sustained Excellence of Performance), The Party (from three stories by Virginia Woolf). Regional Theater: A Delicate Balance, Mary Jane, Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play. Film: Isn't It Delicious, Muhammed Ali's Greatest Fight, Duplicity, The People Speak, Murder and Murder, Five Corners, A Price Above Rubies, Kinsey.?TV: "Doubt", "The Affair", "The Americans", "House of Cards", "Rescue Me", "Book of Daniel", "The Guardian", "The Laramie Project", all New York iterations of "Law and Order". Additional Awards: 1998 Connecticut Critics Circle Award (Wit); 2000 Ovation, Garland, and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards?(Los Angeles) for Wit; the Drama League and Sidney Kingsley Awards for her body of work; Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from The Cooper Union in 2010.

About Geneva Carr- Broadway: Hand to God (Tony nomination, Theater World Award). Off-Broadway: Incognito (MTC), Trevor (Lesser America), Clash by Night (Naked Angels), Betty's Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons). Regional Theater: North American Tour of The Vagina Monologues, Things We Do For Love (Westport Country Playhouse), Rabbit Hole?(Huntington Theater, IRNE Award). TV: Currently plays Marissa Morgan on CBS's "Bull", "The Mysteries of Laura", "Younger", "Elementary", "Royal Pains", "The Good Wife", "Rescue Me", "Person of Interest", "Hope & Faith", "Law & Order", "Sex and The City". Film:Wonder Wheel, It's Complicated, Blame, Ava's Possessions.

Robert Moulthrop is a playwright and fiction writer who lives and works in New York City. His play Half Life won the Outstanding Playwriting Award at the 2005 NY International Fringe Festival; other Fringe plays: TLC 2006, and Lecture, With Cello 2008. His short play Eastport, Maine was a Heidman Award finalist, and his short play Knots was selected for production in Australia's two Short+Sweet Festivals in Canberra and Sydney. His full-length plays have received developmental readings Urban Stages, Abingdon Theatre, and Active Theatre. Jane Burgoyne received a developmental reading at Vermont's Northern Stage in February 2018.

In 2016, Enchanted Lion Books published his 2017 ALA Batchelder Award-winning translation of the critically acclaimed Danish book Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved and Charlotte Pardi, a picture book for children about death. Robert's short stories have been awarded prizes and published in such journals as Reed, and Berkeley Fiction Review.?He is also the recipient of a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for prose fiction.

Moritz von Stuelpnagel- Upcoming: Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi Theater/Public Theater), Seared (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons). Broadway: Present Laughter with Kevin Kline (three Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Play), Hand to God (five Tony nominations including Best New Play and Best Director). West End: Hand to God (Olivier nomination). Off-Broadway: Important Hats of the Twentieth Century (MTC), Verité (LCT3), Trevor (Lesser America), Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef (EST), Bike America (Ma-Yi), Mel & El (Ars Nova), Spacebar (Studio 42), and My Base and Scurvy Heart (Studio 42). Regional: Alliance, Williamstown, Huntington, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and more. Moritz is the former artistic director of Studio 42, NYC's producer of "unproducible" plays. moritzvs.com

National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 250 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape.

NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange, is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it by providing immediate access to information on more than 17,700 new plays by living writers. NNPN's 30 Core and 80 Associate Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater. nnpn.org | newplayexchange.org