3Graces Theatre Co Presents PRESCRIPTION STRENGTH THEATRE, 2/23-3/13

3GRACES THEATER CO., Elizabeth Bunnell, and Annie McGovern (Co-Artistic Directors), are pleased to announce GraceNotes presents Prescription Strength Theater, two World Premiere plays commissioned by 3Graces Theater Co. about Healthcare ? because healthcare is no laughing matter...or is it?

Prescription Strength Theater will play a three-week limited engagement at the Milagro Theater at the CSV Education & Cultural Center (107 Suffolk (between Rivington & Delancey)) in rep with the World Premiere of Robin Rice Lichtig?s The Power of Birds. Performances begin Tuesday, February 23 and continue through Saturday, March 13.

The Benefits of Elsewhere
by Patrick Link
directed by Abigail Zealey Bess
In the behind-the-scenes look at Big Insurance, a senior claims management consultant leaves her job and high-salary in an effort to win back her soul. Unfortunately she is all too easily replaced, but not before she and her boss exchange some scathing parting shots.

Susan?s Medical Blog
by Sharyn Rothstein
directed by Lila Neugebauer
After waiting to see her doctor for two months, one hour and thirty-three minutes, Susan Colpetzer learns she may have a fatal condition known to plague women with just her haircut. A hysterical satire about angry doctors, self-diagnosing patients and a world where there's a drug for every disorder.

GraceNotes is 3Graces Theater Co.?s forum for new and experimental works and is designed to support each stage of a play?s development - from first reading aloud (NewPlaysOutLoud), to mini-workshops and staged readings (Sips&Scripts), studio workshop performances and more fully realized productions. In Fall 2009, 3Graces commissioned playwrights Sharyn Rothstein and Patrick Link to each write a one-act for 3Graces' ensemble about healthcare, resulting in GraceNotes presents PRESCRIPTION STRENGTH THEATER. Previous GraceNotes productions include The Lower East Side Project by Karen Sommers & Kayla Cagan, Neglect by Sharyn Rothstein, Your Basic American Monday by L.E. McCullough and Spring Shorts 1 & 2. Sips&Scripts presentations have included Flat Sam by Antoinette Nwandu, The Power of Birds by Robin Rice Lichtig, Hairdresser by Patrick Link, and Untitled Nellie Bly Project by Kelli Lynn Harrison. During the past 4 years, 6 short plays developed and presented as 3Graces? GraceNotes productions have been accepted into The Samuel French Original Short Play Festival, two of which were Critics? Choice Finalists.

The production stars Suzanne Barbetta*, Kelli Lynn Harrison, Julie Leedes*, Sean Modica*, Chelsea Silverman, Georgia Southern*. Patrick T. Cecala is the technical director and Maggie Davis is the stage manager. Elizabeth Bunnell, Kelli Lynn Harrison, Annie McGovern & Chelsea Silverman are the producers.

Prescription Strength Theater plays the following schedule:

Tuesday, February 23 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, February 24 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, February 27 at 3 p.m.
Tuesday, March 2 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, March 3 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 6 at 3 p.m.
Tuesday, March 9 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, March 10 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 13 at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $18 and are now available online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006. Tickets may also be purchased in-person half-hour prior to performance.

Running Time: 65 minutes, no intermission

Website: www.ThreeGracesTheater.org

BIOGRAPHIES

PATRICK LINK (Playwright, The Benefits of Elsewhere) is a resident member of the Youngblood Playwright Group at Ensemble Studio Theatre. His plays include Dismissal, Hairdresser, Does the Body Good, Knot Theory and Cry on Cue, among others. His work has been produced and developed by Youngblood/EST, 3Graces Theater Co., FringeNYC, The Working Stage Theatre (LA), and published by Original Works. His play Hairdresser was produced in 3Graces' Sips&Scripts series last year. He holds degrees in Dramatic Art and Writing for the Stage and Screen from UNC-Chapel Hill.

SHARYN ROTHSTEIN?s (Playwright, Susan's Medical Blog) full-length and one acts plays have been work-shopped and/or produced off and off-off Broadway and around the country by companies such as Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Georges, 3Graces Theater Co., Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, The Vital Theatre and Soho Think Tank. Sharyn is a member of Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theatre?s collective for emerging playwrights under the age of thirty, and of 3Graces Theater Co. She is the winner of the Samuel French Short Play Contest (Samuel French recently published her winning one-act RelationTrip), and a number of her plays have been published in Smith & Kraus? The Best Ten Minute Plays and in Playscripts? Great Short Plays anthologies. Sharyn holds an MFA in dramatic writing from New York University?s Tisch School of the Arts.

LILA NEUGEBAUER?s (Director, Susan's Medical Blog) directing work has recently been seen at Ars Nova's Ant Fest, The Brick Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Cherry Lane Studio, and NYU Tisch/Atlantic Acting School. Readings/Workshops: Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Dramatists Guild, EST/Youngblood and the Yale Playwrights Festival. Selected Assistantships: Jo Bonney, Jon Jory, Leigh Silverman, and Chay Yew. Lila is a previous resident directing assistant at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and is currently a New Georges affiliated artist, a member of the Old Vic/New Voices Network, and a resident director at Ensemble Studio Theatre.

ABIGAIL ZEALEY BESS? (Director, The Benefits of Elsewhere) has worked extensively in New York as a producer and director in theatre, film and television. As a long-standing member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, devoted to new plays, she has directed, and produced numerous new works and plays at EST, and NY theatres; The Foundry Theatre, Ohio Theatre, Soho Repertory Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Playwrights Horizons and internationally at the Edinburgh Festival, the Young Vic, Man in the Moon and the Strand Theatre. She also assistant directed David Bar Katz production of Freak starring John Leguizamo, on Broadway. In connection with her Production Company, Weird Sisters, she directed and produced the award winning baseball trilogy, Play Ball! The films were shot on location at the Mets home space, Shea Stadium. Recent completed projects include her latest films, a sci-fi anime horror spoof, The Launch in partnership with Howard Productions and Amy Staats? Mocumentary entitled, This is what I like, Fruit. She is now in development for the upcoming feature, 7 Variations on the Same Lover by Crystal Skillman.

3GRACES THEATER CO. is a producing ensemble company committed to exploring the power of women?s experiences through theater by immersing the ensemble and audience in the world of the play. MainStage productions include: A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro, Ladyhouse Blues by Kevin O?Morrison, Flyer by Kate Aspengren Nickel and Dimed by Joan Holden based Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Dream of a Common Language by Heather McDonald, a Good Farmer by Sharyn Rothstein, and The Power of Birds by Robin Rice Lichtig. The company will workshop this Summer its 2008 Robin & Terrye Bellas Play Commission, the musical BeautyQueen, book and lyrics by Sharyn Rothstein and music by Kris Kukul. 3Graces is the proud recipient of the 2007 Lucille Lortel Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.

 

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