Seventy-Seven Productions Open This Fall at United Solo Theatre Festival

The 2nd annual United Solo, the world's largest solo theatre festival, presents a lineup of seventy-seven local and international productions invited to perform at Theatre ROW on 42nd Street in New York City between October 20 - November 20, 2011.

Featured solo artists come from four continents, and represent eleven states of the USA as well as Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Botswana, Canada, Ireland, Israel, The Netherlands, Poland, and Serbia. Performances fall into avast selection of categories, ranging from drama, storytelling, puppetry, and multimedia shows to stand-up, magic, improv, and dance. The variety of themes reveals the challenges and highlights of a new generation, shocking facts of historical events, controversial aspects of cultural traditions, secrets from behind the scenes of show business, racial matters, political statements, women's interests, world adventures, family subjects, religious dilemmas, gender and sexuality issues, the philosophy of yoga, and healthy life concepts. Most performances introduce original works, and some are based on adaptations of classical literature.

Among the numerous productions are: "It's All The Rage" with Marilyn Pittman (narrator in Academy Award winning short documentary, "Deadly Deception," and NPR host); "Three Cases of Amnesia" with Jonah Bokaer (acclaimed performer and choreographer of several of Robert Wilson's productions); "The Tiffany Box" with Kathleen Buckstaff (solo creator and former Los Angeles Times columnist); "Patty Diphusa" by Pedro Almodovar, who granted exclusive permission to create this show, with Ewa Kasprzyk (a Polish film star); "Foolhardy" with Patrick Combs (a comic known from HBO and sold-out Off-Broadway runs); "Wing-Man" with Mark Gindick (a comedian recently featured by PBS); "Prick" with Hal Ackerman (solo performer and professor at UCLA); "The Next Best Thing" with Antonio Sacre (two-time Best-in-FringeNYC winner); "Visitor" with Strahinja Bojovic (currently in repertory at Serbian National Theatre); and two shows directed by Austin Pendleton (winner of Best Directing at 2010 United Solo Theatre Festival) including "Woman Before a Glass" with Judy Rosenblatt and "Clutter" with Nancy Redman. The festival is curated by Omar Sangare, its founder and artistic director.

Twenty-nine one-man and forty-eight one-woman shows will compete for various awards, such as: best in acting, best script, best production, and the audience award. United Solo will conclude by presenting the annual uAward, which honors an outstanding solo performer. The last edition of the festival brought the uAward to Anna Deavere Smith. This year's nominees are: Daniel Beaty, John Lithgow, Patti LuPone, and Robin Williams. The recipient of the uAward, as well as other winners, will be announced at the closing ceremony.

Tickets, which are $18, are available at the Theatre ROW Box Office (410 West 42nd Street, New York City) and via Telecharge (www.telecharge.com or 212-239-6200). A full list of performers and more information on the festival are available at www.unitedsolo.org

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