The MITF Commercial Division Salon Evening a Great Success

The 15th anniversary season of the Midtown International Theatre Festival continued with the opening of the Commercial Division, Monday, March 31, 2014, at The Barrow Group's TBG Theatre with a get-together featuring excerpts from a repertory of plays and musicals whose production values are designed for Off-Broadway, a regional theatre run ... or better. Each show gave the enthusiastic audience 25 minutes of material starting with a stunning star turn by the talented Capathia Jenkins as Hattie McDaniel in Joan Ross Sorkin's Understanding Mammy. The evening presented some extremely cutting-edge works peppered with uproarious send-ups of Pop-Culture:

Vatican Falls by Frank Avella chronicles the church sex scandal as seen through the eyes of the former choir boys who lived through it.

God's Stones. Jeff Cohen's immensely powerful tome about mental illness and the world's perception of it.

Me and Caesar Lee. This new musical by Pat Holley puts a highly-charged love story in the recording studio.

Warp Speed. Trekkies beware!Clara Hoch, Eva Thorpe, Brandon Bolin, Elvis Miller, Erich Hoch, and Joe Mastrangelo have the audacity to turn one of the greatest Sci-Fi series of all time on its ass!

Burning Leaves is another story with mental illness at its core, but this one also hands us unrequited love.

The Chaos Trade. The mortage crisis that thrust America into another depression is handed to us in an ominous play that takes place on the trading room floor.

These works and more will provide extra brightness to the skyline this summer as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival's roster of great works.

Year 2014 marks Year 15 for the MITF, and John Chatterton is celebrating in a big way.

Prolific producer John Chatterton has been a fixture of the Manhattan theatre scene for two decades. The Midtown International Theatre Festival is a leader in presenting powerful works from around the world - and one of the best reasons to come to New York in the summer. Visit www.midtownFestival.org to learn about the Short Play Lab, the Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival, the founding Midtown International Theatre Festival, the new MITF Children's Theatre Festival, and the Commercial Division.

Photo by A.G. Liebowitz/WrightGroupNY