ATTORNEY-CLIENT by Alex Ladd to be Presented at the Dream Up Festival

Theater for the New City will present the World Premiere of "Attorney-Client," the provocative new play by Alex Ladd, directed by Pat Golden, performed by Lovell Adam-Gray and Joss Gyorkos, for eight performances, September 7 through 15.

"Attorney-Client" delves into the complexities of race and class in the U.S. criminal justice system through an intense narrative involving two college students, played by actors Lovell Adam-Gray (Power Book II: Ghost) and newcomer Joss Gyorkos.

The play tells the story of Tom and Lester, two college students who are charged with a hit and run.  Tom comes from a wealthy family, and his parents hire an aggressive private attorney, Derek, to defend their son.  In contrast, Lester is assigned Ryan, a well-intentioned but overburdened public defender.   The play highlights the societal fissures as these defendants navigate a system designed to exploit their differences, offering a powerful commentary on justice and inequality.

In each scene the actors, one Black and one White, alternate between playing either a co-defendant or an attorney involved in the same criminal case.  Veteran director Pat Golden brings the play's urgent themes to life on a minimalist set at a fast tempo, creating a theatrical high-wire act  for the audience.

Alex Ladd

(playwright) is the translator of Life As It Is, the short stories of Nelson Rodrigues.  In 2005, he produced The Asphalt Kiss at 59E59 theaters.  The play, based on his translation of Rodrigues' O Beijo no Asfalto, was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.  In 2008, he co-produced Pornographic Angel, also based on his translation, at the Ohio Theater.  He has translated several of Brazil's best known authors, including Rodrigues, Alexandre Vidal Porto, and Alberto Mussa.  Ladd is a member of the Dramatist Guild and PEN.

Pat Golden

(director) is a writer, director, producer, and award-winning casting director.  Trained in theatre and directing at the U of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon U, Golden has mounted both regional and Off-Broadway productions.  Golden is also a casting director in film, discovering many now well known actors and offering their first feature film roles to Blair Underwood, Vincent Gallo, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Queen Latifah, LL Cool, Little Richard, and more.  For her casting of Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986), Golden won an award from the Casting Society of America.   As a director and filmmaker, she has directed over 25 productions and 35 workshops.  She looks forward to her play Hyannis, for which she received a NYFA/NYC Women's Fund grant.

Joss Gyorkos

(actor) is a Slovenian-American actor, raised in a small village in the UK with a population of 162.  He discovered his passion for acting after moving to Utah.  Joss graduated from the NYU Tisch Drama class of 2024 and just finished work on the upcoming indie feature film Sh!tbird.  Throughout his time at NYU, Joss worked extensively with both the Columbia and Tisch graduate film programs.  Fresh out of school, he is eager to fully transition into the professional world of acting.

Lovell Adams-Gray

(actor).  The Power Book II: Ghost breakout star has earned considerable recognition for his nuanced and vulnerable take on his role as Dru Tejada.  A native of Toronto, Lovell worked with director Clement Virgo on the film Brother, which went on to be one of the most awarded films in Canadian Screen awards history, and for his performance in the web series 21 Black Futures, he was awarded the Canadian Screen Award for Best lead Performance in a Web Program or Series in 2022.  In New York, Lovell attended Hunter College's Acting for Film and Television program and is a lifetime member of the Actor's Studio.

The Dream Up Festival began in 2010 and remains committed to staging new works and performances by local, national, and international artists.  Since its inception, the Festival has brought hundreds of new plays to New York audiences. The 2024 line-up features sixteen new plays on three Theater for the New City stages.

To post a comment, you must register and login.