Expert Leads SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS Audience in Post-Show Meditation, Talkback Tonight

Meditation teacher and New York Times best-selling author Sharon Salzberg will lead a brief post-show meditation and discussion of the critically acclaimed play Small Mouth Sounds tonight, September 16, at the Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street). The discussion will be moderated by New York Times reporter and author of Mindful Work, David Gelles.

Small Mouth Sounds, written by Bess Wohl and directed by Obie Award-winner Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812), opened on July 13th to rave reviews at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street), and has been extended through Sunday, October 9, 2016.

In the overwhelming quiet of the woods, six runaways from city life embark on a silent retreat. As these strangers confront internal demons both profound and absurd, their vows of silence collide with the achingly human need to connect. Filled with awkward humor, this strange and compassionate new play asks how we address life's biggest questions when words fail us.

The cast of Small Mouth Sounds features Obie-winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Ruined), Zoë Winters (Red Speedo), Max Baker (The Village Bike), and original Small Mouth Sounds stars Marcia DeBonis ("Homeland"), Jojo Gonzalez (The Romance of Magno Rubio), Brad Heberlee (These Paper Bullets), and Babak Tafti (The North Pool).

Small Mouth Sounds, which played a sold-out, twice extended run at Ars Nova in 2015, was featured in The New York Times as one of 'The Best Theater of 2015'. The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Post, and The Guardian also listed Small Mouth Sounds in their Best of 2015 roundups, with The Advocate lauding it as the #1 Best Show in their 'Top 10 New York Theater of 2015'. The play was recently published and is now available via Dramatists Play Service.

The original design team of Small Mouth Sounds returns for this production and includes Obie-winner Laura Jellinek (Scenic Design), Tilly Grimes (Costume Design), Mike Inwood (Lighting Design), Stowe Nelson (Sound Design), Andrew Schneider (Projection Design), and Noah Mease (Prop Design).

Small Mouth Sounds is produced off-Broadway by Eva Price, Stacey Mindich, Betsy Bernstein, Ars Nova, Catherine Adler/Sean Hudock, Burnt Umber Productions, Amanda Dubois, Rebecca Gold, Sally Horchow, Iris Smith, Craig Balsam/Kurt Deutsch, and Eric Cornell/Jenna Segal.

Sharon Salzberg has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, and has led meditation classes and retreats worldwide since 1974. She teaches both intensive awareness practice (insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness and compassion in a non-sectarian, inclusive framework. She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

David Gelles writes the Revalued column and other features for the Sunday Business section of the New York Times. At the Times, he previously covered mergers and acquisitions for DealBook. Before joining the Times in 2013, he spent five years with the Financial Times. At the FT, he covered tech, media and M&A in San Francisco and New York. In 2011 he conducted an exclusive jailhouse interview with Bernie Madoff, shedding new light on the $65 billion ponzi scheme. Mindful Work, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2015, brings together his 15 years of meditation practice and his work as a business journalist. He lives in New York City.

Photo Credit: Ben Arons