Men with History in the Justice System to Stage 5 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT at MTC

Manhattan Theatre Club's StarGate Theatre Sharon Sullivan Company will perform an original piece, 5 Minutes to Midnight, this Friday, August 18 at 7:00PM, and Saturday, August 19 at 4:00PM and 7:00PM at MTC - Stage II at New York City Center (131 W. 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues). Each performance will last approximately one hour; both Saturday performances will be followed by a talkback onstage with the performer-writers.

Saturday's 7:00PM performance will be broadcast in real time through Facebook Live. Viewers anywhere can access the performance by visiting Manhattan Theatre Club on Facebook. Reservations for those who want to attend either performance in person can be made before noon on Thursday, August 17 by going to StargateTheatre.com and clicking on "5 Minutes to Midnight Performance Information." Seating is limited.

StarGate Theatre - a project of MTC Education's Giving Voice initiative - employs young men with a history of involvement in the justice system to write, rehearse, and perform a theatrical piece that reflects their collective identity and their aspirations, ideas, and fears about themselves and the world. Company members are guided by Stargate's Co-Artistic Directors, Emmy Award winner and playwright Judy Tate and director Stephen DiMenna.

5 Minutes to Midnight is a modern retelling of a classic myth. Through original scenes, stories, and poetry written and performed by the members of StarGate Theatre's 2017 Sharon Sullivan Company, this new work explores the bonds between friends and the relationships between fathers and sons.

Manhattan Theatre Club, under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Over the past four and a half decades, MTC productions have earned numerous awards including six Pulitzer Prizes and 23 Tony Awards. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and two Off-Broadway theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street). Renowned MTC productions include Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes; August Wilson's Jitney; Cost of Living by Martyna Majok; Vietgone by Qui Nguyen; Sell/Buy/Date by Sarah Jones; Heisenberg by Simon Stephens; The Father by Florian Zeller with translation by Christopher Hampton; Fool For Love by Sam Shepard; Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein; Outside Mullingar and Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; Murder Ballad by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash; Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney; The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg; Wit by Margaret Edson; Venus in Fur by David Ives; Good People and Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire; The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez; Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies; Ruined by Lynn Nottage; Proof by David Auburn; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife by Charles Busch; Love! Valour! Compassion! by Terrence McNally; The Piano Lesson by August Wilson; Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley; and Ain't Misbehavin', the Fats Waller musical. For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

Founded in 1989, MTC's Education Program has enriched and illuminated the lives of thousands of students of all ages and will continue to grow as an integral part of Manhattan Theatre Club. Among the program's goals are deepening students' understanding of themselves and the world through the medium of theatre; helping to develop a knowledgeable, perceptive new audience for the theatre and for the arts in general; and improving the ability of classroom teachers to teach the arts and to incorporate arts education into curricula.