Theater for the New City to Present ISLAND GIRLS, 1/9-26

Island Girls, written by Barbara Kahn and Noelle LuSane, music by Noelle LuSane, directed by Robert Gonzales Jr. and Barbara Kahn, is set in the Women's Workhouse and Prison on Welfare Island in 1927. Musical direction and choreography by Robert Gonzales Jr. Set and Lighting Design by Mark Marcante. Costume Design by Carla Gant. Featuring Gregory Dann, Pamela Stewart Ehn, Alicia Foxworth, Noelle LuSane, Anna Podolak, Adrienne Powell, Emily Radosevich, Elia Rangel and Steph Van Vlack. January 9 - 26 2014. Thus-Sat @ 8pm, Sun @3pm. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave @ 10th St. NYC. Subway: L to 1st Ave. Bus: M14 or M8 to 1st Ave. Tickets $12. TDF accepted. Group discounts available. Reservations/info: 212-254-1109. www.theaterforthenewcity.net.

Island Girls: before Orange Is the New Black, women in 1927 were incarcerated in theWomen's Penitentiary on Welfare Island. A short ferry ride from the hustle and bustle of mid-town Manhattan, on what is now Roosevelt Island, the prison became a revolving door for many women from varying ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds who found themselves on the wrong side of the law. A newly-graduated social worker comes face to face with her own biases grounded in her white, upper class background while she gets to know the prisoners. Carefully researched, Island Girls brings to life examples of the unknown or forgotten stories of thousands of women of New York City nearly a century ago.