Riley Thomas Returns to NYMF with WEARING BLACK Tonight

THE NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL and DARK PROPHETS PRODUCTION LLC are pleased to announce the world premiere production of Wearing Black, winner Best Original Score at FRIGID New York, with book, music and lyrics by Riley Thomas (writer/composer of the sold out award-winning NYMF show STUCK, now a feature film starring Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Madigan and Ashanti.), music direction by Ben Caplan and directed by J. Scott Lapp (Broadway's Bonnie & Clyde; National Tours Murder for Two, Xanadu; Old Globe; La Jolla Playhouse; The Barn Stage Company).

Wearing Black will play a limited engagement at Theater 3 (311 West 43rd Street, 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10036). Performances are tonight, July 9th @ 8:00 pm, Friday, July 10th @ 9:00 pm, Saturday, July 11th @ 1:00 pm, Monday, July 13th @ 5:00 pm, and Wednesday, July 15th @ 1:00 pm. Tickets are $27.50 and are available at nymf.org, by calling 212-352-3101, or by visiting the Signature Theatre Box Office (from Midday until the last performance commences).

When his twin brother Charlie kills himself in a drug related accident, all Evan wants to do is forget their complicated relationship and move on, but the tangled relationships Charlie left behind keep Evan from truly letting go. As he slips into a spiral of self-destruction, Evan must make a stark decision: either accept and forgive his dead twin brother, or become him. Winner Best Original Score at FRIGID New York.

With Mark Coffin* (Transport - Irish Rep), Alexis Field, BJ Gruber* (Off-Bway: That Bachelorette Show, Awesome 80s Prom, My Big Gay Italian Wedding, My Big Gay Italian Funeral, Sex Tips for Straight Women; 50 Shades - The Musical! Tour), Devin Ilaw* (Les Miserables National Tour; Carousel - Playwrights Horizons, Dir. Baayork Lee; The King and I - Dallas Summer Musicals), Erin Maya (The Donkey Show - Boston Original Cast; Zapata! The Musical - NYMF 2012), Hayley Anna Norris, and Kevin Schuering* (Carousel - Playwrights Horizons, Dir Baayork Lee; Requiem for a Lost Girl - NYMF 2012).

Featuring set and lighting design by David Goldstein and fight choreography by Andrew Kenneth Moss. The general manager is Colleen Slattery, and the technical director is Danny Morales. Production stage management by Sophie Quist*, and Madison Decoske* is the assistant stage manager. Casting by Chad Murnane, and press representation by Kampfire PR.

Tickets are $27.50 and are available at nymf.org, by calling 212-352-3101, or by visiting the Signature Theatre Box Office (from Midday until the last performance commences). For more about the production, go to www.nymf.org/wearingblack. Theater 3 is located at 311 West 43rd Street, 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10036. *Appearing Courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

BIOGRAPHIES:

RILEY THOMAS (Book, Music and Lyrics) is a New York based playwright/composer, winner of the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Grant and Johnny Mercer Songwriter's Certificate. His first musical Stuck was the recipient of four accolades at the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF): the Theatre for the American Musical Prize, the Daegu International Musical Festival Production Award, and Honorable Mentions for Best Book and Best Music. It has since gone on to be produced as a full length Hollywood feature film starring Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Madigan and Ashanti. His upcoming new musical Wearing Black, which will also play with NYMF in 2015, was the winner of the Best Original Score award when it debuted in 2013 with the FRIGID Festival New York.

J. SCOTT LAPP (Director) has been working in the theatre business for over 27 years performing in over 100 shows in and around San Diego County. In 2000, he toured with Billy Graham's The Puzzle performing throughout Poland and has been seen in The Crew at Sea World and Paramount's Great America and King's Island in Ohio. He is an alumnus of the 2009 Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab West, a proud member of the SDC and a 2011 SDC Emerging Artist. He is also the Artistic Director of The Barn Stage Company. Recent projects include working with Disney Theatricals and Paper Mill Playhouse on the World Premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also directed a New York reading of a new musical called, Zapata! The Musical starring Natalie Toro & Marco Zunino. He is also currently heading up the National Tour of Murder for Two, which is currently playing at The Laguna Playhouse in California. After which it will head to The Geffen Theater in Los Angeles. Upcoming he will be directing a New York reading of The Untitled John Mayer Project, and working with Scott Schwartz on a New York reading of Secondhand Lions! As part of the Summer Series, he will be directing Urinetown and remounting last Summer's blockbuster hit Spring Awakening at The Barn Stage Company this Summer.

Associate/Assistant Directing credits include Broadway: Bonnie & Clyde; National Tour: Murder for Tour, Xanadu (La Jolla Playhouse, National Tour); Off-Broadway: Murder For Two (New World Stages, Second Stage); Regional: Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Paper Mill Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse), Into the Woods (Old Globe), Secondhand Lions (5th Ave), Somewhere in Time (PCS), Good People (Old Globe), A Room With A View (Old Globe), Somewhere (Old Globe), Bonnie & Clyde (NY Workshop, La Jolla Playhouse, Asolo Repertory), Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin (La Jolla Playhouse), and workshops of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Somewhere in Time, The John Birch Society Musical, Secondhand Lions, Leap of Faith, A Room With A View, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, The Weathermen and Restoration. Selected directing credits include Zapata! The Musical, Murder for Two (Pittsburgh), The Untitled John Mayer Project (World Premiere), Spring, Awakening, The Temporary Man, Traditions of Christmas, Footloose, Sondheim Unplugged, Peter Pan - A New Musical, LES MISERABLES: Unplugged, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, 13, Fiddler on the Roof, RENT, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Alice (Chicago Premiere), Oliver, A Christmas Carol,Beauty and the Beast,Godspell, Once upon a Mattress and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He is a recipient of Noel Craig, PAMTA, Inland Theatre League, Patté, National Youth Theatre, Billy & Director's Choice awards.

The 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 premier musical theatre event in the world. 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 2015 is sponsored by Fuzzrocket, PRG, TheaterMania, Clear Channel Spectacolor, and The Village Voice, and 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.

The NYMF PASS is a great way to experience The New York Musical Theatre Festival. With a NYMF PASS, you can get into the theater before individual ticket holders. Passes also offer the exclusive ability to book tickets before they go on sale to the public. NYMF Passholder ticket booking begins June 1. Individual tickets go on sale June 15.

The 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival will take place July 7-27. For more information, visit: www.nymf.org.