Tony Winner Lena Hall Will Lead Private Industry Reading of CITIZEN RUTH

Tony Award-winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) will lead an industry reading of Citizen Ruth: An American Musical Comedy in New York City on Thursday, March 10, 2016. Based on the Miramax film, screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Citizen Ruth features a book and lyrics by Mark Leydorf and music by Michael Brennan. The invite-only reading will precede an anticipated Off-Broadway run this summer.

Directed by Tony Award nominated director and choreographer, Dan Knechtges, with musical direction by Angela Grody, Citizen Ruth will also feature Janet Dickinson, Laurie Wells, Julia Murney, Pearl Sun, Emily Walton, Duke Lafoon, Jason "ST" Williams, Dennis Stowe, Kevin Zak, Alex Wyse, and Kevin Ligon.

Ruth Stoops, a homeless huffer, lands in jail (again), where she learns she is pregnant (again). After the judge offers to go easy on her if she will get an abortion, Ruth finds herself in a pickle. A desperate jail-cell prayer is apparently answered when she's taken in by Norm and Gail Stoney, pro-life Christians with the local Babysavers chapter. Things go swimmingly until Ruth gets high and hits their young son. Another Babysaver, Diane, comes to the rescue, agreeing to take Ruth for a while. Turns out though, that Diane is a radical feminist lesbian in disguise, and she and her lover, Rachel, have their own agenda. Events soon spiral out of control, and the debate over Ruth and her pregnancy becomes national. Our heroine, meanwhile-crass, addicted, unloved and (almost) unlovable-gets lost in the shuffle. But Ruth has the last laugh...

Citizen Ruth is produced by Christopher Allen and presented by TWEED TheaterWorks.