Powerhouse Theater Announces Conlee, Emmerich & More For Readings Festival 2

Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater is pleased to announce the casts of the six final readings for the 2010 season, including new works by Eve Ensler, Romulus Linney & Eleanor Cooney, Steven Sater & Duncan Sheik, Kate Walbert, Patricia Wettig, and Jennifer Westfeldt (screenplay), as well as a special workshop based on Walton Jones' 1940's RADIO HOUR, directed by Mark Linn-Baker.

Among those who will appear at Powerhouse during the readings are: John Ellison Conlee (The Constant Wife, The Full Monty/Tony nomination, Bonfire Night/Powerhouse 2010), Noah Emmerich (Fault Lines, Beautiful Girls), Lecy Goranson (Roseanne), Jon Hamm (USA's Mad Men), Neil Huff (Take Me Out) Keira Keeley (The Glass Menagerie/2010 Theatre World Award), Patricia Kalember (Losing Louie, The Nerd, NBC's Law & Order: SVU, ABC's thirtysomething), Megan McGinnis (Les Miserables, Little Women, Beauty and the Beast) Deirdre O'Connell (Whisper House/Powerhouse 2009, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Front Page), Ken Olin (ABC's Brothers and Sisters, thirtysomething), Drama Desk winner Heidi Schreck (Circle Mirror Transformation), and Tony winner Jennifer Westfeldt (Wonderful Town, Ira & Abby, Kissing Jessica Stein).

All the readings and the workshop are free, however seating is very limited. Advance reservations are required. Beginning July 23 - 25 reservations are available for Powerhouse subscribers only; reservations open to the general public on July 27. Call (845) 437-5599 or visit the box office on the Vassar campus.

Continuing through August 1 on the Powerhouse Theater mainstage is the world premiere performance of PIRATE written and directed by Pulitzer, Tony, and Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley, featuring Bill Camp (Coram Boy, Heartbreak House, Revolutionary Road), Ivan Hernandez (Yank!, Romantic Poetry, Most Happy Fella), Charlotte Parry (Equivocation, Coram Boy, The Real Thing), and Michael Puzzo (Killing Women, Khartoum, Dirty Story, In Arabia We'd All be Kings). A workshop of Zach Helm's INTERVIEWING THE AUDIENCE will be featured July 23-25. Please note that all four concert readings of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (July 29 - August 1) are now sold out.

For further information, call the box office at (845) 437-7235 or (845) 437-5599, see the website http://powerhouse.vassar.edu, friend Powerhouse on Facebook®, or follow Powerhouse on Twitter®.

Readings Festival 2 / in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater
Free to the public with advance reservations required as seating is very limited. Reservations beginning July 23 - 25 are available for Powerhouse subscribers only; reservations open to the general public on July 27. Visit or call the box office at (845) 437-5599.

Thursday, July 29, at 8:00pm
I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE: the secret life of girls around the world
By Eve Ensler
Co-directed by Josie Rourke and Rosario Dawson
Featuring Vikki Eugenis, Ashley Fisher, Chloe Goutal, Molly Houlahan, Olivia Oguma, Tanya Tawengwa, Kennebrew Taylor, Angelic Zambrana.

Friday, July 30, at 8:00pm
F TO M
By Patricia Wettig
Directed by Maria Mileaf
Featuring Keira Keeley (The Glass Menagerie/2010 Theatre World Award), Halley Wegryn Gross (NBC's The Book of Daniel), Kate Bornstein (Play in the Gray), Ken Olin (ABC's Brothers and Sisters, thirtysomething), and Deirdre O'Connell (Whisper House/Powerhouse 2009, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Front Page).

Saturday, July 31, at 2:00pm
A SHORT HISTORY OF WOMEN
By Kate Walbert
Directed by Judith Ivey
Featuring Rachel Black (Bullets over Broadway), Patricia Kalember (Losing Louie, NBC's Law & Order: SVU, ABC's thirtysomething), Peter McRobbie (The Invention of Love), Pamela Payton-Wright (Orphans Home Cycle, ABC's One Life to Live), Heidi Schreck (Circle Mirror Transformation/2010 Drama Desk and Theater World awards), Robert Stanton (The Coast of Utopia, Love Child/Powerhouse 2006), and Monica West.

Saturday, July 31, at 5:00pm
OVER MARTINIS, DRIVING SOMEWHERE
By Romulus Linney & Eleanor Cooney
From Death in Slow Motion by Eleanor Cooney and a Memoir by Romulus Linney
Directed by Michael Wilson
Featuring Shannon Burkett (Book of Days), James Demarse (Orphans Home Cycle, Dividing the Estate), Lecy Goranson (Roseanne), Neil Huff (Take Me Out), and Kathryn Meisle (The Constant Wife).

Sunday, August 1, at 2:00pm
FRIENDS WITH KIDS
By Jennifer Westfeldt (screenplay)
Featuring Rebecca Creskoff (Losing Louie, USA's Hung), Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married, Showtime's United States of Tara), Noah Emmerich (Fault Lines, Beautiful Girls), Jon Hamm (AMC's Mad Men), Adam Scott (The Aviator, USA's Party Down), and Jennifer Westfeldt (Wonderful Town/Tony Award, Ira & Abby, Kissing Jessica Stein, Finks/Powerhouse 2008).

Sunday, August 2, at 5:00pm
UMBRAGE
Book and lyrics by Steven Sater
Music by Duncan Sheik
Directed by Peter Askin
Featuring Monika Oliveira; other cast members to be announced.

Workshop Presentation / in the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film
Free to the public with advance reservations required as seating is very limited. Reservations beginning July 23 - 25 are available for Powerhouse subscribers only; reservations open to the general public on July 27. Visit or call the box office at (845) 437-5599.

Saturday, July 31, at 8:00pm
1940's RADIO HOUR
By Walton Jones
Directed by Mark Linn-Baker
Music direction by Andrew Gerle

A workshop presentation of a collaboration between the apprentice and professional companies based on Walton Jones' 1940s RADIO HOUR. Filled to the brim with favorite period songs, this version whisks audiences behind the scenes of a live Hudson Valley radio broadcast at Christmas-time in 1942.

The workshop is directed by Mark Linn-Baker (Romantic Poetry, Losing Louie, A Year with Frog and Toad, Chesapeake/Drama Desk nominee 2000), co-founder and producing director of New York Stage and Film. The cast features: John Ellison Conlee (The Constant Wife, The Full Monty/Tony nomination, Bonfire Night/Powerhouse 2010), Constantine Germanacos (Wiener & Wiener), Joe Grifasi (Drama Desk nominee: 1940's Radio Hour, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Boys Next Door, director Slight Hitch/Powerhouse 2009), Megan McGinnis (Les Miserables, Little Women, Beauty and the Beast), Jessi Trauth, Shona Tucker (Well, The African Company Presents..., From the Mississippi Delta), and Josh Wynn.

In addition, all the actors of the Powerhouse Apprentice Company are included in the workshop: Christopher Adams-Cohen, Frankie Allegra, Richard Bastuck, Daniel Belford, Marissa Bergman, Maureen Boman, Katherine Burns, Ross Carmichael, Mara Dale, Genevieve Fowler, Juliet Garrett, Talia Heller, Margaux LeBlanc, Emily Kaplan, Rachel Katz, Diane Machin, Victoria McNaughton, Elisabeth Mitchell, Jonathan Patterson, Francesca Placidi, Clare Redden, Leslie Roth, Bria Schultz, Laura Schramm, Rachel Sedwick, Brian Shaffer, Alexa Smith, GracieRae Smith-Gallegos, Rashaad Spence, Kate Wachsman, and Michael Wachowiak.

The Powerhouse Theater season through August 1, 2010
Powerhouse Theater, now beginning its 26th season, continues its mission to offer a haven for world-class artists to gather and explore new material in an atmosphere that is both protected and challenging. Each season Powerhouse offers its audience debuts by Pulitzer, Oscar, and Tony-winning writers, directors, and actors, and introduces its patrons to exciting emerging artists, all at affordable ticket prices.

The 2010 season includes fully produced and designed productions on the Powerhouse Mainstage:

WE ARE HERE (June 29 - July 11) by Tracy Thorne, directed by Tony nominee Sheryl Kaller (Next Fall), featuring Uzo Aduba (Coram Boy), Tony nominee De'Adre Aziza (Passing Strange), Tony winner Adriane Lenox (Doubt, Chicago, Caroline, or Change), Larry Pine (The Seagull, End of the World, Roy Cohn in Angels in America), Adam Rothenberg (The Retributionists, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea), and Michael Cummings (Joe Turner's Come and Gone).

PIRATE (July 21 - August 1) written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, featuring Bill Camp (Coram Boy, Heartbreak House, Revolutionary Road), Ivan Hernandez (Yank!, Romantic Poetry, Most Happy Fella), Charlotte Parry (Equivocation, Coram Boy, The Real Thing), and Michael Puzzo (Killing Women, Khartoum, Dirty Story, In Arabia We'd All be Kings).

Martel Musicals:

BONFIRE NIGHT (July 16 - 18) with book, music, and lyrics by Justin Levine, directed by Obie winner Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), and with musical supervision by Kimberly Grigsby, features Santino Fontana (Billy Elliot, Sunday in the Park with George) and Tony Award nominee John Ellison Conlee (The Constant Wife, The Full Monty).

ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (July 29 - August 1) lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Burton Lane, with new book by Peter Parnell, based on the original book by Alan Jay Lerner, musical direction and arrangements by Lawrence Yurman, choreography by JoAnn Hunter, re-conceived and directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer, featuring Tony nominee Brian d'Arcy James (Time Stands Still, Next To Normal, Shrek The Musical) and Tony winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, or Change; Dreamgirls).

Inside Look series of workshops:

SAM BENDRIX AT THE BON SOIR (July 1 - 3) by Keith Bunin, directed Mark Rucker, featuring Luke MacFarlane (ABC's Brothers and Sisters).

A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE (July 9 - 11) by Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Pippin Parker, featuring Cassie Beck (The Norman Conquests), Brooke Bloom, Darren Goldstein (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Oohrah!), and Donnetta Lavinia Grays (In the Next Room or the vibrator play, Well).

Maria Cassi in MY LIFE WITH MEN - AND OTHER ANIMALS (July 16 - 18) with Jamie Edwards on the piano, by Maria Cassi & Patrick Pacheco, directed by Peter Schneider.

INTERVIEWING THE AUDIENCE (July 23 - 25) by Zach Helm, featuring Zach Helm and Powerhouse audience members.

The Readings Festival 2 (July 29 - August 1) will include new works by Eve Ensler, Romulus Linney & Eleanor Cooney, Steven Sater & Duncan Sheik, Kate Walbert, Patricia Wettig, and Jennifer Westfeldt (screenplay).

Individual tickets ($35 for "Mainstage"; $30 for "Martel Musicals"; $20 for the "Inside Look" series) are available online at http://powerhouse.vassar.edu and in person or by phone at the Powerhouse box office: (845) 437-7235 or (845) 437-5599.

This year, continuing its mission of presenting artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances, Powerhouse Theater will offer a $5 student rush ticket for students of up to 25 years of age [as available 15 minutes before curtain].

Additional details for the creative teams and casting will be announced throughout the season. For further information, see the website http://powerhouse.vassar.edu, friend Powerhouse on Facebook®, or follow Powerhouse on Twitter®.

About Powerhouse Theater
Powerhouse Theater, now entering its 26th season, is the result of a unique collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College. The program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus during which more than 200 professional artists and some 40 apprentices live and work together to create new theater works. Powerhouse steadfastly supports both emerging and established artists.

The annual residency has included such writers as John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley, Henry Kreiger, Warren Leight, Christopher Durang, Richard Greenberg, Stephen Belber, Eric Bogosian, Steve Martin, Dael Orlandersmith, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater; directors Mark Brokaw, Joe Mantello, Lisa Peterson, Roger Rees, Liz Swados, David Warren, and Michael Wilson; and actors Chris Cooper, Dana Delany, Olympia Dukakis, Edie Falco, Peter Gallagher, Joel Grey, Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Johnston, Lucy Liu, Julianna Margulies, Rob Morrow, Frances McDormand, Josh Radnor, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Kyra Sedgwick, Fisher Stevens, David Strathairn, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Westfeldt, among many others.

Since its inception in 1985, Powerhouse has played a significant role in the development of hundreds of new plays, provided a home for a diverse group of artists free from critical and commercial pressures, and established itself as a vital cultural institution for the Hudson Valley, the New York metropolitan area, and the surrounding region.

About New York Stage and Film
Founded in 1985 by Producing Directors Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer and Leslie Urdang, and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer and Managing Director Nicki Genovese, New York Stage and Film (SAF) is a not-for-profit company dedicated to the development and production of new works for theater and film. SAF has developed and produced premiere works by such writers as John Patrick Shanley, Jon Robin Baitz, Steve Martin, Theresa Rebeck and Eve Ensler (www.newyorkstageandfilm.org).

About the Powerhouse Theater Apprentice Training Program
This year, around 40 student apprentices from across the U.S. and abroad will participate and form the 2010 Powerhouse Apprentice company. These young artists - current students, recent graduates, and future theater professionals - are provided with a distinctive opportunity to create their own new work as well as work on the development of theater and musical productions headed for Broadway and top-ranked theaters nations-wide. The educational experience is not replicated anywhere else in the country. Some of the program alumnae/i include Erin Buckley, Edward Cheetham, Katherine Kovner, Melissa Errico, Amy Fox, Catherine Kellner, Kate MacCluggage, Josh Radnor, Jordan Roth, Leah Ryan, Alexandra Tolk, and Jonathan Togo.

About Vassar College
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861. Consistently ranked as one of the country's best liberal arts colleges, Vassar is renowned for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the natural and architectural beauty of its campus. More than 50 academic departments and degree programs - from Anthropology to Cognitive Sciences to Urban Studies - encompass the arts, foreign languages, natural sciences, and social sciences, and combine to offer a curriculum of more than 1,000 courses.

Vassar College is sited in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie, NY. Go to http://www.vassar.edu/directions for directions to the Vassar campus.

Note: All programs and artists are subject to change.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy