Veronica Reyes-How, Erin Leigh Peck and Harriett D. Foy to Star in MOTHERFREAKINGHOOD! at NYMF

The full cast and creative team for the New York Premiere of MotherFreakingHood!, the show that celebrates the mother you never thought you should be, has been announced.

An Official Selection of the 2017 New York Musical Festival (NYMF), MotherFreakingHood!, with book, music, and lyrics by Julie Dunlap and Sara Stotts, will play six performances August 1st through 6th at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 W. 42nd St.). Terry Berliner directs.

Rachael, wide-eyed and optimistic, is elated to finally put her party days behind her and become a mom...#YAY! Angie has pre-enrolled her unborn child in the most exclusive all-girls preschool (definitely a girl, she already has a boy). After three kids, Marcia thought she was done. Is it bad that she doesn't want to cancel her wine of the month club or stop having sex on her back? With a soundtrack ranging from rock to pop to funk and more, join these three unlikely friends as they bond in the trenches from pregnancy tests to empty nests, dominating the diapers and tackling the teens with unmotherly charm, one bottle at a time!

"The cast of MotherFreakingHood! will feature: Veronica Reyes-How ("Blue Bloods") as Rachael, Erin Leigh Peck (Disenchanted) as Angie, and Harriett D. Foy (Amélie, Amazing Grace) as Marcia, as well as Jimmy Brewer (Trouble?with?Dead Boyfriends) and Annie Dow (Fade) playing multiple roles."

MotherFreakingHood!, will play the following six performances: Tuesday, August 1 at 8:00pm; Thursday, August 3 at 10:30am; Friday, August 4 at 9:00pm; Saturday, August 5 at 5:00pm; and Sunday, August 6 at 10:30am and 2:00pm.

NYMF Passes are now available for purchase at nymf.org/pass. Individual tickets are available at nymf.org or by calling (212) 352-3101.

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theater.

Now in its fourteenth year, the Festival is the premier musical theater event in the world. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theater fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 24 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. 2017 NYMF is sponsored by The City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, PRG, TheaterMania, Clear Channel Outdoor and the Village Voice, and is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

The NYMF PASS is a great way to experience The New York Musical Festival. With a NYMF PASS, you can get into the theater before individual ticket holders. Passes also offer the exclusive ability to book tickets before they go on sale to the public. Individual tickets on sale now.

The 2017 New York Musical Festival will take place July 10 - August 6. For more information, visit www.nymf.org.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Julie Dunlap (Music, Book, and Lyrics). A graduate of the University of Kansas with a degree in Human Biology, Julie used her degree to make four humans, chronicling her child-rearing adventures in a weekly humor column for several years before convincing her favorite Chicago-based rocker to collaborate on their first full-length musical, MotherFreakingHood!, Julie is a Freelance Writer and television talk show host in Lawrence, Kansas, where she lives with her husband and four kids (except the one in college).

Sara Stotts (Music, Book, and Lyrics) has performed sketch comedy and improv in Chicago at The Annoyance Theater and the Skybox at The Second City and as the female lead in the original funk/blues band Chubby Nothin' and The Bone. She met Julie, her Co-Writer, and best roommate ever, at the University of Kansas. After receiving her Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Northwestern University, she married a steadfastly patient man and produced two active children, giving her endless material for MotherFreakingHood!

Terry Berliner (Director/Choreographer) specializes in developing and directing new plays and musicals. Her Broadway credits as resident/assistant director include The Lion King, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, The Sound of Music, and The Red Shoes. She has directed and choreographed Off Broadway, in regional theatres, and universities across the country. She recently directed Rehana Lew Mirza's play Soldier X at Brooklyn College, Return to the Forbidden Planet at SUNY Buffalo, Michelle Elliott's new play Promising at The Beckett, and Kirsten Guenther and Tony Asaro's new musical, The Cable Car Nymphomaniac, at both Z Below and The Eureka Theatre, in San Francisco. Her new musical Alone in the U.S., written with Bobby Cronin, was presented at Penn State in 2016, made it's U.K. debut in 2015, and in 2014 won the Outstanding Program of the Year Award at Marymount Manhattan College. Ms. Berliner has served as artistic director for the North Shore Summer Theater Workshop and LeAp Onstage. She has written for American Theatre magazine, Theatre Bay Area, Theatre History Studies, and participated in the Rhinebeck Writer's Retreat. For 5 years Ms. Berliner served as a member of Off Broadway's Lucille Lortel nominating committee. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. terryberliner.me

Veronica Reyes-How (Rachael Nixon) grew up in Bloomfield Hills, MI and was always passionate about a life in the arts, as well as the sciences. After graduating college with a Mathematics degree, she moved to NYC and landed her first job touring with the musical RENT. She continued to do various tours and regional productions of musicals, then decided that she needed to make a home in NYC. She transitioned into the commercial world - doing voiceovers, commercials and industrials and continued to do plays and musicals in town, off-Broadway and in workshops and readings. In recent years, she has been working more in film and television. Most recently, you can see her on episodes of "Blue Bloods," "The Blacklist," and "Person of Interest." In her free time, she loves taking improv classes at UCB, and finding more ways to work in comedy.

Erin Leigh Peck (Angie Miller) is the proud mother of two kids who are currently at summer camp for seven whole weeks. Before achieving this dream, she appeared off Broadway (Disenchanted; The Toxic Avenger Musical; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change), and in lots of lots of commercials. This is her fourth NYMF show. www.ErinLeighPeck.com<http://www.erinleighpeck.com/>

Harriett D. Foy (Marcia Burger) has performed for audiences from Broadway to Dubai. She is the creator and star of My Soul Looks Back in Wonder, a one-woman musical based on slave narratives. Harriett recently performed a special one-night-only performance of the show at the Fordham United Methodist Church in the Bronx. One of six founding members of Howard University's?Divine, Intelligent, Versatile Artists Inc.,?a networking sisterhood for women of color in the arts, Harriett is active in her community. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for the?Al D. Rodriguez Liver Foundation?and on the Advisory Board for A Mile in My Shoes, Inc., a new theater company. Harriett can be heard on cast albums for Lone Star Love, Inside Out and Reunion. She most recently appeared on Broadway in Amélie. Other Broadway shows include Amazing Grace, Once on This Island, Mamma Mia! and The American Plan. Her other notable credits include the off-Broadway musicals Dinah Was, Crowns and Lone Star Love and Helen Hayes Award-nominated performances in The Women of Brewster Place, Polk County and Reunion. Harriett is a native of New Bern, North Carolina and currently resides in Manhattan.

Jimmy Brewer (Male Ensemble). Theatre: ?Trouble with Dead Boyfriends (MCL Chicago), Hit Her with The Skates (NYC Reading), The Black Suits (Kirk Douglas Theatre).? TV:"Blue Bloods" (CBS).? Current Senior of Carnegie Mellon University.? Eternal love for his family for their everlasting support and guidance.

Annie Dow (Female Ensemble). OFF-BROADWAY: Tanya Saracho's Fade at Primary Stages. REGIONAL: Much Ado About Nothing with Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC, Song for the Disappeared with Passage Theatre Company. TV: "I Love You...But I Lied" (Lifetime) and "The Late Show with David Letterman" (CBS). Proud Mexican Immigrant. NYU Tisch. IG: @missanniedow