NYMF's MANUEL VS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY Gets Extension

Mannyville LLC, Dramatic Question Theatre and the New York Musical Theatre Festival are proud to announce the extension of the musical Manuel versus The Statue of Liberty which will begin performances this Tuesday, July 21. The additional performance will be added on Friday, July 24 at 1PM at The Alice Griffin Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street). Tickets are $27.50 and are available by visiting nymf.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

Winner of the 2014 NYMF Developmental Reading Series, this Latin infused American musical is inspired by the true story of a Princeton Undergrad who was an undocumented child immigrant from the Dominican Republic. When Manuel gets a scholarship to study at Oxford, he's faced with the realization that he can't leave the USA. He takes on The Statue of Liberty in the fight of a lifetime; the high-stakes boxing match that is immigration today. Is Manuel worthy? No one is spared in this political comedy that pulls no punches about immigration reform and the American Dream.

Manuel versus The Statue of Liberty has a book by Noemi de la Puente, music by David Davila Lyrics by Noemi de la Puente & David Davila with direction by José Zayas, choreography by Sidney Erik Wright and musical direction by Karl Hedrick. Its cast includes Gil Perez - Abraham (Little Fish) as Manuel and Shakina Nayfack (2015 Lilly Award, One Woman Show) as The Statue of Liberty joining, AJ Meijer (Heathers The Musical), Alicia Taylor Tomasko (In The Heights), Anthony Chan (National Tour: Anything Goes), Erika Gonzalez (Shot in the Dark), Michael Marotta (Regional: Tenderly), and Tami Dahbura (National Tour: Memphis). Creative team includes: Zach Blane (Lighting Design), David Margolis Lawson (Sound Design), Jason Simms (Set Design), Lux Haac (Costume Design).

The Alice Griffin Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center Is located at 480 West 42nd Street

Performance schedule: Tuesday, July 21 at 8pm; Wednesday, July 22 at 5pm; Friday, July 24 at 1PM; Saturday, July 25 at 5pm; Sunday, July 26 at 8pm; Monday, July 27 at 12PM

Running Time: 95 min no intermission

Who's Who:

NOEMI DE LA PUENTE (Book and Lyrics) plays include Generic Hispanic (finalist MultiStages New Works contest 2012, produced at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre (PRTT) as part of the InSight Series 2008), Manuel vs. the Statue of Liberty (winner - 2014 NYMF Developmental Reading Series Award, Official 2015 NYMF Next Link Project), The Revenge of Suicide Jack (in development at the Dramatic Question Theatre), Lightning Strikes Twice (10 min. musical produced in English at the Huron Club, Soho Playhouse, and in Spanish at the Microteatro, Caracas Venezuela). Noemi was a member of the Professional Playwrights Unit at PRTT, 2004 - 2012. Her Solo show Fountain of Youth was developed and produced through the Carolinian Shakespeare Festival, the PRTT, and was a Dramatic Question Theatre (DQT) production at Theatre 3 in 2013. She is founding member of DQT, a collective of playwrights that develop multicultural works, and challenge the traditional race/gender barrier of professional playwriting as practiced in America today. Noemi received her MFA in Theatre Arts from the University of Iowa (Patricia Roberts Harris Scholarship), MSE Princeton University, and BSE Caltech. Noemi is a member of the Dramatists Guild and League of Professional Theatre Women.

DAVID DAVILA (Music and Lyrics) is a playwright/songwriter from South Texas who has performed in theaters all over Texas and New York City. He is the founder and artistic director of Lone Star Theatre Company, dedicated to promoting works by Texas playwrights and musicians, and the managing editor of crazytownblog.com. As a playwright he's been working for years on a series of plays about life along the Texas/Mexico border including Men Of God, Adan Y Julio, Wine & The Way We Embrace, Credo, Aztec Pirates & The Insignificance Of Life On Mars, and Animal Husbandry. As a song-writer Davila partook in a massive song-writing project called #52SONGS where he wrote one song a week for an entire year and blogged about the journey which led to four sold-out concerts at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, the Triad, the Underground, and The West End Lounge. His latest musical, VOX POP was seen in concert at 54 Below and received a 4x15 workshop at Musical Theatre Factory. Other works include F*cking Beautiful with Sean Havrilla, Occupy: The Musical(with nine other collaborators), Corner Girl with Tara Fike, and the song cycle Tales From Highway 281 was presented at Intar Theatre. He studied vocal performance and theatre at the University of North Texas and arts administration at the University of Texas San Antonio. He is a proud member of the Musical Theatre Factory and a Primary Stages Rockwell Scholar.

JOSE ZAYAS (Director) was born in Puerto Rico and graduated from Harvard and Carnegie Mellon Universities. He has directed over 70 productions in New York, Regionally and Internationally. Recent credits include: The House of the Spirits adapted by Caridad Svich at Repertorio Español (Several ACE and HOLA Awards, including Best Production and Director), Denver Theatre Center (5 Ovation Awards, including Best Direction), Gala Theatre in DC, Teatro Espressivo in Costa Rica and Teatro Mori in Chile; La Nena Se Casa, Love in the Time of Cholera, In the Time of the Butterflies, Madre, el drama padre, Besame Mucho, Nowhere on the Border, and Letters to a Mother (Repertorio Español); Southern Promises and Strom Thurmond is not a Racist by Thomas Bradshaw, Pinkolandia by Andrea Thome (INTAR and Two Rivers Theatre), Father of Lies and Vengeance Can Wait (PS122); Ps Jones and the Frozen City by Rob Askins and Feeder: A Love Story by James Carter (TerraNOVA Collective); Okay by Taylor Mac and Mrs Jones and the Man From Dixeland by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik (EST) and work at at MTC, American Repertory Theater, Moscow Art Theatre, INTAR, Target Margin, Cherry Lane, Urban Stages, Virginia Stage Company, Bristol Riverside Theatre, Dixon Place, HERE, 59e59, the Flea Theater, the Ohio and the New Ohio Theatre, The Chocolate Factory, The Brick, The Bushwick Starr, LaMama, Mixed Blood and many others. He was assistant director for Talk Radio directed by Robert Falls; k directed by Christopher Ashley; and Come Back Little Sheba directed by Michael Pressman. In 2007 he was selected as one of nytheater.com's People of the Year. He is also a Drama League Fellow and an alumnus of Lincoln Center's Director's Lab and Soho Rep Writer/Director's Lab and has received numerous fellowships including the Phil Killian, Kenneth Frankel, John Pasquin, a Van Lier and a Rockefeller Brothers Fund grant. He is a participant of the 2009-2011 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors and is a liftetime member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre. He is a multiple HOLA, ACE, Premios ATI and Ovation award winner.

SIDNEY ERIK WRIGHT (Choreographer) recent projects include Mariah MacCarthy's She Claws Her Way Out at the EST Marathon, choreolab for Junk: A Rock Opera at Musical Theatre Factory, and Broadway Bares 25: Top Bottoms of Burlesque. Music videos, a fashion week runway show, and new work with the West Village Musical Theater Festival, MITF, Planet Connections, TinyRhino, Rule of 7x7, Dirty Blondes, The Survivalists, Gallery Players, The Brick, and Ars Nova. Regional choreography credits include Shrek at the Stephen Sondheim Center, Camelot at the John W. Engeman Theater, and dir/choreo of Hair at Woodstock. SDC Observer-Ghost Brothers of Darkland County. www.sidneyerik.com

KARL HEDRICK (Musical Director) a recent transplant to New York City from San Antonio, where he was resident music director at The Vexler Theater, staff pianist at Texas State University, and music director at Covenant Presbyterian Church. At home in both worlds of musical theater and opera, he has served as music director, pianist, conductor, and composer for numerous productions. Some of his favorite shows have been The Fantastics, My Fair Lady, Rent, La Boheme, Rigoletto, and Assassins.

NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theatre.

Now in its twelfth year, the Festival is the largest musical theatre event in America. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theatre fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 20 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. For more information, please visit: www.nymf.org