BETWEEN THE BARS Opens at HERE Arts Center

Between The Bars, a new play by Lynn Clay Byrne, directed by Benjamin Viertel, will begin performances on September 22 in advance of its opening night on September 30, 2021, and will initially run through October 30, 2021, at HERE Arts Center (145 6th Avenue, NYC). Tickets are $35.00-75.00 and can be purchased by visiting www.BetweentheBarsPlay.com.

Between The Bars was well into rehearsal and ready to open in March of 2020 when the pandemic hit and shut down theatres around the country. After 18 months, the cast and creative team will reconnect and finally return to the stage.

Inspired by true events and set within the confines of the jailhouse visit room, emotionally charged meetings between inmates and visitors expose the reality of our American jail system. We observe how the impact of incarceration diminishes any chance of success for inmates who have served their time. Between The Bars follows five inmates and their loved ones, bringing to light critical systemic failures and questioning who belongs on which side of the bars.

The cast includes Juan Arturo (TV: "Blue Bloods"), Chad Carstarphen (National Tour: In the Heights), Akeil Davis (Film: Have a Seat), Katie Mack (Regional: Cabaret), Christopher Mowod (Film: You're The Worst), and Nowani Rattray (The Tragedy of 'Tupac Amaru Shakur').

The creative team includes set design by Bryce Cutler (Broadway's Grand Horizons, Public's Soft Power), lighting design by Mary Ellen Stebbins (Regional: Florida Girls), sound design by Adrian Bridges (Regional: On The Grounds Of Belonging), costume design by Devario Simmons (National Tour: In the Heights; PBS' "Mercy Street"), casting by Kate Lumpkin, CSA, general management by Evan Bernardin Productions.

"My son sat behind a pane of glass in Passaic County Jail, conversations I overheard between inmates and visitors exposed life within our justice system more graphically than anything most of us ever hear about. Between The Bars was two weeks from opening when Broadway shut down. After 18 months in limbo, it has come to pass that demands for criminal justice reform are timelier than ever. The pandemic made us all more empathetic to the toll of loneliness and isolation endured by anyone, and subsequently more aware of the failures of rehabilitation for inmates in particular. In Between The Bars, loved ones meet in the Visit Room, where their fractured visits reflect the overwhelming struggles and indomitable hopes of every lonely man and woman longing for comfort. - Between the Bars playwright, Lynn Clay Byrne

"Having spent close to two years visiting my father behind bars, the visitation room became the only place where our tight-knit family could gather together. It was a place where our private moments were on public display for other inmates, their visitors, and the corrections officers to scrutinize. As we spoke quietly across our assigned table (over snacks from a vending machine), we tried to imagine our lives as far away from the visiting room as possible. Our survival tactic was imagining our lives differently and creating normalcy in an experience that included tearful hellos and goodbyes each week, not knowing how we would find each other the following. In Between the Bars, our characters, just like Lynn and I experienced, crave escape, growth, and movement but are confined to an inhumane reality." Director, Benjamin Viertel

Here Arts Center requires all audience members to show proof of vaccination to enter the building and remained masked while in the building. The producers of Between the Bars are following all of the current COVID safety guidelines set forth by the CDC and agreed upon by the theatrical unions.

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