KITEZH Opens Thursday at MadLab

MadLab's world premiere production of Kitezh by Jennifer Feather Youngblood will take place Fridays and Saturdays, Dec. 1 - 16, 2017, with a special preview performance on Thursday, Nov. 30, at MadLab, 227 N. 3rd St., in Columbus. All performances are at 8 p.m. Admission is $18 for the general public, $15 for students and seniors and $13 for MadLab members. Tickets are available online at www.madlab.net.

A rag-tag carnival with a secret, terrible mission finds and takes in an abandoned and half-dead member of a cult while crossing a wasteland that used to be the United States of America.

Jennifer Feather Youngblood is the author of three full-length and nineteen one act plays which have been performed across the US and Canada. Primarily a performer, Ms. Feather Youngblood has been seen locally with various theatre groups such as The Actors Theatre of Columbus, Columbus Children's Theatre, MadLab, and The Ohio State Theatre Department.

MadLab's production of Kitezh is directed by Amy Drake, with assistance from Roxy Knepp, stage managed by Kyle Jepson, and features actors Colleen Dunne as Maestra, Dallas Ray as Boy, Stephen Woosley as Actor 1, Kate Jones as Actress 1, Anita McFarren as Actress 2, Travis Horseman as Actor 2, and Matt Schlichting as Actor 3.

Amy Drake is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Board member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights and Theatre Communications Group. Amy's plays have been performed in New York, Chicago, and other US cities. Her recent play, Eyes like Opaque Gems, was voted Most Popular Play in the Midtown International Theater Festival (MITF) Short Play Lab, NYC. Home Body received a staged reading at The Ohio State University New Works Lab in 2015 and was nominated for four awards in MITF, New York. She was voted Theatre Roundtable Best Director for Night Must Fall and was assistant director for the Actors' Theatre production of Servant of Two Masters, which ranked among The Columbus Dispatch Top-10 shows of 2012. Amy is also a stage actor and director, commercial actor, an author, academic writer, conference speaker, and poet. She holds a B.A. from Ohio Dominican University and a M.S. degree in marketing and communication from Franklin University. Her education includes play writing, creative writing and history summer programs at Cambridge University, UK, Reed Hall, Paris, Kenyon (College) Summer Institute, and Yale University.

MadLab is a non-profit organization that provides an artistic haven for the creation and experience of original works. For more information about events at MadLab, visit www.madlab.net. The Community Arts Fund of The Columbus Foundation, Greater Columbus Arts Council and Ohio Arts Council support MadLab throughout the year.