Rebecca Luker, Alysha Umphress & More Set for York's Developmental Reading of AFTERLAND

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Interim Executive Director) and its acclaimed NEO Developmental Reading Series presents the new musical Afterland, with music and lyrics by Benjamin Velezand book and lyrics by Kathryn Hathaway for one performance only, Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's (619 Lexington Avenue, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue). The readings are open to the public with a suggested donation of $5.00.

Directed by Drama Desk Award-winner Mark Brokaw (Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella), the cast features Christy Altomare (Mamma Mia!),Alex Boniello (Spring Awakening), Daniel Jenkins (Big,), Rebecca Luker (The Music Man), Jacob Ming-Trent (Hands on a Hardbody), Alexandra Socha (Death Takes a Holiday), Alysha Umphress (On the Town), and Donald Webber, Jr. (Holler If Ya Hear Me).

A moving story of renewal and regeneration, Afterland takes place in a post-apocalyptic world and follows two eccentric wayward tribes as they stake out their territory and attempt to create a new civilization and world order where none exists. A work in progress, Afterland is part of York Theatre Company's NEO (New, Emerging, Outstanding) Series, which celebrates up and coming musical theatre writers.

Benjamin Velez is a graduate of Columbia University where he studied film and wrote music and lyrics for the 114th Annual Varsity Show. He is a composer/lyricist in the Advanced BMI workshop where he was named the Jerry Harrington award winner in 2012. His work has been featured at NYMF, the NEO concert series, the Cutting Edge Composers series, the Yale Institute for Music Theater and most recently as part of the 4@15 series at the NYU Steinhardt School. He is currently collaborating with John Leguizamo and David Kamp on the original musical Pain in the Aztec.

Kathryn Hathaway is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Her plays and musicals have been performed and developed at Ars Nova, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, the Flea Theater, New Dramatists, the Bushwick Starr, Dixon Place, the Prelude Festival, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Joe's Pub, the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, and the Yale Institute for Music Theater. She is a MacDowell Colony fellow and an alumna of Barnard College and received her MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College.

Reservations can be made by visiting the website at www.yorktheatre.org