Benefit Reading of THE WANDERERS at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan

The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan will welcome a talented cast to its stage on Thursday, December 18 at 7:30 p.m. for a reading of Anna Ziegler's "The Wanderers," a funny, insightful, and mysterious new drama. Ziegler is an award-winning playwright whose widely produced play, "Photograph 51," won London's 2016 WhatsOnStage award for best new play. It was also selected as "Best of the Year" play by The Telegraph and The Washington Post. The special reading of "The Wanderers" is a benefit for the JCC's Lambert Center for Arts and Ideas. Tickets cost $20 for members and $25 for the public. Visit jccmanhattan.org or call 646.505.5708 to reserve your seat.

In "The Wanderers," Esther and Schmuli are Orthodox Jews embarking on an arranged marriage, despite barely knowing each other. Abe and Julia are high-profile celebrities embarking on a dangerously flirty correspondence, despite being married to other people. On the surface, the lives of these two couples couldn't be more different. "The Wanderers" explores the hidden connections between seemingly disparate people, drawing audiences into an intriguing puzzle and a deeply sympathetic look at modern love.

Directed by Catie Davis (associate director "Beetlejuice," "Moulin Rouge!"), the reading will feature Broadway favorites Adam Chanler-Berat ("Next to Normal," "Peter and the Starcatcher," "Amelie") as Schmuli, Adina Verson (Tony Award-winning "Indecent") as Esther, and Tatiana Wechsler (Off-Broadway's "X: Or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation,") as Sophie. Additional casting will be announced soon.

Adam Chanler-Berat (Schmuli) is best known for his work on Broadway originating the roles of Henry in Next to Normal, Peter in Peter and the Starcatcher, and Nino in Amélie. Additional Broadway: The Dauphin in Saint Joan (MTC). Regional: George in Sunday in the Park with George (Huntington), Animal Crackers (Williamstown). Off-Broadway: Nantucket Sleigh Ride (Lincoln Center), The Fortress of Solitude (Dallas Theater Center and The Public, Lortel nomination for Best Actor), Fly by Night (Playwrights Horizons), Rent (New World Stages), Zorba (Encores at City Center), and My Favorite Year (York) Web series: "It Could Be Worse." Film: Delivery Man. TV: "Elementary," "Veep," "The Good Wife," "Doubt," "The Code," "NCIS: NOLA," and "Soundtrack."

Adina Verson (Esther) is an actor and singer based in New York City. Most notably, Adina originated the role of Rifkele in the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Indecent. She has originated many roles off-Broadway as well, including Wife 2 in Wives at Playwrights Horizons, Betty 2 in Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties at MCC, Alex Van Halen in Eddie and Dave at the Atlantic Theatre Company, and Emma in The Lucky Ones at Ars Nova, for which she was nominated for a Lortel award. Regionally she has worked at the Guthrie Theatre, Seattle Rep, the Ahmanson, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Yale Rep, and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Adina can be seen in the recurring roles of Nannerl Mozart on 'Mozart in the Jungle' and Miriam Setrakian on 'The Strain', and can be heard as a narrator for the audiobooks Trust Exercise and Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. Adina holds her BFA from The Boston Conservatory, and her MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

Tatiana Wechsler (Sophie) was the first woman to play Curly in Oklahoma! (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Off-Broadway credits: X: Or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation, Julius Caesar (Acting Company: Theatre at St. Clement's/New Victory Theater/Tour), The Golden Bride (National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene). NYC credits: Othello (Acting Company). Regional credits: Love in Hate Nation (Two River Theatre), Benny & Joon (Paper Mill Playhouse), The Legend of Georgia McBride (Marin Theatre Company), Love's Labor's Lost (OSF). Film: Netuser. Many concert and reading appearances in major venues around NYC/regionally. Graduate of NYU Tisch's New Studio.

Catie Davis (director) is a NYC-based theater director. At 17, she co-founded Over the Moon Productions, where she directed and co-produced Rent (Paramount Center for the Arts) and The Who's Tommy (Tarrytown Music Hall), raising thousands of dollars for UNICEF's Unite for Children Unite Against AIDS and NARSAD: the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. Professionally, Catie has worked in theaters across NYC and around the world. Favorite directing credits include Where's Charley? (The Riverside Theatre), Empath (Theaterlab), Noise (The Market Theatre Lab, South Africa), Charlotte's Web and We the People (TheaterWorksUSA), and Girl Versus Corinth (Joe's Pub, FringeNYC) Catie frequently directs for NYU's New Studio on Broadway, most recently Tuck Everlasting. Associate/assistant director: Moulin Rouge! (Broadway), Beetlejuice (Broadway & National Theatre, DC), Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (The Public Theater), The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout Theatre Company), Measure for Measure (HVSF). She is a 2018 Manhattan Theatre Club Directing Fellow, a Lincoln Center Directors Lab alum, and a proud member of SDC.

Anna Ziegler (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright whose widely produced play Photograph 51 won London's 2016 WhatsOnStage award for Best New Play. It was selected as a "Best of the Year" play by The Washington Post and The Telegraph. In 2017, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Manhattan Theatre Club and The Geffen Playhouse premiered her play Actually (winner of the Ovation Award in Los Angeles for Playwriting of an Original Play), and The Roundabout Theatre Company produced The Last Match. Her play The Wanderers won the 2018 San Diego Critic's Circle Award for Outstanding New Play and Boy was nominated for the 2016 John Gassner Award by the Outer Critics Circle. Her work has been produced on the West End (Photograph 51, starring Nicole Kidman, winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress) and at The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, South Coast Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theater J, The Magic Theatre and many more, and developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab, The O'Neill Playwrights Conference, NY Stage & Film, Soho Rep and the Cape Cod Theatre Project, amongst others. She holds commissions from The Roundabout, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Geffen Playhouse, Second Stage Theater and Grove/Whitman Productions. Oberon Books has published a collection of her work entitled Anna Ziegler: Plays One.

Together with its community, the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan creates opportunities for people to connect, grow, and learn within an ever-changing Jewish landscape. Located on 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, the JCC is a vibrant non-profit community center on the Upper West Side. The cornerstone of progressive programming in Manhattan, the JCC serves over 55,000 people annually through 1,200 programs each season that educate, inspire, and transform participants' minds, bodies, and spirits. Since its inception, the JCC has been committed to serving the community by offering programs, classes, and events that extend beyond neighborhood boundaries, reaching people at all stages of their lives. Learn more at jccmanhattan.org.

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