THE CRUSADE OF CONNOR STEPHENS Set for Midtown International Theater Festival

DMoss Productions, in association with The Midtown International Theater Festival, will present the world premiere of THE CRUSADE OF CONNOR STEPHENS, a new play about the events surrounding a school shooting in small-town America.

Another school shooting has occurred in the United States. The teenaged shooter, Connor Stephens, has committed suicide. The victim was Tess Williams, the adopted daughter of a gay couple. In the midst of national media attention, family members arrive to pay their respects, but the gathering turns into a meditation on religion, tolerance and the effects of violence. In this intimate family drama, religious beliefs, consequences of actions, and extreme loss shake the families to the core as they struggle to come to terms with the American tragedy at their doorstep.

Written and directed by Dewey Moss, author of the critically-acclaimed Death of the Persian Prince, THE CRUSADE OFCONNOR STEPHENS is a timely tale about resilience in the face of tragedy, led by a cast that features All My Children's James Kiberd, The Exonerated's Katherine Leask, and actor and former "Dell Dude" Ben Curtis.

"Like many in our country, I remain outraged over the amount of gun violence in our society," said Moss. "Through my research, what began to interest me was how the shooter arrives at the point of such a decision. I thought back to my own experience growing up in a Southern Baptist church in Texas, and how often I heard hateful speech directed at LGBTQ and other groups. The premise of the play became apparent: what if a person who felt that way had to deal with the consequences of the very hate they preached?"

The cast of THE CRUSADE OF CONNOR STEPHENS will feature Julie Campbell (Beautiful Thing, King Lear, Macbeth), actor and former "Dell Dude" Ben Curtis, George Faya (Death of the Persian Prince, Sesame Street), Kathleen Huber (Gigi, The Madwoman of Chaillot, An Ideal Husband), James Kiberd (Trevor Dillon on All My Children, Petruchio, Macbeth, Henry IV), Katherine Leask (The Exonerated, Bill W and Dr. Bob), Jacques Mitchell (Harlem Stories, 50 Shade of Grey, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and James Padric (Billions, Boardwalk Empire, Julius Caesar).

THE CRUSADE OF CONNOR STEPHENS will be presented in a limited engagement at The Workshop Theater Mainstage. Performances will be held on Wednesday, July 20 at 6:00pm; Friday, July 22 at 8:00pm; and Sunday, July 24 at 1:00pm.

Tickets ($18) are available by visiting http://www.midtownfestival.org or https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/960365. Group rates are also available.