Cherry Lane's THE SIBLINGS PLAY Begins Tonight as Part of MENTOR PROJECT 2017

Cherry Lane Theatre and Seri Lawrence and Janio Marrero, MENTOR PROJECT's Producing Artistic Directors, present the first production of the award-winning MENTOR PROJECT 2017 now in its 19th season - Ren Dara Santiago's THE SIBLINGS PLAY - being presented at Cherry Lane (38 Commerce St.) from tonight, February 22, through March 4, 2017. Angelina Fiordellisi is Cherry Lane's Founding Artistic Director.

Directed by Jenna Worsham, the cast of THE SIBLINGS PLAY features Juan Castano ("Shades of Blue," "Alien Dawn"), Erin Cherry (MTC's We Are Young and Unafraid), William Gaffney (NYC:Ghetto Baptism), Jesse J. Perez (NY: Informed Consent), Monica Rae Summers Gonzalez(NYC:Ten Days in a Mad-House).

Ms. Santiago is mentored by LILLY AWARD and an OBIE Award winner Lucy Thurber.

THE SIBLINGS PLAY follows three siblings' fight to keep each other safe from the demons their parents created. For Mars, Leon and Marie, what defines family is survival. As love seems to leave them they begin to battle their own desires and destiny, praying at the end of the day they'll still have one another.

This 19th season of MENTOR PROJECT which annually pairs new playwrights with seasoned writers for a season of play development, casting, rehearsals and a fully-staged production.

Upcoming Mentor Project productions include Nathan Yungerberg's ESAI'S TABLE, mentored by Stephen Adly Guirgis, presented March 22 - April 1 and Jocelyn Bioh's NOLLYWOOD DREAMS, mentored by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, presented April 25 - May 6.

THE SIBLINGS PLAY creative team includes Angelica Borrero (Scenic Design), Anna Blazer (Costume Design), Zach Blane (Lighting Design), Daniel Melnick (Sound Design), Addison Heeren (Properties) and Angela Perez (Production Stage Manager).

THE SIBLINGS PLAY runs tonight, February 22, through March 4, Monday - Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 5pm and 9pm. Single tickets are $20-25, memberships are $57. For info and reservations visit www.cherrylanetheatre.org or call OvationTix at 866 811 4111.

Cherry Lane's MENTOR PROJECT received an Obie Award and James Kirkwood Award for American Playwrights for its dedication to providing professional opportunities for emerging writers to hone their craft in tandem with seasoned playwrights of note. The company ended their 2015-16 season with the world premiere of Israel Horovitz's play OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES starring Francesca Choy-Key, Angelina Fiordellisi, Judith Ivey and Estelle Parsons. One of the most renowned theatres in the country, Cherry Lane Theatrehas produced a large succession of plays by leading writers from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee and Harold Pinter. Under the artistic leadership of Angelina Fiordellisi since 1996, Cherry Lane remains devoted to developing and producing new works for the stage. Diane Alianiello is General Manager, Seri Lawrence and Janio Marrero are Interim Producing Artistic Directors, Hillary Cohen is Director of Individual and Institutional Giving and Reed Ridgley is Grants Manager.

REN DARA SANTIAGO (Playwright) is a Harlem-based playwright and actor of Filipino and Puerto Rican descent. She writes inclusive, current, empathic stories that breed bravery and compassion in conversation. She has been nominated for the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award both in 2015 and 2016 for her family drama, The Siblings Play, which has been workshopped at Labyrinth Theater under a playwright's apprenticeship, MCC Theater (PlayLabs), and has a home with Middle Voice at Rattlestick, where she is currently an Artistic Producer.

Lucy Thurber (Mentor) is the author of twelve plays: Where We're Born, Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family, Stay, Bottom of the World, Monstrosity, Dillingham City, The Locus, Perry Street, The Insurgents and Transfers. Transfers was part of The New York Stage and Film 2016 Powerhouse Season. Also in summer 2016, Orpheus in the Berkshires was presented at The Williamstown Theatre Festival. The Insurgents was produced at LAByrinth Theater Company and Contemporary American Theater Festival. Her five-play cycle The Hill Town Plays was produced Off Broadway by Rattlestick Playwright's Theater in conjunction with The Cherry Lane Theatre, The Axis Theater and The New Ohio Theatre. Lucy's theatrical homes are Rattlestick Playwright's Theater, The Atlantic Theater, Labyrinth Theater, New Dramatists and The Lark. Lucy wrote the text for QUIXOTE, conceived and directed by Lear deBessonet, a site-specific performance with the Psalters made for and with The Broad Street Community. She also worked with Lear deBessonet on Monstrosityand produced by 13P. Lucy is published by Dramatists Play Service. She is an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of 13P, LAByrinth Theater Company, Rising Phoenix Rep and New Neighborhood. She got to spend an amazing time with Sundance Theatre at UCROSS in Wyoming and has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, House on The Moon, Yale Rep. and Williamstown Theatre Festival. She is the recipient of a Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellowship, the first Gary Bonasorte Memorial Prize for Playwriting, a proud recipient of a LILLY AWARD and an OBIE Award for The Hill Town Plays.

Jenna Worsham (Director) is a freelance stage director and activist, based in New York City, with a focus on new work and re-imagined American classics. Broadway: The Heidi Chronicles (Associate Director); Picnic (SDCF Observership). Recent Directing: Have You Been There by Emily Zemba & The First Immigrant by Martyna Majok (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Invincible Ones by Samantha Cooper (Signature Center/Columbia MFA Thesis Production); Balm in Gilead (Lee Strasbourg Institute); Here to Be Seen (Social Justice piece featuring formerly incarcerated women, commissioned by Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson); Kids by Daniel Talbott (IRT); The Vagina Monologues for Taconic Correctional Facility (also performed off-Broadway at Cherry Lane Theatre); Graduation Day by Emily Daly (WorkShop Theater); Spring Awakening (Lime Kiln Theater). As founding Artistic Director of The Middle Voice Theater Company, in residence at Rattlestick Theater, she directed Agnes (Rattlestick), Bus Stop (The Producer's Club), Room for One (Paradise Factory), and Waiting for Lefty in a production that toured public locations in NYC and the tri-state area. Jenna has been an assistant director on and off-Broadway to such directors as Tony-Award winner Pam Mackinnon, Sam Gold, Evan Cabnet, Kate Whoriskey, as well as PublicWorks director Lear deBessonet. She has directed readings and workshops for The Public, Yale Repertory, the Lark Play Development Center, Labyrinth Theater, Playmakers Rep, Primary Stages, Cherry Lane, Rattlestick, MCC, The Flea, among others. Throughout her time in New York Jenna has been awarded a Jonathan Alper Directing Fellowship (MTC), and two SDC Foundation Observerships. Jenna is a proud member of the LILLY Awards Power Network, the 2016 Williamstown Directing Corps, Rising Phoenix Repertory, The Actors Studio Directors Unit, the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and an Affiliated Artist of New Georges. She also serves as Curator of the Creative Solutions Symposium, a residency program at SPACE on Ryder Farm that houses social justice organizations who integrate creativity with social action. Associate member, SDC.

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