The New Group Off Stage Continues REUNION READING SERIES With Events Featuring Matthew Broderick, Melissa Errico & More

The New Group is continuing its Reunion Reading Series of iconic plays from the company's first 25 years with two plays by Wallace Shawn, featuring the original casts from The New Group's acclaimed productions. Each reading, broadcast live and streaming on demand, benefits The New Group and other local initiatives and organizations.

On October 28 at 7pm EST, broadcast live and subsequently streaming on demand: a benefit reading of Evening at the Talk House, featuring Matthew Broderick, Jill Eikenberry, John Epperson, Larry Pine, Wallace Shawn, Claudia Shear, Annapurna Sriram and Michael Tucker.

On October 29 at 7pm EST, broadcast live and subsequently streaming on demand: a benefit reading of Aunt Dan and Lemon, featuring Kristen Johnston as "Aunt Dan" and Lili Taylor as "Lemon," with Marsha Stephanie Blake, Thomas Bradshaw, Liam Craig, Melissa Errico, Carlos Leon, Emily Cass McDonnell, Maulik Pancholy, Stephen Park and Bill Sage, with additional casting to be confirmed.

Both readings will remain available on demand for viewing through November 29.

Each reading benefits The New Group and other local initiatives and organizations.

The Reunion Reading Series Line Producer is Leandro Zaneti.

Tickets to the online readings of two plays by Wallace Shawn, Evening at the Talk House and Aunt Dan and Lemon, are available to purchase individually at $10 for the first 100 tickets and $25 for all remaining tickets. Tickets may also be purchased together at $20 for the first 100 tickets and $45 for all remaining tickets. All tickets are on sale now at TheNewGroup.org.

Each Reunion Reading is paired with a local initiative that is working to support New Yorkers. For Evening at the Talk House, 10% of the proceeds will benefit City Harvest. For Aunt Dan and Lemon, 10% of the proceeds will benefit the Center for Constitutional Rights.

About Evening at the Talk House:

Remember when we felt we could do anything, when there was still nothing to fear? Yes, things have changed a bit, haven't they? In Wallace Shawn's Evening at the Talk House, everyone's invited to join the company of Robert (Matthew Broderick)'s under-appreciated masterpiece, Midnight in a Clearing with Moon and Stars, at a get-together to raise a toast on the 10th anniversary of its opening night. To recall that wonderful creative atmosphere, which we all miss so much, Nellie (Jill Eikenberry) will host this celebration at the old haunt, the Talk House (which, despite everything, remains open). Please come. We need each other. Directed by Scott Elliott, the U.S. premiere of Evening at the Talk House, featuring Matthew Broderick, Jill Eikenberry, John Epperson, Larry Pine, Wallace Shawn, Claudia Shear, Annapurna Sriram and Michael Tucker, took place in the company's 2016/17 season.

About Aunt Dan and Lemon:

Aunt Dan and Lemon centers on a romantic friendship between an adult and a child, which nourishes an addiction to vicarious violence. In this political horror story, Lemon looks back on her relationship with her captivating Aunt Dan, and conjures for us, in a most personal way, the terrifying allure of cruelty, and the enduring appeal of political strongmen who echo the dominating figures in our lives. The New Group's critically acclaimed production, which launched the company's 2003/4 season, was directed by Scott Elliott. The original cast included Kristen Johnston as "Aunt Dan" and Lili Taylor as "Lemon," with Marcia Stephanie Blake, Liam Craig, Isaach De Bankole, Melissa Errico, Carlos Leon, Emily Cass McDonnell, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Maulik Pancholy, Stephen Park and Bill Sage, launched the company's 2003/04 season.

Scott Elliott, Artistic Director of The New Group, shares, "This fall in our country, we are being forced to confront creeping fascism once again, and I know no better way to do that than with the work of Wally Shawn. The two plays we are reading both investigate our complicity with political violence and repression. Our original productions of them were at very politically volatile moments (in 2003 and early 2017), and Wally's incisive articulation of the dangers shocked and thrilled their audiences. I feel the need to hear them again, and I hope and believe, with these brilliant casts, that their capacity of burning past our willful blindness remains as powerful as ever."