The Collective NY Kicks Off 2nd Annual COLLECTIVE:10 Festival Today

The Collective NY presents the 2nd annual COLLECTIVE:10, two curated programs of new 10-minute plays. Performances begin today, October 8 at Teatro Circulo. Last year's inaugural Collective:10 performed to sold-out audiences and featured the talents of Ellen Burstyn and Elizabeth Kemp. This season's plays, selected from over 1000 blind submissions, will also be published as an anthology.

Begins October 8 at Teatro Circulo. Tickets: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=col4CC&ss=1.

The works included are:

PROGRAM A -- Weds, Oct 8 at 7pm; Fri, Oct 10 at 7pm; Sat, Oct 11 at 5pm & 9pm; Sun, Oct 12 at 5pm.

• CAFE d'AUTOMATIQUE
by Dave Hanson. Directed by Susan Aston featuring Patrick Bonck, Victoria Dicce and Robert Z Grant.
An unusual cafe is the site of an unusual first date.

• 4AM: REDMOND AND MEDA
by Stephen Hancock. Directed by Kristin Wheeler featuring Francis Benhamou and Rodrigo Lopresti.
Peer into the dark recesses of a relationship hanging on by a thread and scarred by betrayal, addiction and unmet expectations.

• KEY TO MY HEART
by Peter M. Carrozzo. Directed by Cassie Freeman featuring Margaret Champagne and Dave Hanson.
How far would you go for your relationship? Simon and Wendy are about to find out.

• NOTHING IS FREE
by Terry Milner. Directed by Rebecca Brillhart featuring John D'Ornellas and Joe McCarthy.
Hendrick and Leonard find the mundane and routine can have its benefits, until one choice changes everything.

• QUICK FIX
by Brian Leider. Directed by Booker Garrett and Kevin Kane featuring Rich Pecci and Stephen Vause.
Friendship and morality are tested when Scotty asks Robert for the ultimate favor on a cold winter's night.

• ROCKET SEX
by Bob DeRosa. Directed by Chris Beetem featuring Lisa Kicielinski and Rock Kohli
Meeting the right person is never easy. Making it last, sometimes even harder.

PROGRAM B: - Thu, Oct 9 at 7pm; Fri, Oct 10 at 9pm; Sat, Oct 11 at 7pm; Sun, Oct 12 at 3pm & 7pm.

• CASEY229
by Elin Hampton. Directed by Margaret Champagne featuring Karen Chamberlain and John Norwell.
How well do any of us really know one another? A wife on the search for some answers finds even more questions and a new found appreciation for the institution of marriage.

• AUNT SYLVIA IS DEAD
by Jenny Rachel Weiner. Directed by Robert Z Grant and JB Roté featuring Margaret Champagne, Nina Mehta, Daniel O'Shea, Sat Charn Fox, Joan Porter, JB Roté and Naomi Warner.

The family is all together. That can only mean one thing: it is the perfect time to release pent up resentments, anger, questions and general dysfunction.

• GOOD WORKING WITH HANDS
by Erin Mallon. Directed by Greg Naughton featuring Mike Houston and Chris Beetem.
Abe and John have been co-workers and friends for a long time. Now with an unsure future ahead of them, they learn more about each in other in ten minutes than in years of working together.

• SHADOW SAINT
by Mark Borkowski. Directed by Karen Chamberlain featuring Khalil Muhammad and Wendi Joy Franklin.
Rudy's got something to tell his Ma and Ma's got an earful for him. Ten minutes at the kitchen table and this family comes apart. But will they find their way back?

• UNCLE SILAS
by Sayra Player. Directed by Sayra Player featuring Booker Garrett and Kevin Kane.
Uncle Silas is visiting his sister Maureen and her new baby. This drama explores the binds of family and the demons that sometimes surface.

• WATERTOWN, MASS
by Craig McNulty. Directed by Mike Houston featuring Swann Gruen with colleague Lacy Marie Meyer.
It's April 19th, 2013 in Watertown, MA. Two strangers are hungover and forced inside together while the world is changing right outside the door.

Modeled after the Group Theatre, The Collective NY is a theatre and film production company founded in 2007 by graduates from the William Esper Studio. Founding members include Amy Schumer. The Collective NY was actively involved in developing Seasons 1, 2 and now 3 of the Emmy-nominated Inside Amy Schumer. The company has been building its ensemble and its following among the theatre community and sharpening its mission to include "access to all" for vital theatre productions. The Collective NY is a not?for?profit company and a collective of artists committed to develop and produce original work for the stage and screen. Past productions include Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness, True North by Edward Allen Baker, Clayscapes by Clay McLeod Chapman, 360 by The Collective NY, Me Equals This + Happy Girl :) by Brian Leider, Warning: May Contain Nuts by Craig McNulty and the Inaugural Collective:10 in 2013. For more information visit www.thecollective-ny.org.

The COLLECTIVE:10 is presented as part of The Collective's NO EMPTY SEATS initiative in which up to half the seats for every performance are made available on a free and pay-what-you-can basis. The 2014 Collective:10 and the Fall NES campaign has a goal of filling 1,000 seats which offers donors the ability to sponsor a play or entire performance night. The NO EMPTY SEATS program is made possible by the company's generous donors and patrons with the sole purpose of providing access to quality professional theatre for all. www.no-empty-seats.org.

COLLECTIVE:10 runs October 8-12. Performances are Wednesday & Thursday at 7pm; Friday at 7pm & 9pm; Saturday at 5pm, 7pm & 9pm; and Sunday at 3pm, 5pm & 7pm. Teatro Circulo is located at 64 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue & Bowery -- accessible form the F Train at 2nd Avenue. Tickets: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=col4CC&ss=1. General admission tickets are $20 and each ticket includes a donation to NO EMPTY SEATS. For tickets and more information cal 212-868-4444 or visit www.Collective10fest.com.