Joel Rooks, Ben Mehl & André Ware Lead THE LAW OF RETURN, Beginning Tonight 4th Street Theatre

The New York premiere of THE LAW OF RETURN, playwright Martin Blank's ("Closing Time," "Avenue of the Americas") original spy thriller inspired by events surrounding the Jay Pollard espionage case, is directed by Elise Thoron ("County of Kings") and features Joel Rooks ("Say Goodnight Gracie"), Ben Mehl ("Habit") and André Ware ("Halfway There") with preview performances beginning tonight, August 1 prior to an official press opening of August 7 at the 4th Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street, btw. Bowery and Second Ave). THE LAW OF RETURN is presented Off-Broadway by Newsom Zipoy Productions.

Inspired by the events surrounding the polarizing Jay Pollard espionage case, THE LAW OF RETURN depicts the actions of a notorious intelligence analyst abusing his level of access and threatening U.S. national security. Or is he?

Whether driven by ideology or personal gain, Pollard, a United States Naval Intelligence analyst based in Suitland, Maryland, removes thousands of classified documents and turns them over to Israel. Once found out by the United States, Pollard leads police on a wild chase through Washington, D.C., desperately hoping to get to the Embassy of Israel and seek asylum.

On April 3, 2014 Jay Pollard, who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison, was the number one trending topic on The New York Times website. President Obama has recently considered pardoning Pollard as part of a hotly debated Middle East peace deal. Pollard appears in the press regularly alongside stories of WikiLeaks, the NSA, and Edward Snowden. His case asks the question: what must be made public and what must be kept secret?

The creative team for THE LAW OF RETURN is Alexis Distler (scenic design), Nicole Pearce (lighting design), Jeremy Lee (sound design), Debra Bergsma Otte (costume design), Stephanie Klapper (casting director), Saundra Yaklin (technical director), Becky Abramowitz (assistant director), Alling Langin (assistant lighting design), and Caskey Hunsader (stage manager).

Newsom Zipoy Productions brings together two members of the team that brought Martin Blank's play AVENUE OF AMERICAS to New York in 2011. The producing team has over 20 years of experience presenting award-winning plays and musicals-from SUPER SIDEKICK THE MUSICAL (Best of FringeNYC 2012) to the Brooklyn premiere of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, and plays Aaron Kozak's THE BIRTHDAY BOYS and Mac Rogers' UNIVERSAL ROBOTS (2009 ITBA Best Off-Off-Broadway Play, four New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations).

Scheduled today, August 1 through 24, THE LAW OF RETURN performs at the 4th Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street, between Bowery and Second Avenue, Subway: F to 2nd Avenue or 6 to Bleecker) Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm (with the following exception - additional per-formance Wednesday, August 20 at 8:00 pm). Tickets are $18 and can be purchased by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006 or on-line at http://lawofreturn.brownpapertickets.com. For additional information, please visit www.thelawofreturnplay.com.

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