Original Off-Broadway Cast Reunites for LEAVING LANNAHASSEE Benefit Reading Tonight
By: BWW News Desk Oct. 24, 2017
LEAVING LANNAHASSEE, one of the flagship works of award-winning playwright, Lynn Navarra, will be read by the original Off-Broadway cast as part of a special industry presentation tonight, October 24 at Shelter Studios, 244 West 54th Street (12th floor), NYC.
A discussion with the cast on the play's theme of mental illness will talk place after the reading.
Nurse Mercy and JoJo & Dennis, two abandoned patients of Gateway Home & Rehabilitation Center in Lannahassee Georgia, pray for a miracle; JoJo, for his mother; Dennis, for his wife; and Nurse Mercy ... for proof of her faith. Just as they come to the realization that they are truly abandoned, they meet Brandy, a teenage girl looking for her own salvation - and escape - who offers JoJo a chance at a new life. God works in mysterious ways.
Lynn Navarra has become a familiar name in New York thanks to acclaimed runs of her works. Aside from Lannahassee, which won multiple Dalrymple Awards (one of the first off-Broadway awards) was two successful runs of her expansive play, The Sandman, which is currently in development for a major motion picture.
"I wanted to delve deeper into the foundation of the work," said the author of these gritty unapologetic dramas, "but I wanted to listen to audience and colleagues as well," she concluded. "We are making a donation to the National Institute of Mental Health," she said. Ms. Navarra has always felt that art must touch reality, not just touch upon it.
Directed by Laurence C. Schwartz, the returning cast includes Lucy Apicello, Carol Beaugard, John Lewis, Liz Meinders, and Stephen Wagner.
For reservations, contact Jay Michaels at 646-338-5472 or jmae.events@gmail.com.
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