Raul Castillo, Billy Crudup, Nancy Giles and More to Star in Plays by 10-Year-Olds in ALL TOGETHER NOW

The 52nd Street Project makes a difference in the lives of countless Hell's Kitchen (Clinton) kids by pairing them with theater professionals who mentor them through the creation of original theater. Perhaps the most poignant presentations made by the Project are those in its semi-annual Playmaking series, which features the Project's youngest Hell's Kitchen menses - 9- and 10-year-olds who have just begun their theatrical education - writing for accomplished professional actors and revealing their work to a public audience for the first time.

Accomplished actors including Raúl Castillo ("Looking," "Gotham"), Billy Crudup (Jackie, 20th Century Women, Almost Famous), Crystal Dickinson (Clybourne Park), Brandon Dirden (All the Way, Jitney), Carson Elrod (Peter & the Starcatcher, Noises Off), Nancy Giles ("CBS Sunday Morning"), Michael Potts (Book of Mormon, Jitney, "The Wire"), Mirarai Sithole (Mother Courage & Her Children, "Broad City"), Micah Stock (The Front Page, It's Only a Play) and others will perform in All Together Now: The United Plays, the Project's Spring 2017 Playmaking show.

All Together Now will run Friday, March 31, through Sunday, April 2, at The 52nd Street Project's Five Angels Theater (789 Tenth Avenue, 2nd floor, NYC). Performances will take place Friday & Saturday at 7:30pm, and Saturday & Sunday at 3pm. Admission is free, but reservations must be made in advance at 52project.secure.force.com/ticket or 212.333.5252. For more information, visit www.52project.org.

The Playmaking process begins with a nine-week playwriting course. At the end of the course, the kids are taken (along with their volunteer adult dramaturge/director) out of town for a "writer's retreat" in the countryside. After writing his/her own plays, each child is given a professional cast to complete the expression of his or her personal vision. The finished plays enjoy a run of public performances.

The kids writing the one-acts are Yousef Altareb, Jayden Alvarado, Nyla Blake Soden, Kailey Canton, Amari DuBose, Joel Gokalp, Gianna Hires, Kimora Moore, Gilbert Rosario and Faith Villanueva.

The adult dramaturg-directors are George Babiak, Chelsea Hackett, Korey Jackson, Sarah Johnsrude, Garrett Kim, Sarah Krohn, Stephanie Jean Lane, Rachel Levens, Martin Moran, Austin Regan, Gus Rogerson and Anne Troup.

The adult performers are Lily Balatincz, Michael Braun, Kyle Cameron, Raúl Castillo, Zoe Chao, Aaron Costa Ganis, Billy Crudup, Danielle Davenport, Crystal Dickinson, Brandon Dirden, Bjorn DuPaty, Carson Elrod, Leslie Fray, Nancy Giles, Rosa Gilmore, ELiza Huberth, Nikki Massoud, Michael Potts, Mirirai Sithole and Micah Stock.

Patrick Barnes is composing original music for the show.

The 52nd Street Project was founded in 1981 by actor/playwright and 1994 MacArthur Fellow Willie Reale in response to a deepening need to improve the quality of life for New York's inner-city children. Reale, an actor, playwright, and company member of the Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), used his company privileges to reach out to the children of the neighborhood by creating theatrical endeavors specifically for them. This was done with the cooperation and support of EST and its across-the-street-neighbor, the Police Athletic League's Duncan Center. The Project is now an independent not-for-profit organization that creates over eighty new plays and serves over 130 children every year.

The 52nd Street Project has been a place where many preeminent theater-makers have volunteered their efforts to mentor kids from Hell's Kitchen. To name just a few: Bobby Cannavale, Billy Crudup, Peter Dinklage, Edie Falco, Nancy Giles, Jonathan Groff, Sonia Manzano, Frances McDormand, Oliver Platt, Martha Plimpton and Lili Taylor.

The Project is about making children proud of themselves. The Project is not about teaching children to act, although they will learn to. It is not about teaching them to write plays, although they will learn that as well. What it is about is giving a kid an experience of success. It is about giving a kid an opportunity to prove that he or she has something of value to offer, something that comes from within that he or she alone possesses, something that cannot be taken away.

In order to make The 52nd Street Project experience available to children in other locations, The Project has published a manual and other supporting materials, which have been distributed as far as Vancouver and South Africa. There are now projects underway across the country in places such as Los Angeles; Chicago; Trenton, NJ; Williamstown, MA; Providence, RI; and London, England.

For more information, like the 52nd Street Project on Facebook or follow @52ndStProject on Twitter.

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