A SPLINTERED SOUL Makes Its Off Broadway Premiere 10/21

ARLA Productions & Rosalind Productions will present the Off-Broadway premiere of Alan Lester Brooks' A Splintered Soul. This Off-Broadway limited engagement at Theater Three (311 West 43rd Street) begins October 21st and continues through November 13th only. Opening Night is set for Monday October 24th (7pm).

San Francisco, 1947. A group of Jewish refugees arrive from Poland, aided by the American Jewish community. Haunted by the death of their loved ones, they are haunted more by what they did to survive. Rabbi Kroeller, a resistance fighter who lost his family, makes it his mission to protect the survivors at all costs. But he discovers determining right from wrong is more complicated in the new world, when he takes matters into his own hands, and a mysterious disappearance occurs with unforeseen consequences.

Daisy Walker directs a cast that includes Lisa Bostnar (The Voysey Inheritance, Madras House, Arthur Schnitzler's The Lonely Way and Far and Wide), Ella Dershowitz (making her New York theater debut; featured in the upcoming "Phil Spector Biopic" written and directed by David Mamet for HBO), Michael Samuel Kaplan (Off-Broadway in Craig Lucas' adaptation of Miss Julie at Rattlestick), David Lavine (Counsellor-At-Law, Obie and Lortel Awards), John Michalski (almost four decades on and Off-Broadway, including Herzl, Sherlock Holmes, Gorey Stories, Gross Indecency), Anya Migdal (HERO Theatre's Three Sisters, directed by Lisa Peterson and featuring Arian Moayed and Jeremy Shamos), Kenny Morris (Broadway: Hairspray; Les Miserables; The Tenth Man) and Sid Solomon (Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors for The Acting Company).

A Splintered Soul will have scenic design by Kevin Judge, lighting design by Patricia M. Nichols, costume design by Lucille Lortel nominee Valerie Marcus Ramshur, and sound design by Nathan Leigh.

Alan Lester Brooks is a physician by profession and an author by preference. Born in 1942, he grew up with a great awareness of the events in Europe in that decade and beyond. As his surviving relatives came to America from Europe, he met and grew up among the characters in this play. While attending Pomona College, though a premed student, he developed a special interest in political science and philosophy. He attended UCLA School of Medicine, and, after an internship, was sent to Vietnam as Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy. There he witnessed first hand the miseries of war, while tending to civilian Vietnamese casualties. As a physician Dr. Brooks has had a special interest in the developing world, teaching abroad extensively. He is also author of a book of fictional political philosophy, UNITY (A Futurists Fable), published in 2002.

Dr. Brooks has been developing A Splintered Soul for more than five years. The play has been presented as staged readings at Albee's New Frontiers Playwriting Festival in Valdez Alaska in 2005, at the International City Theater in Long Beach in 2005, and at the Odyssey Theater in Los Angeles in 2006. It won the Moondance International Film Festival award for the best full-length stage play drama in 2005. A full production was presented at the Odyssey Theatre in 2007.
Daisy Walker was most recently the Assistant Director of Jersey Boys with Broadway, 1st National Tour, Chicago and Las Vegas companies. Prior to that she served as Artistic Associate at Classic Stage Company. Directing credits include: The Little Dog Laughed, Ride, Private Eyes, Stonewall Jackson's House, Day in the Life of Denise Ivanovich and Hazard County, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre on Cape Cod; Durrenmatt's The Visit at the Payomet Performing Art Center also on the Cape; Uncle Vanya and the US premiere of Brian Friel's After Play Hubbard Hall, Cambridge NY; Hedda Gabler, University of Minnesota Minneapolis/Guthrie Theater BFA program; Calling All by Melanie Marnich and Consumption by Courtney Baron, The Guthrie Lab (Minn); Antonio's Revenge, First Look Festival, Classic Stage Company NYC; 24 hour plays, Atlantic Theatre NYC; Guitar by Julia Jordan, with music by Duncan Sheik, La Jolla Playhouse; and As Thousands Cheer at the Adirondack Theatre Festival. Assistant Directing credits include: The Farnsworth Invention, The Music Box, Broadway; Sinatra, His Music, His World, His Way at Radio City Music Hall; and Twelfth Night in Central Park, The Public Theatre/NYSF. 2005 Recipient of SSDC Sir John Gielgud Fellowship. MFA from UCSD.

Rosalind Productions produces stories in which the female characters are as vital, complex and influential as the male characters. Earlier this year, RP produced the hit Off-Broadway revival of John Patrick Shanley's Savage in Limbo. RP associate produced The Miracle Worker on Broadway. In Los Angeles RP produced G.B. Shaw's Misalliance and Proof at The Odyssey; the World Premiere of Stages by Abigail Rose Solomon, which ran at Hudson Mainstage Theatre, extended at The Matrix Theatre, and received a NAACP Theatre Award nomination. RP co-produced a sold-out run of As You Like It with Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company at The Matrix. www.RosalindProductions.com

Performances will be at Theater Three (311 West 43rd Street, between 8th & 9th Avenues, on the 3rd Floor) and will play Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8pm with matinees Sundays at 3pm, beginning October 21st through Saturday, November 13th only. Opening Night is set for Monday, October 24 at 7pm. Tickets are $18; to purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.asplinteredsoul.com or call 212/868-4444.

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