Stella Adler Studio of Acting Sets Reading of CHURCH & STATE

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting has announced a special one-night reading of the fast-paced dramedy "Church & State," a widely lauded play by Jason Odell Williams that seeks to explore the fraught dialogue about the nation's gun violence epidemic. The reading is a program of the Harold Clurman Lab Theater, the studio's professional wing which focuses on accessible world-class theater.

The reading will take place Monday, October 28 at 7:00 pm at the Stella Adler Studio's new home at 65 Broadway, the American Express Building. Tickets are $20 and proceeds will be donated to March for Our Lives.

Carolyn McCormick of "Law and Order," "The Post" and "Whatever Works" will headline the reading along with Byron Jennings of "Lincoln," "The Greatest Showman" and "Julie & Julia." The actors, who are married, previously starred together in the bio-play 'Ten Chimneys' about the famous Broadway stage actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.

J. Steven White will direct. In addition to McCormick and Jennings, the cast includes Maureen Megibow, Welland Scripps, Luis-Daniel Morales, Caitlyn McCain and Ayse Babahan.

"'Church and State' is a comedy that addresses the second amendment crisis we as Americans find ourselves in," said Tom Oppenheim, Artistic Director at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. "This play achieves what Harold Clurman described when he said, 'The truth is like castor oil. It is bitter to swallow and people don't want it. So you make them laugh, and when their mouths are open you pour it in.'"

The Studio will donate ticket proceeds to March for Our Lives, the organization founded after the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

"Church & State" tells the story of the re-election campaign of fictional Senator Charles Whitmore. After a school shooting, the senator speaks his mind about first amendment rights and gun control. As his team goes into crisis response mode, and the senator flies further off the handle, will he lose the support of his conservative base or is his he finally talking sense to both sides of the aisle? "Church & State" is a "dramedy" about faith, politics and "The Twitter."