The 52nd Street Project Presents SMOKE & MIRRORS: The Tricky Plays, Pt. 1

The 52nd Street Project is celebrating the creative voices of its youngest members in its first Playmaking show of 2021. SMOKE & MIRRORS: The Tricky Plays, Pt. 1 will feature the wildly imaginative work of 5 young playwrights between nine and eleven years old. Jenelle Chu (Bernhardt/Hamlet), Madeline DeFreece ("Tahara"), Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), Motell Foster (Netflix's "Clickbait;" "A Marriage Story"), Korey Jackson (The Hot Wing King; Epix's "Godfather of Harlem"), Lee Aaron Rosen (A Soldier's Play), and more will share the digital stage, for a one night performance event, to bring their own vibrant energy to the artistic visions of New York's newest cohort of playwrights.

SMOKE & MIRRORS, Pt. 1 will be live streamed on Thursday, January 28th at 7:00 PM EST. Admission to view is free, but reservations must be made in advance. For more information, or to reserve tickets, please visit The 52nd Street Project's website, or call (212) 333-5252.

The Playmaking program, a first step in any young person's journey with the Project, gives each child one-on-one support as they learn the fundamentals of playwriting. At the end of the course, the kids are taken (along with their volunteer adult dramaturge/directors) out of town for a "writers' retreat" in the countryside. After writing their own plays, each child is given a professional cast to complete the expression of their personal vision. The program culminates in a sharing of the finished plays, presented free of charge to the general public. SMOKE & MIRRORS: The Tricky Plays, Pt. 1 (and Pt. 2, to be presented at a later date) celebrates the Playwriting debuts of the Project's newest members. Each young playwright participated in the Playmaking program in early Spring 2020. While the presentation of their plays had to be postponed due to the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Project is excited to share each of these imaginative new works in a safe and socially distant way.

The young playwrights are Tremaine Batson, Mason Berrios, Jessica Elie-Pierre, Gavin Kent, and Faith Mitchell.

The adult dramaturge-directors are George Babiak, Sarah Krohn, Kareem Lucas, Grace Rex, Gus Rogerson, John Sheehy, and Caylyn Wan-Creager.

The adult actors are Jenelle Chu, Madeline DeFreece, Carson Elrod, Ariel Estrada, Motell Foster, Arielle Goldman, Korey Jackson, John Manolis, Erin Neufer, and Lee Aaron Rosen.

http://www.52project.org/productions-events/tickets/