Staged Reading of BARKLEE Comes to AMT Theater

Award winning writer/director/producer Tom Cavanaugh will host an open house, staged reading of his new play, BARKLEE at AMT Theater, 354 W. 45th Street, NY, NY on Tuesday, October 21st, 2024, at 7pm. The cast is made up of talent from The Actors Gym, Naked Angels and New Ambassadors Theatre Company, all three companies where the play was developed over the last two years.

BARKLEE written by Tom Cavanaugh is inspired by a real court case in New Jersey where a high school refused to allow a student to bring his protection service dog to class.

The full-length play has been developed over the last two years in workshops at the 2023 National Playwrights Symposium, Naked Angels NY, New Ambassadors We Make Movies Writers Lab and extensively in weekly meetings of The Actors Gym under the under the guidance of Bobby Moresco (Crash, Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend) and the membership. Vincent Piazza (Tulsa Kings, Jersey Boys & Boardwalk Empire) has been with the project since the first reading and will read the lead role of BARKLEE.

Tom Cavanaugh received his M.F.A. in playwriting from The Actors Studio Drama School. NY in 2000. Tom's full-length play, BEHOLD was a 2010 finalist New American Playwrights Program at Utah Shakespearean Festival and won a 2011 Pickering Award for Excellence in Playwriting. ADAM & YOSHI was a finalist in McKinney Repertory Play Competition, Texas, finalist 2013 New American Playwrights Program Utah Shakespearean Festival and won 2012 Make the House Roar Prize at the Lionheart Theater, Georgia. 2014, INLAND EMPRESS, Tom's full-length play, World Premiered, at The Lounge Theatre, Los Angeles. 2017 MISTER PICMAN, premiered at the Short & Sweet Play Festival, Hollywood, CA, & Theatre of Note's Alternative Acts in Los Angeles. THE FIELD a short play by Cavanaugh premiered at The CTI Theatre Festival in Independence, MO. In 2018, Theatre of Action in Los Angeles Plays About Immigration listed Tom's short play, COYOTE. Tom won the Artists & Playwright Festival at The Know Theatre in Binghamton, NY in 2018 with his short play, ROCKS ON THE PLAYA. Tom has been a member of the Dramatist Guild of America since 1998.

Theater space in New York is so hard to find and under the current environment playwrights are not getting in front audiences enough to fully develop plays. "Getting chosen by existing companies is so hard to get that I have taken matters into my own hands! I want to see how an audience reacts! I want to hear what the audience hears and do another re-write! I must do this! I just know it's what the script needs and I can't wait in hope that someone will pick this play for a reading." says Cavanaugh.

Admission is FREE and the seating is first come, first serve. Please come and participate in the development of this new stage play.