Tonya Pinkins, Kathleen Chalfant & More Set for ITLP Benefit Reading, 2/9

Celebrated Broadway and Off-Broadway actors Tonya Pinkins (Caroline, or Change, Radio Golf), Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America, Wit), Brian Murray (The Crucible, The Play About The Baby), Jay O. Sanders (Pygmalion, The Apple Family Plays) and Nilaja Sun (No Child) will do a Benefit reading for The International Theatre and Literacy Project (ITLP) itlp.org on Monday February 9th at 7:30pm at The Daryl Roth Theatre 101 East 15th Street, New York City. They will be joined by actors James Williams (Radio Golf, The Piano Lesson), Peter Francis James (The Merchant of Venice, On Golden Pond), Miriam A. Hyman (The Commons of Pensacola, Macbeth) and Devin Haqq (Richard III, Macbeth).

The plays were written by groups of teenagers from The Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, asyv.org an orphanage for Hutu and Tutsi youth near Kigali, Rwanda, The iThemba Labantu Community Center ithemba-labantu.co.za in Philippi Township outside Cape Town, South Africa and The Akeri School, in Tengeru Village, Tanzania. The plays are the products of theatre workshops conducted by U.S. theatre artists from ITLP who travel to Africa each summer to teach playwriting and performance workshops for young people. The reading will be directed by ITLP Artistic Director Stephen DiMenna (Vigil, The Messenger). Tonya Pinkins will conclude the evening with a performance of musical numbers.

ITLP is a non-profit organization that uses theatre as a means of social uplift for children living with the challenges of poverty, crime, violence, gender inequity and inequality in developing countries. ITLP conducts theatre workshops to teach English, develop independent thinking, self-empowerment and gender equity, to help young people advance their educational and employment opportunities and to nurture their voices as leaders who can enable change and community development. Founded in 2005 by Stephen DiMenna, ITLP has worked with over 1800 children in Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Ethiopia, India and Indonesia and will be starting a program in The Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015.

The Reading will include a reception of food and wine donated by Etcetera Etcetera Restaurant that will start at 6:30pm with the reading to begin at 7:30pm. A short documentary film about ITLP programs in South Africa will be screened following the reading. Tickets are $150 per person and are tax-deductible. Tickets can be reserved by emailing rsvp@itlp.org, calling 212-620-7128 or purchasing at the door. For more information about the Benefit Reading and ITLP contact Stephen DiMenna at sdimenna@itlp.org or 212-620-7128. Photos of participants are available.