Allison Layman & Michael Dempsey to Star in TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A POEM IN HONOR OF LIFE, 6/4-28

TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A POEM IN HONOR OF LIFE, written by Dean Poynor, will receive its world premiere this summer in a stirring environmental production staged in the cafeteria of a New York City public school. The show will run for 15 performances starting on June 4th. Mikhael Tara Garver (Artistic Director of the Woodshed Collective) directs the production, which runs through June 28th.

TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A POEM IN HONOR OF LIFE stars Allison Layman (from Broadway's Living on Love) and Michael Dempsey (Broadway: Of Mice and Men, Reasons To Be Pretty, Three Days of Rain, Long Day's Journey Into Night) as Rebecca and Brian, a couple attending a series of grief counseling meetings after losing their son in a school tragedy.

Audiences are invited to pull up a chair and listen as Rebecca and Brian search to reconnect and rebuild their lives in this beautiful portrait of grief.

Tickets are $18. All performances will take place in the cafeteria of P.S. 142, 100 Attorney St., New York, NY. Tickets are now on sale via www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1457002. More information can be found at www.inhonoroflifetheplay.com.

Together We Are Making A Poem In Honor of Life stars Allison Layman and Michael Dempsey with direction by Mikhael Tara Garver, production design by Gabriel Hainer Evanson, sound design by Will Pickens, stage managed by Kristy Bodall, produced by Joel Glassman and Courtney Little. All actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

Biographies:

Dean Poynor (Playwright) is a Southern playwright living in New York City. His plays have been developed and produced with Mixed Blood Theatre, Nashville Repertory Theatre / Ingram New Works Lab, Great Plains Theatre Conference, The Playwrights' Center (Core Member Apprentice), Kennedy Center, Puzzle Festival NYC, Centre Stage Greenville (New Play Festival Winner), Trustus Theatre (New Play Festival Winner), Arena Players Repertory Theatre, Hyde Park Theatre, American Theatre of Actors, Cairns Festival Australia, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and in residency at The Studios of Key West. Dean has received the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation screenplay award, the Helford Prize for Drama, Holland New Voices Playwright Award, two Shubert Foundation fellowships, and been a Finalist or Semi- Finalist for a whole bunch of other stuff. BA Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. MFA Carnegie Mellon University. Dean's latest adventure is being a brand new dad. www.deanpoynor.com

Mikahel Tara Garver (Director) is a leader in the field of immersive theater. She was the associate director for Sleep No More. She was an Emerging Artist for the National Theater of Scotland, and an Artistic Associate of SITI company. She directed The Water Play (The Playwrights Center/Goodman Theater), SevenSpots on the Sun (PlayPenn.); Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Mad Forest and Cloud 9 (Atlantic Theater), Pablo Helguera's Juvenal Player at The Kitchen, the premiere of Fornicated From the Beatles at the Emerging America Festival at American Repertory Theater; world premiere workshop of Gloryana composed and written by Andrew Gerle (The Public Theater, York Theater). She is also the Managing Artistic Director of Immersive Theater Company, Woodshed Collective. She was also commissioned by the Kennedy Center Youth Initiative for a new play F+J . She has worked as a director and educator at Columbia University, Atlantic Theater, American Repertory Theater, The Kitchen, Harvard University, New York University, The Goodman Theater, The Public Theater, Yale University, PlayPenn, and Steppenwolf Theater Company. Her writing on open-­?frame theater has been on howlround and is soon to be published more widely. www.mikhaeltaragarver.com.

Michael Dempsey was last seen on stage last year in Of Mice and Men. Stage credits include: Long Day'sJourney into Night, Reasons to be Pretty, Mr. Roberts, Three Days of Rain, Summer Shorts, NYFringe... TVcredits include: Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order, Army Wives, Unforgettable, Guiding Light...He can be seen in the upcoming Black Dog, Red Dog helmed by James Franco, the Lily Baldwin short film Swallowed, and Law & Order: Facebook Squad on FunnyorDie.com. For Clifford Glover and all those affected by gun violence. Love to Jena and Cassius.

Allison Layman (debuted on Broadway this spring standing by for Anna Chlumsky in Living on Love, directed by Kathleen Marshall. Allison's regional credits include 'Nina' in Vanya and Sonia.... at The Huntington Theater in Boston and The Old Globe in San Diego, 'Diana' in All's Well That Ends Well, the inaugural San Diego 'Globe For All' tour directed by Barry Edelstein, and the Old Globe production of Pygmalion directed by Nicholas Martin. Ms. Layman was a company member for two years at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, playing a noted 'Luciana' in The Comedy of Errors, diverse roles in Timon of Athens and the touring productions of Midsummer, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth. Her other regional work includes 'Petra' in An Enemy of the People at Playhouse on Park in Hartford, CT, and a wide range of roles in productions at the Monomoy Theatre in Chatham, MA. Training: Wesleyan University (BA); William Esper Studio; Old Globe/USD (MFA).

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