A CLASS ACT Opens at New World Stages Tonight

After enjoying its World Premiere engagement earlier this spring at the Playroom Theater, A Class Act, the inaugural and relevant new play by attorney and playwright Norman Shabel, will now hold court at New World Stages - Stage 5(340 West 50th Street - between 8th & 9th Avenues) for a summer run. Produced by Eric Krebs, performances officially open tonight, July 25, and continue through Sunday, September 4.

In A Class Act, when a major chemical company pours cancer-causing waste into the water supply, a high-poweRed Law firm brings a class action lawsuit on behalf of the thousands of people affected. Who wins? Who loses? Who makes millions whether they win or lose? Which lawyers battle the best... or the worst? Does the ordinary person ever realize justice in the end?

Directed by Christopher Scott, the cast features Stephen Bradbury (On Golden Pond, Melissa's Choice), Matthew DeCapua (Come Blow Your Horn, Morning Star), Andrew Ramcharan Guilarte (Disgraced, A Midsummer Night's Dream), Lou Liberatore (As Is, Burn This), David Marantz (Merry Wives Windsor, Twelfth Night), Nick Plakias (Moby Dick--Rehearsed, The Miser), and Jenny Strassburg (The Importance of Being Earnest, The Great Gatsby).

The production team for A Class Act is Josh Iacovelli (scenic design), Dustin Cross (costume design), Joan Racho-Jansen (lighting design) and Jared Sclar (sound design). Christine Viega is Production Stage Manager.

"It isn't very often that I come across a play that screams out to be produced," notes Krebs. "I want to present drama that might make a difference in the world. A Class Act is such a play."

"Almost every day I read on the front page of the major newspapers stories that are exactly parallel to A Class Act," says Shabel. "The world of industrial America is poisoning our world. And it is the powerless individual who is rarely able to find justice. I am afraid that all too often, Lady Justice really is blind."

The performance schedule for A Class Act will be: Monday at 7pm, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3:00pm. Tickets are $65 (orchestra) and $45 (balcony) and can be purchased through Telecharge.com/212-239-6200. Tickets may also be purchased at the New World Stages box office (340 West 50th Street) between the hours of 12 noon and 8pm. The box office is closed on Tuesdays.

ABOUT THE CAST/CREATIVE TEAM:

Norman Shabel (Playwright) graduated from Rutgers University Law School in 1969. For over forty years, Mr. Shabel vigorously pursued the rights of his clients on major legal issues involving murder, fraud and national class actions, representing thousands of ordinary people all over the United States.. A long time NJ resident, Mr. Shabel has taken his forty-six years' experience as a trial and class action lawyer and transformed it into an exciting dramatic production entitled "A Class Act." Mr. Shabel has also written five other plays, two of which have been produced in Philadelphia, and has written nine novels, his two newest released earlier this year.

Christopher Scott (Director) Now the Artistic Director for the Masterworks Theater Company, Christopher is a member of the Playwright Directors Workshop at the legendary Actor's Studio. Off-Broadway he has directed Greed: A Musical For Our Times produced by longtime collaborator Eric Krebs, as well as the hit musical Golf:The Musical by Michael Roberts and Nancy Friday's My Secret Garden which he not only directed but also adapted from her ground-breaking bestseller. For many seasons, Christopher worked as Director for Theatreworks/USA, the nation's largest professional not-for-profit theatre for young audiences, He is an adjunct faculty member at Baruch College/CUNY where he teaches in the fine and performing arts department and an Artistic Associate with Amas Musical Theatre, founded by Rosetta LeNoire.

Eric Krebs (Producer) has produced over 100 productions on Broadway, off-Broadway and in regional theater for over 40 years. He founded the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey, now in its 43rd season. He is currently the producer of off-Broadway's That Physics Show. He is a professor of Theater at Baruch College of the City University of New York.

Stephen Bradbury (Phil Alessi) mostly does new plays around the country.

Matthew DeCapua (Frank Warshaw) loves to work on new plays. NY THEATRE: Come Blow Your Horn (TACT salon), Morning Star(Peccadillo), The Philadelphia Story (NYSTI at QTIP), Julia & Buddy (MITF, best actor nom.). REGIONAL: Over the River and Through the Woods, Brooklyn Boy, South Beach Babylon (Florida Studio Theater). Dracula (Premiere Stages, w/ Lorenzo Lamas) TV: "Law & Order," "L&O: Special Victims Unit," "Blue Bloods" (recurring), MTV's "One Bad Choice," "As the World Turns." FILM: As I Remember It (w/ Christine Ebersole and Alice Ripley) WEB: "Space Dogs," "Lucy Knows Love" (w/ Susan Louise O'Connor). Proud member of AEA. www.matthewdecapua.com @mdecapua1

Andrew Ramcharan Guilarte (Ignatio Perez) Recently on stage: Disgraced, Amir (Alliance Theater, Atlanta), Twelfth Night, Malvolio (Connecticut Rep. Theater), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon/Theseus (Masterworks Theatre Comp.), Fifth Planet From the Sun(Lincoln Center's Clarke Studio Theater), and the King of Siam in Marriott Theatre's The King & I in Lincolnshire, Chicago. Off-Broadway:Macbeth (Lincoln Center/Clarke Studio Theater), NAATCO'S Obie Award-winning Awake and Sing, Bunty Berman Presents (The New Group, world premiere), The Play Company's Obie award-winning Invasion, Marat/Sade (Classical Theater of Harlem), and The Winter's Tale with David Strathairn (Classic Stage Company). TV/FILM: "Elementary," "Madame Secretary," "Jessica Jones," "Person of Interest," "Nurse Jackie", "Law and Order:SVU," "Turks," "Early Edition," "The Workplace," "When Kiran Met Karen," and " How It Probably Went Down: Gandhi." Education: MFA Yale Drama; BFA DePaul Theater School.

Lou Liberatore (Ben Donaldson) Broadway: As Is, Burn This (NYC/London), Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Nominations. Off-Broadway: Masterworks Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Circle Repertory Company, Peccadillo Theatre, the Vineyard, MTC, others. Regional: Theater J, Berkeley Rep, Westport Playhouse, Center Stage, Pioneer, Two River, The Alley, Steppenwolf, Mark Taper Forum, others. TV/Film: The Affair, For Justice (CBS Pilot), The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, Sex and the City, Law & Order, others/ "Blood from a Stoner", "Box", "Mary and Louise", "It's My Party." As Director: NAKED BRAZILIAN, DISCOVERY, Water w/ Lemon (TV Pilot). Education: Fordham University (Lincoln Center), William Esper. Member: EST, The Actors Center, Circle Rep.

David Marantz (Edward Duchamp) works with The Drilling Company Theatre, creating new short and full length plays, along with TDC's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot on the LES. Parking Lot roles include Falstaff (Merry Wives of Windsor), Malvolio and Sir Toby Belch (Twelfth Night) and Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet). In 2015 he directed Romeo and Juliet for TDC in Bryant Park. Other theatre: the Human Race Theatre Dayton, OH, the Mint Theatre NYC, Theatre Works USA NYC and National Tour, Mount Holyoke Summer Theatre, MA, Nicu's Spoon NYC and many more. TV/film: "L&O", "NOVA Science Now How Smart Can We Get?," indie feature "Nail Polish," all the NY soaps (when there were NY soaps). Check out his Webseries "Off Off," about an off-off Broadway theatre company, atwww.offoffwebseries.com and on YouTube. David is also a voiceover artist and an audio book narrator with over 65titles available onAudible.com. See and hear more at www.davidmarantz.com.

Nick Plakias (John Dubliner) NYC Theater: Moby Dick--Rehearsed, The Miser (Brave New World), The Most Dangerous Man in America(New Federal), The Waiting Room (Billie Holiday), School for Husbands (NY Classical), The Cure (Ubu Rep). Regional: Diamond Studs(Ford's Theater), Largely/New York, The Tempest (Seattle Rep), The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men (Arkansas Rep), The Cherry Orchard, To Kill a Mockingbird, Terra Nova (Capital Rep), Floyd Collins (American Music Theater Fest), Woody Guthrie's American Song (St. Michael's Playhouse), Utah, New Jersey and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festivals. TV: "Law & Order- Criminal Intent," "Another World," "Brotherhood."

Jenny Strassburg (Dorothy Pilsner) is thrilled to be returning to the NY Stage after being a part of Masterwork's inaugural season as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She recently finished playing "Cecily" in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival where she has been a part of the rep company for the past two seasons--roles include "Daisy" in The Great Gatsby and Bianca in Taming of the Shrew. Favorite roles include "Vanda" in Venus in Fur (Capital Rep), "Gretchen" in Boeing Boeing (The Depot Theatre), "Lydia" in Pride and Prejudice (Pioneer Theatre Co), "Emma" in Echoes of the War (starring Richard Easton and Frances Sternhagen, The Mint Theatre), and "Gwendolen" in The Importance of Being Earnest (Dorset Theatre Festival). Much gratitude and love to her wonderful friends and family.

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg

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