RLTP Hosts SAFE HOME Reading, 11/4

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) announces a special FREE reading of Safe Home, a play by New York City (NYC) playwright/actor and Buffalo native Sean Cullen. The reading will be presented at 7:30 PM on Friday, November 4 th , 2011 at the Road Less Traveled Theater in Downtown Buffalo.

A period melodrama set in early 1950s Buffalo, NY, Safe Home portrays the slow unraveling of the working class Hollytree family following the departure of eldest son Lucky for the frontline of the Korean War. Events leading to and following Lucky's enlistment are presented in a non-chronological fashion, creating a unique narrative that RLTP Literary Director Jon Elston calls "a cross between a family drama and a gentle mystery."

Safe Home premiered at the Women's Interart Center in NYC in early 2010 to critical acclaim. The New York Times compared Safe Home to Death of a Salesman and called it "shocking" and "powerful." The NY Press called it "a wonderful surprise of a show... a powerful piece" and Backstage said " Safe Home is entirely engrossing."

Author Cullen will return to Buffalo on November 4 th to receive a special Alumni Arts Award from Bishop Timon High School (his alma mater), and to share his play with Western New York (WNY) theatre fans. The reading of Safe Home will feature local actors Dan Walker, Debbie Pappas, Steve Copps, Kelly Jakiel, Jonathan Shuey, and RLTP Resident Actor Bob Grabowski, under the direction of RLTP Artistic Director Scott Behrend.

"This is a play that has grippEd Scott and me for a year and a half, since we first read it," said Elston. "We're very pleased to be able to offer WNY theatergoers their first glimpse at this beautiful, sad, and profound piece of modern drama." "It may be set in Buffalo and be steeped in Buffalo flavor - but its themes and character relationships are absolutely universal."

The reading of Safe Home will occur one night only - Friday, November 4 th , at 7:30 PM. Admission to the reading will be FREE to the public, but seating is limited and reservations are recommended. Seats can be reserved by phoning the theatre box office at (716) 629-3069.

Sean Cullen is a native of Buffalo, NY, and a graduate of Bishop Timon-Saint Jude High School, St. Bonaventure University, and the Yale School of Drama. He is an actor, playwright and composer, currently at work on a musical based on a novel by Italo Calvino. Cullen appeared on PBS's "Great Performances" series, as Lt. Commander William Harbison, in Lincoln Center Theater's Tony-Award-winning revival of South Pacific , directed by Bartlett Sher, as well as on Broadway in James Joyce's The Dead and Coram Boy. His regional credits also include Studio Arena, ACT, the Huntington Theatre, the Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Yale Rep. Cullen has played supporting roles in feature films Michael Clayton , Revolutionary Road , S1mone , Copland , and Cop-Out , and has appeared on "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "NCIS," "Blue Bloods," and "Arliss." Sean will guest-star this fall on "Body of Proof," the new ABC series starring Dana Delaney.

 

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