Full Cast Set for Midtown Direct Rep's Staged Reading of 'WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT' at SOPAC, 11/15

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) continues its 2015-16 Theater in the Loft series at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) with a staged reading of WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT ~ A TRANSATLANTIC FARCE, written by John Walch, with songs by Rachel Peters. This reading, directed by Shana Gold, will be performed for one night only on Sunday, November 15, 2015 at 7pm at SOPAC (One Sopac Way, South Orange, NJ, 07079). The reading is $15 and open to the public. Tickets can be purchased at www.sopacnow.org or by calling 973-313-ARTS (2787). For direct link to purchase tickets, click here.

The cast will feature MDR company members Michelle Federer (Wicked), Danielle Ferland (HBO's The Normal Heart, Into the Woods original Little Red Riding Hood) (Jamie LaVerdiere (Motown the Musical), Josephine Rose Roberts (Rock of Ages,), Matthew Shepard Smith (Beauty and the Beast), and Matt Yeager (Greg & Donny) with guest artist Patrick Burr. MDR's Allison Posner will read the stage directions, and Gwen Gilliam will be the Stage Manager.

As an overly-dedicated Customer Service Rep, there's no complaint Meg can't resolve. But when an unresolved message from 1857 comes across her screen, she journeys back to the laying of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable when Ireland and the New World shared their first electronic kiss. This modern farce by John Walch, with songs by Rachel Peters, mingles the sublime and the silly, weaving olden dances with the digital orgy of today, with characters desperately seeking connections to those they love, no matter the distance.

John Walch's plays include In The Book Of, Tea-Totaled, The Dinosaur Within, Circumference of a Squirrel, The Nature of Mutation, Jesting with Edged Tools, Craving Gravy or Love in the Time of Cannibalism, Alice Threw the Looking Glass (a parody of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style), Iraq: A Love Story, as well as numerous one acts, collaborations, and shorts. His plays have been produced at theaters such as Center Theatre Group (Mark Taper Forum), Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Barter Theatre, Theatre @ Boston Court, Kitchen Dog, Florida Studio Theatre, New Jersey Rep, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Off-Broadway at Urban Stages. His work has been developed or commissioned through The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Bricolage Theatre, New Harmony Project, The Playwrights' Center/PlayLabs, and the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London.

Awards include: Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays; the American Theatre Critics Association's Osborn Award; the Frederick Loewe Award in Musical Theatre for DoubleTime, the Charlotte Woolard Award from the Kennedy Center recognizing a promising new voice in the American Theatre; the Marc Klein Playwriting Award; and three Austin Critics Table Awards. John is a two time Sloan Fellow, and was a James Michener Fellow at the Michener Center for Writers at University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his MFA in Playwriting. John served as artistic director of Austin Script Works, and has taught playwriting at UT at Austin, University of Iowa, and Bennington College, among others. John is a resident playwright of New Dramatists.

Midtown Direct Rep's Theater in the Loft is a series of readings of new plays and musicals in development presented on Sunday evenings in the Loft at South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC). With a cash bar and lively post-show discussions with the cast and creative team, Theater in the Loft readings foster a fun and collaborative environment to be a part of the development of vital new works. Many of the shows presented through Theater in the Loft have gone on to major productions off-Broadway, in regional theaters, and beyond. The series focuses on scripts that reflect the complexities of a uniquely diverse community that can be cast significantly from the MDR ensemble. The 2015-16 Theater in the Loft season will also include readings of new plays on January 10 and March 20, 2016.

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) is a professional, ensemble-based theater company in residence at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) in South Orange, NJ. The company includes over 100 working Broadway actors and theater professionals who call South Orange and Maplewood home. Midtown Direct Rep is dedicated to developing and presenting new plays and musicals through its Theater in the Loft series, focusing on work that reflects our uniquely diverse community. Midtown Direct Rep is also the local presenter of the hugely successful annual event Listen to Your Mother, which showcases local writers and performers each year around Mother's Day. Company members include two-time Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz, Tony Award-nominees Stephanie J. Block, Megan Lawrence, and Christiane Noll, plus Sebastian Arcelus, Joel de la Fuente, Bradley Dean, Michele Pawk, and many others. Guest actors have included James McDonald, Michelle Hurst, Geoffrey Arend, and Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis. Recent projects include work by Y York, Jack Canfora, Peter Flaherty, Jeremy Desmon, Chad Hardin, James Hindman, Chisa Hutchison, David Johnson, Kara Lee Korthron, David Myers, Sandy Rustin, John Walch, Douglas J. Cohen, Zoe Samuel, and others.. The Company is led by Managing Director Aliza Wassner, Artistic Producer Steven Tabakin, Literary Manager Marni Raab, and Artistic Advisor Sandy Rustin. For more information, visit www.middirrep.org.

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