Stage Version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's MAY DAY Gets NYC Reading

Project: Theater will present a private reading of May Day, by Ryan Krause, adapted from the F. Scott Fitzgerald novella of the same title. With Iliana Stein as director, May Day will offer one presentation on Monday, November 20.

At the end of World War I aimless soldiers are returning home, wealthy ivy league boys party and stumble into manhood, Socialists rub shoulders with hustlers, and New York City buzzes to the off-kilter mix of of booze and jazz. Through it all, Gordon Sterrett, just back from fighting in France, now battles to put his life back together. A beautiful mess of humanity slams together over the course of 24 hours and for this ensemble of quirky characters the world will never be the same.

The production team for May Day includes Illana Stein (director), and Project: Theater co-Artistic Directors Jessi Blue Gormezano (producer), Joe Jung (music coordinator). Cast includes Rin Allen, Claire Fort, Sean Hudock, Josh Jeffers and Titus Tompkins.

Ryan Krause (Writer) - When Ryan wrote his graduate thesis Everything is Subject to Change, he wanted to write more. Then came May Day. Primarily an actor, Ryan played Bill in Lucy in Limbo at The Knockdown Center (Onderdonk Collective.) Ralph/Frozen (Cornice Productions), Trip/Other Desert Cities (Hangar Theatre), Snug/Midsummer (Queens Players), and Gerrit/Hieronymus (LaMaMa Club). He also had understudied a few times at The Pearl, and spent a year as an acting intern at Milwaukee Rep. Ryan received his MFA from University of South Carolina's Professional Actor Training Program.

Illana Stein (Director, pictured) is a NYC-based freelance theater director. Her NYC credits include Off-Broadway: Theatre for a New Audience: Associate Director on Tamburlaine the Great directed by Michael Boyd as well as Pericles directed by Trevor Nunn; as well as assisting credits at Signature Theatre and Pearl Theatre Company. Other NY directing credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Queens Players), Stop Kiss (Sanguine Theatre Company), or what she will (FringeNYC '12, directing award), The Matthew Portraits (Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival), and readings with Hunter College, NYU Gallatin School, Youngblood Bloodworks, and New Dramatists. Regionally, she has assisting and associate credits from American Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and 3 years as assistant to the Artistic Director at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Most recently she directed the regional premiere of A Lost Leonardo by David Davalos at Amphibian Stage Productions. www.illanastein.com