Voyage Theater Company Announces Final Reading For 2019

Voyage Theater Company/PARTS UNKNOWN Play Reading Series will present a staged reading of SEASHELL SWEETIE, written by Aurora Stewart de Peña and directed by Rose Burnett Bonczek, at the 53rd Street New York Public Library (18 W 53rd Street, across the street from MoMA) on Thursday December 12 at 7pm. Admission is FREE and open to the public, but reservations are highly encouraged. Please RSVP here. The performance will run approximately 75 minutes with no intermission. There will be a brief talkback with the playwright and director immediately following the reading.

Aurora Stewart de Peña's SEASHELL SWEETIE is a dark comedy about violence, complicity, and the things we do when we're in love. The play centers on a young married couple caught up in a cycle of violence they can hardly comprehend. The wife wakes up from a 22-hour sleep feeling sick and groggy. She has no memory of the previous few days ... but something is sloshing about in the bathtub. Her husband assures her everything's fine, turns up the TV, and orders a pizza. What could possibly go wrong?

SEASHELL SWEETIE was developed in residency at Toronto's Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and presented as a staged reading in November 2017.

The cast for the New York reading will include JJ Condon, Ramona Floyd,* Harrison Marx, Sabra Shelly, and Alexandra Slater. (*Member of Actors' Equity)

Aurora Stewart de Peña (Playwright) is a Canadian writer & playwright based in Toronto. She's the author of 36 Little Plays About Hopeless Girls (Developed at Absitomen Playwrights Unit, premiered at Bread & Circus, 2009), Family Story (Developed at LaMaMa Umbria, premiered at SummerWorks, 2013), Even This Old Town was a Forest (Developed at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, premiered at The Theatre Centre, 2016), and Hot Cuts (Developed at SummerWorks, 2018). Her plays have been produced or read in New York, England, Italy and in Toronto at Buddies in Bad Times, Theatre Passe Muraille, The Theatre Centre, SummerWorks, and the Harbourfront Centre. Aurora's essays have been published in Vice, Canadian Art, Real Life Magazine, and The Outline. Her fiction and poetry have been featured in The Puritan, Little Brother, and Petal Journal. Currently, she's working on a book about a flood.

Rose Burnett Bonczek (Director) is a theater director, consultant, educator and author who has directed over 100 productions, including Off- and Off-Off-Broadway, regional and community theater, international festivals, and in education. For the past 15 years, she has been the festival director of Gi60 (Gone in 60 Seconds) International One Minute Theatre Festival: US Edition. www.gi60.blogspot.com. Gi60 annually produces 150 original one-minute plays, live streaming and filming each event, with all plays available for viewing on the Gi60 YouTube Channel. Ms. Bonczek served as director of the BFA Acting Program at Brooklyn College for several decades. In 2018, she received the Excellence in Teaching Theatre in Higher Education Award from the national Association for Theater in Higher Education. As a writer, she has co-authored Turn That Thing Off! Collaboration and Technology in 21st Century Actor Training with Roger Manix and David Storck; Ensemble Theatre Making: A Practical Guide with David Storck; and One Minute Plays: A Practical Guide to Tiny Theatre with Steve Ansell - all for Routledge Press. Currently, Ms. Bonczek is working as a consultant for organizations such as Atlantic Theater Company, Fordham University, CNY Arts and Stable Cable Lab Co.

VOYAGE THEATER COMPANY presents new and unheralded plays and playwrights from around the world, creating opportunities for collaboration between theater-makers of diverse cultures and disciplines. We serve our local community in New York City through professional productions, educational programming, internships, and discounted tickets for students and seniors. We present plays in multiple languages, and work in partnership with other non-profit organizations to broaden perspectives and build greater cultural equity across communities.

PARTS UNKNOWN Play Reading Series is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.