Sheen Center to Host Festival for Catholic Playwrights This July

The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Thought & Culture announced today the Sheen Center Theater Festival: Readings of New Short Plays by Catholic Playwrights, an event designed to showcase the voices and skills of a new generation of writers. The festival will take place in the Black Box at The Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY, on July 8 and 9, 2017.

The mission of the inaugural Sheen Center Theater Festival is to share the work of these emerging artists with the wider industry and theater audience. Plays and playwrights selected to participate in this first-ever playwriting festival are The Lepers by Daniel Damiano; Miss Ruby by Kelley Nicole Girod; Amends by Joe Hoover; The Shooter by Kimberly Kalaja; The Drill by Laura Pittenger; and More Human by Emily C.A. Snyder.

The works will be directed by Kathy Gail MacGowan (Kentucky Cantata, The Dishonorable Discharge of Private Pitts) and produced for The Sheen Center by Kelley Nicole Girod (Obie Award winning producer of The Fire This Time Festival). The ensemble cast scheduled to appear is Tandy Cronyn ("The Guiding Light"), Michael Markham, Lucy McMichael, and Celestine Rae.

"The voices of Catholic playwrights need to be heard, particularly those who are passionate about exploring and grappling with 'the true, the good, and the beautiful,' which are at the core of our mission," said William Spencer Reilly, Executive Director of The Sheen Center. "We are proud to give these six playwrights a platform to display their talents. You may be hearing work by the next John Patrick Shanley or Brian Friel during this event."

All six plays will be presented on the same bill on Saturday, July 8th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 9th at 2:00 p.m. in the Black Box Theater. Running time for the entire program is 90 minutes. The Sunday performance will be followed by an hour-long playwrights' panel at 3:30 p.m. with a tea and biscuits reception.

Admission is free, RSVPs are required. Visit www.sheencenter.org/shows/festival.

The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Thought & Culture is a forum to showcase works highlighting the true, the good, and the beautiful. Located downtown on historic Bleecker Street, the Sheen Center is a vibrant new arts organization that focuses on theater, music, film, and talk. A project of the Archdiocese of New York, the state-of-the-art complex encompasses the 270-seat Loreto Theatre, equipped with five-camera high-definition livestream capability and a multi-track recording studio; the 80-seat Black Box Theatre; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery. It was named after the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best known for his popular, inspirational radio and TV ministry in the 1950s and 60s. Visit www.sheencenter.org for more.