Daytime Emmy Award Winner Darnell Williams Returns to NYC Stage in SIGHTLINES

The cell, a 21st century salon, and The Custom Made Theatre Company present Daytime Emmy & NAACP Image Award Winner DarNell Williams and Tamara Scott in Mark Eisman's "Sightlines." Take a journey with two strangers that come together in the strangest of places, grasping in the dark for a human connection that will guide them out of the "rabbit hole." At the cell, 338 West 23rd St., New York, NY. Nov. 23 - Dec. 15, 2013.

In "Sightlines," Ruth finds life is a series of betrayals that have led her to tread between a lonely reality and a dreamlike revision of herself. She meets Davis who will help her navigate an ever-blurring world. Out of the darkness and into the light. Out of the light and into the darkness, they SMASH their way "through the looking-glass" into a Lewis Carroll world and a love story defying conventional perceptions.

Walk into the cell and be transported into Eisman's Wonderland with Naomi Olson's photographs of the blind community in Hawaii, featuring tactile imagery and sound clips. Round the corner and you're in a dark room of work by the Seeing With Photography Collective, a local collective of sighted, visually-impaired, and blind photographers. The Collective's process creates luminous distortions, blurred or glowing forms resulting entirely from their photo technique, provoking the viewer or perceiver to ask, "What is seeing? What does one choose to see?"

Leading you in and out of the rabbit hole is an original score by ASCAP Fnd/Max Dreyfus Scholarship recipient Rona Siddiqui, fresh off her NYC solo concert debut and featured songwriter stint in Bill Finn's Cabaret at Barrington Stage and Lincoln Center's "Broadway's Future" concert series.

"Sightlines" stars Daytime Emmy and NAAPC Image Award winning DarNell Williams *, best known for his work as Jesse in "All My Children." Williams created the role of Jacob Foster on ABC's "Loving" and has been seen on "Law & Order," "ER," "Felicity," and "NYPD Blue"; film credits include "Shadowboxer," "Short Cuts," and "Sidewalk Stories"; New York theatre credits include "Angels in America," "Checkmates," "Wit," "Blackout," "Guilty," and "Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell." Williams received his fourth Emmy nomination in 2010 for AMC, and won the NAACP IMAGE AWARD for his work on AMC.

Written by 2-time Emmy Award and the American Theater Critics' Association's Best New American Play nominee, Mark Eisman, who has written for "Jeopardy," "Reading Rainbow," and "The Great Space Coaster," Sightlines was first presented at the Eugene O' Neill National Playwrights Conference and was the first full-length play published in The Kenyon Review. Eisman's Shove won the LA WEEKLY's Best Playwright Award and Abingdon Theatre's 2007 Christopher Brian Wolk Award for playwriting excellence. He is also the recipient of a NY state playwriting fellowship, a Writers Guild screenwriting fellowship, two Beverly Hills Theater Guild/Julie Harris Playwriting Awards, the Charles MacArthur Fellowship and a playwriting scholarship from Primary Stages Theater.

Co-starring is Tamara Scott * whose New York credits include work with New York Classical Theatre (The Seagull), the Ohio Theatre, Synchronicity Space, and The 78th Street Playhouse. Regional credits include Charlotte Rep, Playhouse on the Square, and Two River Theater Company.

The play will be directed by Leah S. Abrams, who has produced over 50 plays, including the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award winning The Play About the Baby (Best Overall Production), A Bright Room Called Day, and Little Brother (world premiere) and the critically-acclaimed West Coast premiere of Adam Rapp's Red Light Winter.

"Sightlines" features a set by Naomi Olson whose work has been exhibited throughout the U.S including the Milwaukee Art Museum, featuring photographs by the Seeing Through Photography Collective whose work can be seen in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rotterdam's Sensis, and Caracas' Universidead Central de Venezuela.

The play's original score is by Rona Siddiqui, 2011 ASCAP Foundation/Max Dreyfus Scholarship and 2010 Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical Direction. She composed the music for One Good Day with readings at NYU, Custom Made Theatre Company, and the Sacramento New Works Festival and The Tin, selected for the 2012 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. http://www.ronasiddiqui.com

Performance Info.

Opens Sat., Nov. 23, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. Plays Fri. & Sat. at 8:00 p.m. and Sun. at 2:00 p.m. though Dec. 15, 2013 closing. On select Sundays, the Photography Collective will offer portrait sessions - watch the process! Portraits, as well as the photographs making up the set, will be on sale throughout the run of the production.

THE CELL @ 338 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011
(between 8th and 9th) 1, C or E to 23rd St.

Cost: Tickets are $18 adults, $15 students and seniors

INFO & TICKETS: http://www.custommade.org/sightlines

Contact: Leah S. Abrams, The Custom Made Theatre Company & the cell; 510-207-5774; labrams(at)custommade(dot)org.

The play is open for review beginning with the Opening Night performance on Sat., Nov. 23, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. and throughout the run. Seating is limited, please plan ahead.

About the cell and Custom Made

The cell is a 21st century salon and theatre producing company in the heart of New York's thriving Chelsea neighborhood, known for incubating artists and producing inspiring and risky work including the NY Times acclaimed "Hard Times." The Custom Made Theatre Company, committed to producing plays that awaken our social conscience and creating an intimate theatrical experience, is in its 15th anniversary season of award-winning theatre in San Francisco. The cell is run by founding artistic director, Nancy Manocherian and artistic director, Kira Simring; Custom Made is managed by co-founding artistic and executive directors, Brian Katz and Leah S. Abrams.

*Member, Actors Equity Association, an Equity Approved Showcase

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