Libby Skala Returns to FringeNYC in FELICITAS, Now thru 8/22

ARTISTIC NEW DIRECTION (AND) will present the New York premiere of FELICITAS, as part of the 18th Annual New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC, written and performed by Libby Skala (Best Solo Performer, A Time To Dance - London Fringe Theatre Festival; Off-Bway: Lilia!; Film: Birth with Nicole Kidman), with original music written and performed by Steven May, and directed by Artistic New Direction's Co-Artistic Director Janice L. Goldberg (The Kennedy Center Gold Medallion Award).

FELICITAS will play a limited engagement at Venue #18: The Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre (115 MacDougal Street, Manhattan). Performances are tonight, August 9th at 2:00 pm, Sunday, August 10th at 5:00 pm, Wednesday, August 13th at 7:15 pm, Saturday, August 16th at 2:15 pm, Thursday, August 21st at 7:00 pm and Friday, August 22nd at 4:45 pm. Press are invited to all performances.

Libby Skala charmed audiences internationally with her acclaimed solo plays Lilia! about her Oscar- nominated actress grandmother Lilia Skala and A Time to Dance about her award-winning great aunt Lisl, a pioneering dancer. She returns to complete the trilogy with FELICITAS, the story of her great aunt Lizi, a tough-love Austrian baby nurse who flees Nazi-occupied Austria to build a new life in America.

Born in pre-world war Vienna under the Hapsburg Empire to a Catholic mother and Jewish father, Lizi grows up under the shadow of two forceful older sisters. Carving out her own path, she devotes herself to keeping babies alive and teaching new mothers strict baby care techniques of the day. As a social worker and nurse at the avant-garde Moll Institute in Vienna between world wars, she fulfills her dream of establishing structure to brand new lives, watching hopeless newborns flourish under her gifted touch, while struggling to balance her personal life with her professional devotion. When the Nazi-regime terminates her work, she flees to America where she is forced to re-invent herself utilizing her talent and training. A celebration of love, discipline and the nobility of a life in service.

Featuring original mandolin music written and performed by Steven May and video designed by Stephen Stevo Arnoczy.

Tickets are $18.00. Tickets may be purchased online or on your smartphone up to 30min prior to the performance at www.fringenyc.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person at FringeCentral the day prior to the performance, or at the performance venue 15min prior to the performance (credit card only). For more information visit www.FelicitasPlay.info. Running Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes.

BIOGRAPHIES

LIBBY SKALA (Playwright / Performer) has charmed audiences internationally with her two critically-acclaimed solo plays: Lilia!, about her Oscar-nominated actress grandmother Lilia Skala, and A Time to Dance, about her great aunt Elizabeth Polk, an award-winning dance therapy pioneer. Libby performed Lilia! in an Off-Broadway run at The Arclight Theatre, and won "Best Solo Performer Award" at The London Fringe Festival for A Time to Dance, which also ran at FringeNYC. Both shows have toured North America and Europe. Libby is thrilled to also be performing in FringeNYC's production of No Provenance by Kate Hollander and Caroline Prugh. Other stage work includes Viola in St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival's Twelfth Night and appearing in the film Birth with Nicole Kidman. Libby is a graduate of Oberlin College and is an award recipient of the Pandella Cultural Fund in Switzerland. www.LibbySkala.com

STEVEN MAY (Composer / Musician) has been playing music since the tender age of three, when he made his first make?shift violin out of a ruler taped to a cereal box in his native Kentucky. His background includes classical, country, Celtic, bluegrass, folk, jazz, and Brazilian music. On fiddle, he alternates between an acoustic and an electric 7?string with the range of violin, viola and cello. On the mandolin, he alternates between an acoustic and baritone electric. That versatility allows him to switch seamlessly between traditional sounds and crunchy rock and hip hop grooves. His interest in various musical traditions has led him to a variety of recording and performing projects. Credits include: Erica Sunshine Lee; Beltaine' s Fire; Steve Ferguson and Midwest Creole Ensemble; The Clearing; Three at Last; and Lisa Redfern. www.SMay.net

JANICE L. GOLDBERG (Director) was recently awarded The Kennedy Center Gold Medallion Award for her work with new plays. She has directed over 75 new works, uptown and down, across the country, from university to Off-Broadway. Recent work includes The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska, The Stop Gun Violence Now Theater Festival, Speedball at the Kennedy Center, Autumn Run (also co-author) and These Shining Lives at Adelphi University. For FringeNYC she directed That Dorothy Parker and After Anne Frank (both award winners and selected for Fringe Encores) and The Gathering Room. She directed the Off-Broadway premiere of Rose Colored Glass, which she co-authored and is published by Samuel French, Inc. For Artistic New Directions she has directed Gary Garrison & Roland Tec's The Rubber Room, Kristine Niven's Human Resources, numerous Eclectic Shorts and Go Solos! Janice is co-author of 8 plays with Susan Bigelow and directed each in Northern California, as well as Bindlestiff's Dance Hall, commissioned for the National Eco-Drama Festival & featured in American Theater Magazine. Janice is the recipient of the Pilgrim Project Grant, and a Writer/Director Residency at the Dorset Writers' Colony, VT. Her work ranges in scope from mime to musical, from contemporary farce to courtroom drama, from plays for women to plays full of testosterone. She serves as Artistic Co-Director of Artistic New Directions in New York and leads her Nail-the-Job workshops in Cold Readings and Auditions for students all over the country. www.JaniceLGoldberg.com

STEPHEN STEVO ARNOCZY (Video Design) is a freelance media designer native to New York City. He attended NYU (TSOA '04-'08) He is an associate video designer at Imaginary Media Artists and the company video designer for The Dance Cartel. Recently he's worked with: Stein|Holum Project, Fresh Ground Pepper, Ping Chong Company, Liz Lerman, Sleep No More, and Maya Ciarrocchi. His work has been seen in NYMF (New York Musical Festival), and at 3LD, Theater Row, XL Nightclub, Kent 285, The Living Theater, The Bushwick Starr, and Ars Nova. His video design for BIO-HAZARD: A Relative Comedy starring Sarah Elizabeth Greer won the 2013 United Solo Festival Award for BEST MULTIMEDIA.

THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL (FringeNYC) is one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It takes place over the course of two weeks every August, spread on more than 20 stages across several neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, notably the Lower East Side, the East Village, and Greenwich Village. Attendance in 2009 topped 75,000 people. FringeNYC will celebrate its 18th Anniversary August 8th - 24th, 2014. For more information visit www.FringeNYC.org.