Kathleen Chalfant Will Star in Industry Reading of HERLAND in New York

Producers Brennan T. Jones and Danielle Demisay have announced the first New York presentation of Grace McLeod's acclaimed New Play, Herland, directed by James Fleming. Herland is cast by Hano Casting.

Natalie (Midori Francis), a recent high school graduate, gets a summer internship working for Jean (Kathleen Chalfant), her elderly neighbor, on a special project: designing a feminist utopian retirement community. Natalie helps Jean and her two lifelong friends - Terry (Annie Golden), who's "a lesbian now", and Louise (Caroline Lagerfelt), the loving and insecure town gossip - transform the garage, where Jean's ex-husband and his Bruce Springsteen-cover band used to practice, into the headquarters for their movement. Herland is an intergenerational queer coming-of-age comedy about a group of unlikely rockstars who seize their chance to take the mic.

This will be the first presentation of Herland following extended sold-out runs at Redtwist Theatre in Chicago (Jeff Award Nomination, multiple "Best of 2019" lists), MOXIE Theatre in San Diego, and The Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles.

GRACE MCLEOD (Playwright) is a playwright and screenwriter from New York City. She was a 2017-2018 playwright-in-residence at Chicago's Greenhouse Theater Center as part of the Trellis Residency Initiative, where she developed her play HERLAND, which then received a 2018-2019 National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere at MOXIE Theatre in San Diego, Redtwist Theatre in Chicago, and Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles. Grace has developed her plays regionally at Actors Theatre of Louisville, First Floor Theater, The New Colony, and Commission Theatre, among others, and her short plays have been produced by Victory Gardens Theater, American Blues Theater, Broken Nose Theatre at Steppenwolf LookOut, and more. As a 2013-2014 Tribeca Film Fellow, she wrote and directed the short film UNDER THE TABLE, which premiered during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, and co-conceived and produced LOCAL/EXPRESS, an experimental short film that screened nightly across Times Square as part of the Midnight Moment Series, the world's largest, longest-running digital art exhibition. Grace is a recent graduate of the University of Chicago, where she was the recipient of the 2018 Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize for Playwriting. www.gracemcleod.com

James Fleming (Director) is a freelance director based in New York and Chicago. Recent credits include Grace McLeod's SCARE ME and Fin Coe's FUN HARMLESS WARMACHINE (The New Colony); Grace McLeod's HERLAND, Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN and MJ Kaufman's SAGITTARIUS PONDEROSA (Redtwist Theatre); Alexandra Matthews and Eric Shoemaker's adaptation of Kate Chopin's THE AWAKENING (ArtsOnSite NYC). He has assistant directed at Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, and Greenhouse Theatre Center. James worked on a collaborative team with Peca Stefan, Tamilla Woodard, and Ana Margineanu of PopUp Theatrics to produce the Chicago story for #THENEWOLDHOME, a mix between puzzle, social game, exhibition, audio drama and interactive installation which premiered at CLB Berlin in January 2018. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the Associate Artistic Director at Redtwist Theatre. As Director of New Works at The New Colony, he created and produced the inaugural UNCHARTED Festival, a two week developmental showcase of ambitious new works by Chicago-based playwrights. He holds a BA in Public Policy and Theatre & Performance Studies from The University of Chicago and is currently pursuing his MFA in Directing at Yale School of Drama. www.jameslfleming.com

Industry RSVP email - HerlandNY@gmail.com

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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