New York Madness Play Development Series to Kick Off Next Month at The Kraine Theater

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade will present a new monthly play development series, New York Madness on the last Sunday of every month, beginning Sunday, September 25 at 8pm at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). Tickets ($10) may be purchased in advance at www.horseTRADE.info.

New York Madness is a raw and unpredictable show of short plays by an ensemble of playwrights presented fully staged with scripts in hand. They write a short play and cast it, rehearse it, and bring it in on its feet. The collected works create a kaleidoscope of cultural moments reflecting this moment in time, framed by a theme that is chosen by the Featured Guest Playwright. The primary goal of Madness is the exploration of modern American Playwriting through the use of theatrical storytelling.

NYMadness will launch their seventh season on Sunday, September 25 at 8pm with Featured Guest Playwright Steven Fechter (The Woodsman) along with playwrights Cecilia Copeland ("R Culture"), Lia Romeo (BABY BOOM, Project Y), Lisa Huberman, Mel Nieves (LAByirnth Theatre Company), Kimberly Kalaja, Josh Young, Edmond Malin, and Judith Leora.

This season will also feature Guest Playwrights Mac Rogers (The Honeycomb Trilogy) and Adam Szymkowicz (Clown Bar), with more TBA. For the first time NYMadness will be also be partnering with theatre companies, including the Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival, Theatre 167 and the Obie Award-winning Mentor Project, to present playwrights from their artistic communities, curated in Partnership by Artistic Directors Cecilia Copeland (NYMadness), Kevin R Free (Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival), Jenny Lyn Bader (Café Cino Award, Theatre 167), Ari Laura Kreith (Café Cino Award, Lucille Lortel Award, LPTW, Theatre 167), and Angelina Fiordellsi (Tony Award, Obie Award Mentor Project).

NYMadness also welcomes their newest company members: Amina Henry, Josh Young, Lindsay Joy, Mariah MacCarthy, Nat Cassidy, Julie Kramer, Lizzy Bryce, Lucia Bellini, Melissa Skirboll, Hye Yun Park, Laura Hooper, Michael Grew, Morgan Zipf Meister, Perri Yaniv, Shayna Small, Stephen Dexter, Talym Jinn, Nico Grelli, and Vanessa Kai.

FRIGID NEW YORK is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.